These trees were cut late in October along the buried 4-ft diameter steel pipe that runs through the Reservation from the Furnace Brook rotary to the Reservoir. Here is an aerial showing the alignment.       The MWRA claimed it needed to cut these trees in order to rehab the pipe, but note that many of them are well over 50 years old, and hence were spared when the pipeline was built in 1951.         We also note that the MWRA began this work over a week before DEP awarded the agency an exemption from the Wetlands Act to fill the Reservoir (the work would be wasted without this exemption). Evidently DEP notified the MWRA that the exemption was forthcoming well in advance of any public announcement.