Berkshire Environmental Action Team

Calling all Chestnut Fans!
2026-05-30 09:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Gould Farm, 100 Gould Road, Monterey, MA, 01245, United States
Join the MA/RI Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, with support from the Monterey Native Plants Group, to help plant an amazing chestnut seedling orchard!
You are invited to help plant an orchard of 100 specially selected chestnut seedlings that have been hybridized for resistance to the blight that wiped out this keystone species in the early part of the last century.
Gould Farm has been chosen for this large planting (100+ seedlings) as another step toward restoring the iconic American Chestnut to our woodlands. This effort has been ongoing for over 40 years by the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF), a national organization with chapters throughout the historic range of the American Chestnut from Maine to Georgia.
The MA/RI chapter, which has worked closely with the Monterey Native Plants Group on a number of programs, including several annual chestnut talks and nut and seedling distributions, has breeding orchards throughout the state. Last year the MA/RI chapter cross-pollinated the most promising and robust trees in its orchards. It was a labor-intensive effort to take the pollen from the best tree in one orchard and pollinate the best tree in a different orchard. The effort was a success in producing a number of viable nuts. The nuts produced from that effort have been sprouted, potted up and the young seedlings will be ready to plant later this month, on a property near the parking lot of Diane’s Trail on Curtis Road.
The efforts at the state chapter level are accomplished wholly by volunteers. All are invited and welcome to be part of this major restoration effort. All help is greatly appreciated.
For more information, contact John at johnkingfisher54@gmail.com.
DATE: Saturday, May 30 (rain date Sunday, May 31)
TIME: 9:00am – 4:00pm
LOCATION: Parking lot for Diane’s Trail, Gould Farm, Monterey, MA. Orchard located off Curtis Rd, Monterey, MA 01245

Native Plant Giveaway & Exchange at BEAT’s Rain Garden
2026-05-30 10:00 - 12:00 | Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT), 20 Chapel St., Pittsfield, MA
Like previous years, BEAT will thin out the rain garden this spring at our Environmental Leadership & Education Center, and we’d love to spread some of these native plants out to other areas in Berkshire County!
DATE: Saturday, May 30
TIME: 10 AM to Noon
LOCATION: BEAT’s Environmental Leadership & Education Center, 20 Chapel Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201
Five years ago, with the help of volunteers, BEAT planted a pollinator-supporting rain garden at our Environmental Leadership & Education Center located along the West Branch Housatonic River in Pittsfield. Not only does this garden collect and filter stormwater before running off and draining to the Housatonic River directly behind our building, but it also supports native pollinators. For the last two years, we have been amazed at how huge and dense the plants get each summer, with blue vervain and other native plants over nine feet tall! The garden is filled with pollinators all summer, and then in the fall, birds feast on the fruit.
We’ll be at BEAT’s Center (20 Chapel Street, Pittsfield) giving out plants from 10 AM to Noon on Saturday, May 30. Feel free to stop by at any time during those hours. Some species that will be available to take home are Sweet Joe-Pye-Weed (Eutrochium purpureum), common sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale), seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), blue vervain (Verbena hastata), great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) and likely a few other species as well. Also, if you have an abundance of native plants in your garden and would like to share them with others, please feel free to bring them along — but it’s also not necessary.
