Twenty-nine activists have filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Superior Court alleging that the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation “has engaged in a pattern and practice of violating, ignoring and/or misinterpreting laws and regulations meant to protect the environment.”

Priscilla Lynch stated that she and her co-plaintiffs have been trying to speak to the DCR for more than nine months.

“After being denied any administrative or due process,” said Lynch. “[The] DCR has left us no choice but to file this lawsuit and to engage in civil disobedience at the Wendell State Forest.”

Lynch is a member of the Wendell Forest Alliance, a group of activists that want to preserve the Wendell State Forest and stop the logging.

The logging work is being carried out by John H. Conkey and Sons Logging, Inc. a family run business based in Belchertown.

“We have been a logging company since 1986,” co-founder Ken Conkey previously told MassLive. “It’s only now we are finding problems with our work.”

(Left to right) John Cohen, Gia Neswald, Fergus Marshall, Lynn Waldron Elizabeth Caretti-Ramirez and Bill Stubblefield all stand in front of the logging machinery in Wendell State Farm. (Douglas Hook / MassLive)

“The Commonwealth is proud of its creative and aggressive approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,’ said DCR spokesman Troy Wall. “And continues to implement selective forest management projects in an effort to promote the health of woodlands and diverse habitat across the state, and increase forest resilience to climate change impacts.”

The DCR manages more than 450,000 acres of land throughout the commonwealth, including forestry lands, which require proper maintenance and care to ensure they are protected for year’s into the future.

The Bay State has more forest today than it did 200 years-ago, according to DCR spokeswoman Olivia K. Dorrance.

“Proper forest management includes the prioritization of fostering healthy tree growth of all ages, including seedlings, saplings, and mature trees,” said Dorrance.

Conkey took MassLive to see a site in Wendell State Forest that had been previously logged in order to allow smaller seedlings to grow through that couldn’t before with a thick canopy.

“It’s better for the smaller animals.”