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NRD Trustees 10 Proposed Projects Meeting July 9

July 9, 2007
5:30 – 7:30 pm
at the Lenox Town Hall
6 Walker Street, Lenox

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, acting as the Housatonic River Natural Resource Trustees, have scheduled a meeting on July 9, 2007, to present a Draft Restoration Plan and Supplemental Environmental Assessment (RP/SEA) for the Housatonic River Watershed in Massachusetts.

The Draft RP/SEA incorporates the Trustees’ ten proposed projects developed from a suite of restoration project applications received through the Trustees’ Round 1 public solicitation process. As announced in April 2007, this funding round provides a means to disburse $4 million to restore, rehabilitate, replace, and/or acquire the equivalent of injured natural resources and services of the Housatonic River watershed in Massachusetts.

The balance of the approximately $7.75 million received from the General Electric/Housatonic River Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration case will be disbursed in subsequent funding rounds.The July 9, 2007, public meeting regarding the Draft RP/SEA will take place from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at the Lenox Town Hall, 6 Walker Street, Lenox, Massachusetts 01240. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the Draft RP/SEA for a 30-day period following its release in late June 2007.

Copies will be available for review through www.ma- housatonicrestoration.org and at local libraries. The Trustees will receive public comment at the July 9 meeting. Written comments can also be sent to: Housatonic Draft RP/SEA, Woodlot Alternatives, 30 Park Drive, Topsham, ME 04086. The Trustees will consider public comments in making a final decision on projects eligible for funding. A Final RP/SEA will incorporate the final list of Round 1 projects.

Information about the Housatonic River Watershed Restoration Project in Massachusetts is available online. Additional information can be obtained by contacting Todd Chadwell of Woodlot Alternatives, Inc. at tchadwell@woodlotalt.com or (413) 442-9389.

 

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Mass Audubon Releases Two New Guidebooks for Free Download

Mass Audubon is pleased to announce the availability of the new, improved, and expanded version, downloadable and free on our website, of “Shaping the Future of Your Community: A Citizen’s Guide to Involvement in Community Planning, Land Protection, and Project Review in Massachusetts” – Mass Audubon’s response to Losing Ground, this newly updated guidebook gives you the tools for active involvement.

You can download a copy from the Mass Audubon Advocacy In the News webpage or from the Mass Audubon Advocacy page under Publications.

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Berkshire County River Cleanups

2007 Pittsfield West Branch of the Housatonic River Cleanup

Group gathered at start of cleanup

Most of the cleanup crew

After the clean up the group was wet and dirty
Senator Downing hauling trash out of the river
Councilman Kerwood working hard
Some of the group with one of the piles of trash
Wet and dirty the group enjoyed sandwiches and drinks after the cleanup State Senator Benjamin Downing pulling trash out of the river and off the banks Pittsfield City Councilman Matt Kerwood cleaning trash from the bank Some of the group with one of the piles of trash collected by the Wahconah Street bridge

West Branch of the Housatonic River is Cleaner Now

On Sunday, June 10 a small group of dedicated volunteers cleaned the river banks near four bridges over the West Branch of the Housatonic River. The cleanup was part of  National River Cleanup Week and was organized by the Berkshire Environmental Action TeamHousatonic Valley Association, and co-sponsored by Housatonic River Initiative / Housatonic Riverkeeper with assistance from the City of Pittsfield’s Conservation Commission and Parks Department.

Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto was on hand to thank the group for their efforts, but couldn’t stay to join the fun because he had to speak at high school graduations.

State Senator Benjamin Downing and Pittsfield At-Large City Councilor Matt Kerwood both put in hours hauling trash out of the river. Councilor Kerwood had said he had to leave by noon, but stayed long after that to help in a relay of trash up a hill and out to the road.

The tally of trash hauled out this year included the usual – 17 shopping carts, 15 bicycles, scooters, tires, and balls – and the unusual – 2 safes, 2 vacuum cleaners, and a computer complete with monitor – and bags and bags of other debris.

Throughout the cleanup, the volunteers kept wondering how to stop people from continuing to dump trash in the river. Many had attended the West Branch Urban River Visions sessions and this same question came up there. As we all try to cleanup the West Branch, please do your part. Don’t throw anything in the river that you wouldn’t want to swim with. Anything that you drop on the ground will eventually end up in the river. Remember, anything that goes down a stormdrain goes into the river.

Great Barrington River Cleanup

A dedicated group of volunteers, some from as far as Canaan, Connecticut, met at the boat launch on Brookside Road in Great Barrington on Saturday, June 9th. We cleaned up on foot from the boat launch, over the bridge on Brookside, and down East Sheffield Road.

The steep bank made some of this cleanup quite a challenge, but we managed to remove an old appliance that was partly buried in the river bottom at the edge of the bank, as well as car parts, bicycles, and lots of other trash.

A stove partly buried at the edge of the river
digging out the stove
pieces of the stove at the top
the stove crew

See pictures of the Saturday, June 2nd, River Cleanup and Paddle

Check BEAT’s river cleanup page to see what we have done in the past. Cleanups are a lot of hard work and a lot of fun!

National River Cleanup Week, is presented by American Rivers, and kicks off a series of community-based stream cleanups nationwide beginning the week of June 2-10, 2007. This popular annual event raises public awareness of themagnitude of trash accumulating in our nation¹s waterways. Local volunteerswill be participating along with tens of thousands of volunteers taking part in hundreds of cleanups across the country to remove trash from local rivers and streams.

 

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SELF-HELP, URBAN S-H AND LWCF GRANTS

From Ian A. Bowles, Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs:
“I am pleased to announce that my office, through the Division of Conservation Services (DCS), in anticipation of, and contingent upon, the availability of funds, will conduct the annual Fiscal Year 2008 grant round for the state Self-Help and Urban Self-Help Programs and for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program. The filing deadline for each program is 3 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31, 2007.

Download the application package at:
http://www.mass.gov/envir/dcs/default.htm
Each application package contains both of those files, plus all application materials necessary for conservation and recreation proposals.

Self-Help Program (Conservation Projects)
The Self-Help Program provides funds to municipal conservation commissions for the purchase of conservation land.  The priority for this year’s Self-Help grant round will be for the protection of coastal and estuarine property; sensitive stream, river, lake and pond watersheds; and biological conservation (especially rare species habitats). Projects which fall under lands mapped in the Statewide Land Conservation Plan, and those that augment or connect to existing conservation lands, and thereby help to preserve the integrity and health of the local or regional ecosystems, will receive greater consideration for funding.

Urban Self-Help Program (Park Projects)
This year there is a particular focus on getting new parks built in underserved city neighborhoods. Small towns may qualify for these grants where projects are designed to provide statewide or regional recreational facilities or up to a maximum grant of $50,000 for smaller recreational projects.
Questions to Melissa Cryan, Urban Self-Help Coordinator
(617) 626-1171 or melissa.cryan@state.ma.us

Land and Water Conservation Fund Program (LWCF) (Conservation or Park Projects)
This federal grant program funds conservation or park projects submitted from both municipal and state agency project sponsors.  The federal program is being announced in anticipation of a congressional appropriation.  The federal program is open to the Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation and the Mass. Dept. of Fish and Game.  Municipal projects may be considered for funding under both the federal LWCF program and the appropriate DCS program – but can only be approved for funding through one of the programs.  Municipalities must indicate on their application that they wish to be eligible for either program.
NPS RIVERS, TRAILS & CONSERVATION ASSISTANCE GRANTS

National Park Service Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance Program
Deadline: August 1

If you’re working on restoring a river, building a trail, or making an urban park flourish, they would love to talk with you
about ways you might be able to work together.  Could your project benefit from 1-2 years’ staff time and technical
assistance from a National Park Service specialist? They want to help you succeed.
DRINKING WATER SUPPLY PROTECTION GRANTS

FY08 Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program
Application Deadline: 3 p.m. Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, in coordination with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, is pleased to issue the FY08 Request for Responses for the 2008 Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Program.

This grant program provides funding to public water systems and municipalities for land acquisitions that protect public drinking water supplies and drinking water quality. The direct recipient of a grant must be a municipality or public water system authorized by the Commonwealth to provide water to the public.  Eligible land acquisitions include land located in existing drinking water supply areas.  Land may be acquired through purchase of fee simple title, purchase of a conservation restriction, or purchase of a combination of fee simple title and conservation restriction(s).

The maximum grant award for a single project is $500,000.  The maximum reimbursement amount available is 50% of the total project cost. This Request for Responses is being issued in anticipation of the availability of funding. Final grant awards are continent upon funding. There is no guarantee that monies will be awarded. Multiple contracts may be awarded by MassDEP.

Qualified applications will be selected on a competitive basis.  We look forward to receiving your applications. Applications must be submitted no later than Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.

The complete Drinking Water Supply Protection Request for Responses (RFR) is now available on the Comm-PASS website: https://www.comm-pass.com/ Directions for negotiating the site are included below.

DEP and EOEEA will hold two informational grant workshops:

Thursday, June 7, from 3:00 pm – 4:45 pm
MA Dept. of Public Health Western Regional Office, Northampton
Directions:
http://www.mass.gov/dph/about/directions/wrhodir.htm

Thursday, June 14, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
MA Dept. of Environmental Protection Main Office, Boston
Directions:
http://www.mass.gov/dep/about/organization/depdir.htm

Questions? Contact Christy Edwards (EOEEA) via email at Christy.edwards@state.ma.us

FY08 Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant Comm-PASS Instructions:
1.) On the Comm-PASS home page (http://www.comm-pass.com/) select the “Solicitations” tab at the top-left of the page.
2.) Select “Search for a Solicitation”.
3.) In the “Search by Specific Criteria” section enter “BRP 2007-03” in the Document Number field.
4.) This search will yield one result. Click on the sentence on the top of the page that says: “There are 1 Solicitation(s) found that match your search criteria”.
5.) Select the spectacle icon on the far right-hand column to view all information available for this grant program.
6.) Click on the tab that says “Specifications” to view the grant Request for Response. Answers to questions and amendments to the original RFR (if necessary) will also be posted here. Click on the spectacle icon to view and print any document posted in this section.

 

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Rededication Ceremony for Fred Garner Park

On a very chilly day in June, the 6th, a ceremony was held to rededicate Fred Garner Park on Pomeroy Avenue in Pittsfield following the use of the park as a staging area for part of the remediation of two miles of the East Branch of the Housatonic River by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Electric Company (GE). PCBs originally from the GE site in Pittsfield were removed from the river between the GE site and the confluence of the East and West branches of the Housatonic near Fred Garner Park.

Unfortunately, PCBs are still entering the river above and near the beginning of this “cleaned up” part of the river. (see GE and PCBs)

Many people attended the ceremony including Representative Smitty Pignatelli, City Councilors Gerald Lee and Matt Kerwood, member of the EPA, Mass. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and river advocates – including two who drove all the way up from Connecticut, Judy Herkimer of the Housatonic Environmental Action League (HEAL) and Lynn Fowler of the Housatonic River Commission.

Ceremony at Fred Garner Park . Rep Smitty Pignatelli was in the crowd . Judy Herkimer, HEAL and Lynn Fowler

EPA Regional Administrator Robert Varney spoke as did Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto and GE’s vice president for environmental programs Stephen Ramsey.

Tom Hickey, Mayor James Ruberto, and Steve Ramsey from GE . From the EPA, Bob Varney

Following the speeches there was a quick ribbon cutting at the start of the canoe launch.

About to cut the ribbon . ribbon just cut

Despite the chill in the air, BEAT’s Executive Director, Jane Winn, and Jenny Hersch, proponent for the Housatonic River Museum, still managed to end the ceremony by launching a canoe and taking a paddle first upstream under the Pomeroy Ave bridge, then down to the confluence of the remediated East Branch and the West Branch. They continued their paddle up the West Branch to explore the oxbow where PCBs had been detected at one time, but never remediated.

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Unveiling of the Urban River Visions plan for the West Branch of the Housatonic River

On a somewhat rainy evening at Pitt Park the Urban River Visions plan for the West Branch of the Housatonic River was unveiled.

The evening started with another wonderful performance by Youth Alive
… both step dancing Youth Alive Step Dancers. Youth Alive Step Dancers and drumming Two Drummers. One drummer

We then moved inside for a presentation of the draft poster resulting from the two-day input session.

Listening to presentation .Unveiling the Vision.Looking at the posters.Looking at posters

(See BEAT’s report and pictures of the two-day input session and the official report [pdf] on the session).

There is more information about the Urban River Visions 2 process on their website.
For more information on the Urban Rivers Vision plan or this event, please contact Jim McGrath, Director of Community Services for Pittsfield, directly at 413-499-9343 or by email.

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Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture 2007-2008 Hearing Schedule. This schedule is subject to change.  For questions please contact the Committee at (617) 722-2210

All hearings in State House Hearing Room A-1 unless otherwise noted

Air and Water Quality – June 25, 2007 – 1:00 PM
Agriculture and Milk – July 9, 2007 – 1:00 PM – Location TBA
Oceans – July 16, 2007 – 1:00 PM – Location  TBA
Oceans and Waterways – July 23, 2007 – 1:00 PM – Location New Bedford
LAND CONSERVATION – July 30, 2007 – 1:00 PM – Location TBA
Pesticides & Hazardous Waste – September 10, 2007 – 1:00 PM
Fish and Game – September 17, 2007 – 1:00 PM
Policies – September 24, 2007 – 1:00 PM
Dept. of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) – October 1, 2007 – 1:00 PM
Sewers, Title V, Wetlands – October 15, 2007 – 1:00 PM
Miscellaneous – October 22, 2007 – 1:00 PM

 

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