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Hi Team,
Mark your calendars with two important dates...
Giving Tuesday is Tuesday, November 28! Consider giving $20 (or more) in honor of BEAT's 20th anniversary this year. Your support enables our year-round efforts to protect the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all.
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Join BEAT for its 20th Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, December 2, from 1–3 PM at our Environmental Leadership and Education Center, located at 20 Chapel St in Pittsfield. If you plan on celebrating with us, please RSVP. This will help us to prepare and ensure we have enough refreshments for everyone. Click here to RSVP.
Thank you so much for all the ways you support our organization and the work we do. None of this would be possible without our supporters and volunteers!
With gratitude,
Jane, Rose, Chelsey, John, Lucas, Andrew, and Brittany
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THIS WEEKEND: BERKSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY CONFERENCE | |
Learn about native birds, turtles, caves, and more at the 7th Annual Berkshire Natural History Conference that's taking place on Saturday, November 18, from 9 AM to 4 PM.
The event, which features fascinating presentations by local and regional naturalists and acclaimed authors, will be held at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
Highlighting topics that range from declining bird populations to the value of local moths, the Conference includes several renowned speakers — one of which will be given by our very own Executive Director, Jane Winn, and Deputy Director, Brittany Ebeling. There will also be exhibitor tables — consisting of environmental organizations, museums, photographers, and more — a natural history quiz, and a book sale.
It is open to the public, and students of all ages and disciplines are especially encouraged to attend. General admission tickets are $25; student tickets are $15 and include forum credit. Tickets include a buffet lunch.
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SCHEDULE:
9 AM: Welcome and Announcements with Berkshire School Head of School Pieter Mulder and Berkshire School Science Teacher Patrick Donovan
9:20 AM: "UnBEATen in 20 Years" with Jane Winn, director and founder, Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT). Winn highlights the work BEAT has accomplished in the past two decades, from leading educational presentations to removing invasive species. BEAT has been awarded numerous accolades from local, state and national organizations.
9:50 AM: "The New Berkshire Birds Book" with Chip Blake, former editor of Orion magazine. The Birds of Berkshire County, written by a longtime local birder and scheduled for release next year, addresses all 337 bird species that have been identified in Berkshire County. This presentation highlights birding and birdwatchers in the Berkshires, plus information about how the county's birdlife is changing.
10:10 AM: "Massachusetts Nongame and Endangered Species" with Steve Sears, board member, MassWildlife and principal owner, Stationery Factory. Learn about the success of the state's Nongame and Endangered Species Program, which has resulted in the conservation of plants and animals that never before had any chance to survive.
10:30 AM: Break. Visit exhibits, take a natural history quiz and bid on silent auction items.
10:55 AM: "The Nature Conservancy's Efforts on Behalf of the Rarest Turtle in the Northeast" with Caroline Black, Assistant Land Steward, Nature Conservancy, Berkshire Office. The speaker has spent most of her career working with the endangered bog turtle, a tiny wetland creature that still survives in the Berkshires. Using radio telemetry and a new upside-down bucket-and-camera technique, bog turtle biology research continues.
11:10 AM: "A Wildlife Story of Trail Cameras in Williamstown" with photographer and author Adria Weatherbee and naturalist Derrob Hagy-Weatherbee. Utilizing a series of trail cameras, the speakers have gathered images to study animal species around Harmon Pond/South Williamstown. They share their findings about behaviors of deer, bears, bobcats, raccoons, various mustelids, porcupines and more.
11:25 AM: "The First Berkshire Naturalist Award" with Henry Art, Director, Center for Environmental Studies, Williams College. Committee members have long thought that awarding an outstanding current Berkshire naturalist not only makes sense, but is long overdue. Dr. Art will introduce the award and present it to a yet-unnamed person in the audience.
12 PM: Lunch buffet in Venable Gymnasium
1:30 PM: Reminders and announcements
1:35 PM: "Welcome to the Dark Side: Investigating Moths" with Dave Small, Director, Millers River Environmental Center. In this session, Small discusses how to attract moths to your own yard and the tricks in building your nocturnal yard list. He also shares tips for setting up group moth nights.
2 PM: "Bringing Back Kestrels: A Community Conservation Project" with Ben Nickley, Director, Berkshire Bird Observatory. Nickley introduces the Berkshire Bird Observatory's efforts to protect, conserve, and learn about one of the smallest falcons in the world, the American Kestrel. Nickley highlights the small raptor's behaviors, including taking to human-made houses.
2:20 PM: "Winging It: Cliff Swallows and Their Insect Prey" with Sara Snyder, Associate Professor of Biology, Bard College at Simon's Rock. The cliff swallow is a charismatic colonial nesting species that consumes insects on the wing. Swallow colony size varies widely across nesting sites in western Massachusetts, from just a few birds to over 100 pairs. Could this variation be influenced by differences in the abundance and diversity of insects at nesting sites?
2:45 PM: "Life of a Berkshire Environmental Police Officer" with Frank Soleimani, Region 2 Sergeant, Massachusetts Environmental Police. The important work of environmental police has a near 24-hour active requirement. Helping people understand regulations, following leads to find those responsible for environmental damage, and increasing awareness and cooperation are all part of the job.
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Comment deadline extended on General Electric's Pittsfield wastewater permit renewal
The Berkshire Eagle
| "The deadline for comment on the renewal of General Electric's state and federal permits for discharge of treated water into Unkamet Brook and the Housatonic River has been extended to Dec. 20. That extension was announced at an online public hearing Wednesday on the proposed renewal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection both have regulatory responsibility for the permit. The comment deadline was originally set for Nov. 20. The permit, under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, regulates the discharge of treated groundwater and stormwater from the GE campus. As part of the renewal, EPA is seeking 'best management practices' to further reduce the discharge of PCBs and other pollutants into the river and account for the increased volume and frequency of heavy rain events as a result of climate change. It seeks to eliminate the bypass of water treatment systems during high-volume events and regulate stormwater from the city of Pittsfield when that water co-mingles with water in the GE treatment system. Stormwater from Newell and East streets in the vicinity of the former power transformer campus is connected to the GE wastewater treatment facility on East Street." READ MORE |  |
Mass. can expand solar without chopping so much forest, report says
Barbara Moran | WBUR
| "...The amount of large-scale solar in Massachusetts has grown from nearly nothing in 2008 to about 20% of the electricity generated in-state today. Massachusetts now produces about 60% of New England's solar power, and ranks 11th in the nation for the amount of electricity generated from the sun. But this boom has come at a cost: more than half of solar farms built in the state during the last decade required clear-cutting forest; another 16% covered workable farmland. The destruction of forests and farms has led to considerable opposition to solar farms in Massachusetts [...] And damaging or destroying "working lands" like forest and farmland has environmental consequences as well: losses of wildlife habitat, stormwater drainage, and carbon storage. A new analysis from Harvard Forest and Mass Audubon finds that the forest loss alone resulted in more than 500,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions overall — the same as the annual emissions from 112,000 passenger cars. But that same analysis argues that it doesn't need to be this way. Report authors say that Massachusetts could meet its ambitious goals for solar power — around 30 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2050, up from about 4 gigawatts today — while preserving the most valuable land." READ MORE |  |
Massachusetts team wins international Envirothon competition
MassWildlife News
| "Earlier this year, the team from Lexington took first place at the 36thannual Massachusetts Envirothon, a state-wide competition where high school teams are tested on their knowledge of the environment. After some special studying sessions in the Envirothon focus areas—wildlife, aquatics, soils, and forestry—the Bay State teens traveled to New Brunswick to compete in the international challenge. The five-member team claimed first place out of fifty other groups from across the U.S., Canada, China, and Singapore. The National Conservation Foundation Envirothon is North America’s leading natural resource education program for high school students, emphasizing hands-on, team-oriented problem solving and community involvement that prepares young people for environmental careers and active citizenship. Here in Massachusetts, students work outside school hours with an adult sponsor to prepare for the annual competition held in the spring. In addition to showing their knowledge in the four focus areas, teams must also give a presentation on a current environmental issue. The winning group moves on to the international competition. The Lexington High School teens [...] prepared for the international competition with help from professionals in each of the focus areas. Pam Landry, MassWildlife Education Coordinator and Envirothon Advisory Member, met with the team to provide special training on topics related to wildlife conservation. After their impressive international victory, the Lexington team was honored by Governor Maura Healy at the State House in late August." READ MORE |  |
Elusive egg-laying mammal caught on camera for the first time
Laura Baisas | Popular Science
| "For the first time in over 60 years, a rare egg-laying mammal has been spotted by scientists. Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi) was caught on camera during a major expedition in the Cyclops Mountains in Indonesia’s Papua Province. The long-beaked echidna is named for wildlife documentarian and conservationist Sir David Attenborough and has only been recorded by scientists once in 1961. It is considered a monotreme, or an evolutionary distinct group of mammals who can lay eggs. The platypus is also a monotreme and there are only five remaining species of these strange types of mammal on Earth. [...] 'Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna has the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater, and the feet of a mole. Because of its hybrid appearance, it shares its name with a creature of Greek mythology that is half human, half serpent,' University of Oxford biologist James Kempton said in a statement. The echidna also has cultural significance for the people in the village of Yongsu Sapari. They have lived on the northern slopes of the Cyclops Mountains for eighteen generations. Rather than fighting during conflicts, the tradition is for one party to go up into the Cyclops to find echidna while the other party goes to the ocean to search for a marlin. Both of these creatures were difficult to find and it would take decades to even whole generations to locate them. However, once they were found, the marlin and echidna would symbolize the end of the conflict. During an expedition that began in 2019, a group of scientists from institutions in multiple countries set up over 80 trail cameras. [...] On the last day of the expedition, they finally spotted Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna. The identification of the species was later confirmed by mammalogist Kristofer Helgen from the Australian Museum Research Institute." READ MORE | |  |
Grand trips, local hotspots offered at HVA's Auction for the Environment
HVA Press Release
| "Guests and online auction bidders will vie for getaways across France and Italy, outings at popular local establishments, and more at Housatonic Valley Association’s (HVA) Auction for the Environment on Sunday, November 19, 2023, at South Farms in Morris, CT. The auction is HVA’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and all are invited to attend. Proceeds will benefit HVA’s work to restore, conserve, and protect clean, cold waters and a sweeping woodland corridor across the entire Housatonic Valley in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. The silent auction portion of the event opens online Monday, November 13, 2023, at 2:00 pm and will close Sunday, November 26, 2023, at 5:00 pm. HVA encourages everyone to sign up at hvatoday.org (at no cost) and bid on some of the fabulous auction items up for grabs. HVA Board member Christine Baranski, critically acclaimed Emmy and Tony Award winning actress and star of CBS’s The Good Fight and HBO’s The Gilded Age is chairing the Benefit Auction Committee along with Rebecca Neary, Elyse Harney Morris, Pat Kennedy Lahoud, Pam and Jack Baker, Philippa Durant, Margo Martindale, Diane Meier, Seth and Alexi Meyers, and Anne Swift and Lee Lord. [...] Seating is limited; visit hvatoday.org or call 203-671-7981 to purchase tickets and to sign up for the silent auction." |  |
Partnership effort grows Pownal town forest to over 1,000 acres
Vermont Land Trust
| "The Pownal community will once again be able to explore and enjoy their town forest, which has grown by nearly 300 acres. Located on the eastern flank of the Taconic Mountains, the Strobridge Recreation Area is highly visible from Vermont Route 7 and the town office. The scenic property, established in 2002, has been inaccessible since 2011. That was when tropical storm Irene washed away a woods road that was the only legal access to the parcel. In September 2023, the town of Pownal bought 296 acres in Halifax Hollow that includes a trail easement from Dean Road. The new addition fills out the original 735-acre jigsaw-piece shaped town forest. Trail development to restore access is planned for 2024. With access secured, people will be able to enjoy hiking, birding, mountain biking, snow-shoeing, and more on the land. [....] The Pownal town forest is adjacent to over 5,000 acres of privately owned conserved forestland along the Taconic Mountain Range in New York and Massachusetts. It also abuts New York’s 3,000+ acre Taconic Ridge State Forest, which is home to the 37-mile Taconic Crest trail along the New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts border. The expanded Strobridge Area will make possible the first Vermont access to the popular trail. [...] The land is traversed by nearly two miles of a coldwater tributary of the Hoosic River, which flows into the Hudson River. Both the stream and the Hoosic are known to be brook trout habitat. Located on a north-facing slope, the stream provides habitat for species that need consistently cold water to survive – such as native eastern brook trout, wood turtles, and many salamanders. This will be helpful as the climate changes. All streams on the land, including this tributary, have special clean-water protections under the conservation easement. The land also has areas of Dry Oak Forest and Dry Oak-Hickory-Hophornbeam Forest that have special ecological protections under the easement." READ MORE |  |
How Midwest Landowners Helped Derail One of the Biggest CO2 Pipelines Ever Proposed
Kristoffer Tigue | Inside Climate News
| "After half a decade of failed attempts, Kathleen Campbell thought 2021 would finally be the year she retired. That is—until she received a letter in December from Navigator CO2 Ventures. The company wanted to build part of its carbon dioxide pipeline through her property, about 1,000 feet from her rural Illinois home, just south of Springfield, which she had shared with her husband for more than 30 years. The massive project would ultimately span five Midwestern states, and Navigator was threatening to seize her property through eminent domain if she didn’t grant them an easement. [...] But Navigator’s executives couldn’t have known who they were dealing with. A distinguished research professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Campbell had spent her life combing through complex health studies and thwarting deep-pocketed pharmaceutical companies from bringing potentially dangerous drugs to market. Within months, she had helped birth a formidable opposition campaign to the pipeline. About two weeks ago, Navigator finally capitulated and canceled its project. The company officially cited “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved” as its reason for the decision. But truth be known, it was landowners like Campbell whose opposition wore them down and proved decisive. [...] Navigator’s pipeline would have spanned 1,300 miles across South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. It was one of two massive carbon dioxide pipelines that had been proposed in the Midwest in 2021 as the Biden administration began pumping billions of dollars in federal funding into nascent carbon capture and storage technologies as part of its ambitious agenda to combat climate change. The other pipeline—Summit Carbon Solutions—had been proposed earlier that year, and would stretch more than 2,000 miles from North Dakota to parts of Nebraska and Iowa. A third pipeline owned by Wolf Carbon Solutions, which would run 280 miles between Iowa and Illinois, was also being discussed but hadn’t been officially proposed. [...] There are more than 5,000 miles of carbon dioxide pipelines currently operating in the United States today, mostly for enhanced oil recovery—a process that involves injecting CO2 underground to dislodge elusive petroleum deposits. But as the climate crisis worsens, energy experts believe that as many as 100,000 miles of CO2 pipelines could crisscross the country in the coming decades." READ MORE | |
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BERKSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY CONFERENCE
Saturday, November 18th from 9 AM to 4 PM
at Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA
WILDLIFE TRACKING HIKE WITH JIM PELLETIER AND RICHARD GREENE (TWO SESSIONS)
Saturday, November 25th from 9 AM to Noon & 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM
at Beartown State Forest
BEAT'S 20TH-ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION AND OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, December 2nd from 1 PM to 3 PM
at BEAT's Environmental Leadership & Education Center, Pittsfield, MA
BERKSHIRE GREEN DRINKS: "TWENTY YEARS OF PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR WILDLIFE: A CONVERSATION WITH BERKSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION TEAM"
Wednesday, December 13th from 6 PM to 7:15 PM
Online via Zoom
TREE WALKS WITH BEAT AND TOURISTS
Sunday, December 17th from 12 PM to 2 PM
at TOURISTS, North Adams, MA
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Environmental Monitor
November 8, 2023
The Environmental Monitor provides information on projects under review by the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) office, recent MEPA decisions of the Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs, and public notices from environmental agencies.
Berkshire Index:
• Adams – Notice of Public Hearing re: Vegetation Management Plan - (click on the link, then at the top, click on attachment) – Department of Agricultural Resources will conduct a regional hearing to receive public comment on the proposed Vegetation Management Plan for the Town of Adams, as submitted by Eammon Coughlin, Community Development Director. Public Zoom hearing will be held December 15, 2023 at 9:00 AM – comments due 12/22/2023
• Florida, North Adams, Monroe, Adams – E131 Asset Condition Refurbishment (ACR) Project – Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) – comments due 12/8/2023
• Hancock, Lanesborough, Hinsdale, Cheshire, Dalton – WT-02 Transmission Right-of-Way Reliability Project – Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) – comments due 12/8/2023
CT River Valley Index:
• Ludlow – Notice of Intent to Initiate an Aquatic Plant Management Program – (click on the link, then at the top, click on attachment) – The proposed project is seeking approval to implement an Aquatic Plant Management Program at Murphy & Alden Ponds in Ludlow, MA. The focus of this management will be on reducing and controlling nuisance and invasive aquatic vegetation using USEPA/MA registered aquatic herbicides & algaecides in combination with manual removal. – Posted 11/8/20
• Chicopee, Holyoke, South Hadley – Notice of Public Hearing re: Vegetation Management Plan – (click on the link, then at the top, click on attachment) – Department of Agricultural Resources will conduct a regional hearing to receive public comment on the proposed Vegetation Management Plan for Holyoke Gas & Electric, as submitted by Fuss & O’Neill. Holyoke Gas and Electric (HG&E) proposes to utilize herbicides to treat their Rights-of-Way. Public hearing will be held on December 22 at 11:00 AM over Zoom – comments due 12/22/23
• Charlemont – Notice of Application for a 401 Water Quality Certificate – (click on the link, then at the top, click on attachment) – Replacement of a structurally deficient bridge with a new bridge on similar alignment and same functional equivalent. There will also be some minor roadway approach reconstruction. – Comments due 11/12/23
• Westfield – Westfield Target Supply Chain Facility – NPC Cert – Does not require EIR – Submitted 10/10/23
• Springfield – Reconstruction of Sumner Avenue at Dickinson Street and Belmont Avenue (The “X”) – FEIR Cert – Submitted 10/16/23
Statewide Index:
• Notice of Public Hearing re: Vegetation Management Plan – ( click on line, then click on attachments) – Several listed municipalities are advised that Eversource Energy, Western MA proposes to utilize herbicides to treat their Rights-of-Way. To provide all interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed VMP, a public ZOOM hearing will be held at 11:30 AM on December 22, 2023. – Comments due 12/22/23
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Public Notices
There is currently an opportunity for people to comment on the EPA’s draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the General Electric Company’s (GE’s) properties in Pittsfield. This permit covers outfalls from GE’s properties into Unkamet Brook and the Housatonic River in Pittsfield.
Here is a link to the proposed permit.
Permit # MA0003891
Comment period: 9/19/2023-11/20/2023
A public notice of a draft NPDES permit. The public comment period is September 19, 2023 – November 20, 2023.
A public meeting will be held November 8, 2023 at 6:00 – Virtual meeting information will be provided here once available.
A public hearing will be held November 8, 2023 at 7:00 – Virtual meeting information will be provided here once available.
Program/Statute: Clean Water Act (CWA)
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Public Notices listed on BEAT's website are from a variety of sources, from town conservation commissions and select boards to state and federal agencies. These listings are for Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties. Listings are only posted if they are environmental in nature. You can find all public notices for Massachusetts here.
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