Hi Friend,
Spring has sprung, and thaw has begun! That means BEAT’s fieldwork will start amping up, and we can begin our water quality sampling once again. We are seeking motivated volunteers who want to get outside and help BEAT staff collect water quality data on Wednesdays. You don’t need prior experience to volunteer — just a willingness to learn and a forbearance of getting a little dirty! If this opportunity sounds interesting to you and you’d like to know more, send an email to Noah.
Speaking of getting outside and getting your hands dirty, Thursday looks like it might be a good night for amphibian migration. Want to help salamanders and frogs safely move across roadways to their breeding habitats? Join us at one of our three crossings that will take place in West Stockbridge, Monterey, and Hancock! Reach out to Noah to sign up.
Lastly, tonight there is a Housatonic Citizens Coordinating Council (CCC) Meeting from 6 PM to 8 PM on Zoom. During this meeting, the Technical Assistance Grant recipient will speak; then, there will be a review of investigations regarding the area where the upland disposal facility (dump) is proposed to be in Lee. The EPA will also review received documents that the public is invited to comment upon, go over sediment sampling for the already remediated part of the river, and discuss the status of the Rest of River Permit. There is a link to the full draft agenda on EPA’s website. You can learn more about the meeting and how you can join on our event calendar.
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment!
Jane, Rose, Jake, Noah, and Chelsey
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Berkshire Planning Commission Preparing for Electric Vehicle Movement
Britany Polito | iBerkshires
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"Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is preparing for the statewide and national movement toward electric vehicles. BRPC Transportation Planner Justin Gilmore presented a Berkshire County Electric Vehicle Charging Station Plan to the commission on Thursday that aims to put charging capabilities in every community. [...] The state's decarbonization roadmap, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 85 percent by 2050, outlines steps to require 100 percent zero-emissions light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales by 2035. This means that after 2035 in the state of Massachusetts, people will no longer be able to buy new internal combustion engine vehicles. The Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan published in 2020 aims to increase the number of EVs in the state from about 36,000 to 750,000 by 2030." Read More
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Leadership Transition at Williamstown Rural Lands
Local land trust hires a new executive director
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"Williamstown Rural Lands (WRL) is pleased to announce that Robin Sears, PhD has been selected as its new Executive Director. Dr. Sears is an interdisciplinary scientist whose previous work at the intersections of forests and people, farming and forestry, and science and policy positions her well to lead WRL. An explorer and curious global citizen, Dr. Sears has spent much time engaged in field research in rural and wild areas such as the Amazon, the Andes, and the Himalayas. In recognition of her professional accomplishment and experiences in international expeditions, Dr. Sears was recently elected to the Society of Woman Geographers. Dr. Sears is a New England native, growing up in Leverett and completing her Bachelor of Science in botany from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After two decades working in the international sphere, Dr. Sears returned to the Pioneer Valley in 2016 as Visiting Professor of Forestry at Hampshire College. She deepened her connection to our local landscape during a Charles Bullard Fellowship at the Harvard Forest in 2018, after which she put down roots in Williamstown. [...] Dr. Sears is currently a Research Affiliate at the Center for International Research and Forestry (CIFOR) and represents North America as a core member of the Forest Ecosystems Specialist Group of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. She plans to leverage those and other links to tie Williamstown Rural Lands to the global community. [...] Dr. Sears will be working diligently with the WRL staff and board and with community members in the coming months to prepare for a strategic planning process in the fall. You will undoubtedly enjoy interacting with her at Sheep Hill, on the trails, and at the upcoming Sheep-to-Shawl event on May 7." Read More
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Film Screening — Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek
Christine Seibert | Williams College
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"Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek follows the painful but inspiring journey of Derrick Evans, a Boston teacher who moves home to coastal Mississippi when the graves of his ancestors are bulldozed to make way for the sprawling city of Gulfport. Over the course of a decade, Derrick and his neighbors stand up to powerful corporate interests and politicians and face Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil disaster in their struggle for self-determination and environmental justice.' Join us at Images Cinema on Tuesday, April 5th, at 7:30 for a screening of the film Come Hell or High Water: the Battle for Turkey Creek, with a post-film conversation on environmental justice. This event commemorates Martin Luther King Jr’s final speech on April 3, 1968, “I’ve been to the Mountaintop," about local organizing efforts against racial and labor injustice, and encourages us to reflect on how we might contribute to his legacy following his assassination on April 4, 1968. MLK's imagination of the “mountaintop” is a Black socioecological vision that reverberates throughout connected struggles within Black environmental genealogy that take up the compounded questions, realities, entities and futurities of land, repossession, and environmental justice. The film follows Derrick Evans and his neighbors on the Gulf Coast as they stand up to powerful corporate interests and politicians and face Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil disaster in their struggle for self-determination and environmental justice." Learn More
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February 2022 Reader Photo Gallery
Northern Woodlands
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"Your February photos showed wildlife tracks in snow, winter-hardy birds, stunning skies, and here and there, the first glimmerings of spring, from common mergansers pairing up, to the fuzzy flower of an early blooming pussy willow. In Francestown, New Hampshire, Ben Haubrich made a surprising find: a snapping turtle carapace that a coyote had recently gnawed. In Reading, Vermont, Alex Barrett admired a towering white pine (using a forester for scale), and in Newry, Maine, Tony Marple enjoyed the view from the Sunday River Whitecap summit. Check out Tami Gingrich’s wonderful images of short-eared owls, before and after a rough-legged hawk flew by." See More Photos
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Creating Cooler Communities: Celebrating Youth Climate Initiative at the Berkshire Earth Expo
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"Students from Taconic and Pittsfield High Schools will be showcasing their work on projects related to climate change and environmental protection at Berkshire Museum on April 14th, from 12:45 PM to 3:30 PM. Aside from the students' presentations, the event — organized in collaboration with Living the Change Berkshires and the Cooler Communities school grant program — will also feature art, food, and music, including author and climate rapper Tem Blessed. Everyone is welcome! Due to space being limited, we strongly encourage you to sign up on Eventbrite. Registered guests will be given preference at the door. The event will also be live-streamed and recorded for PCTV Community television." |
Massachusetts program funds strategies pairing equity and clean transportation
Sarah Shemkus | Energy News Network
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"Massachusetts has announced $5 million in grants for pilot projects aimed at connecting disadvantaged populations with clean, electric transportation. The program, known as Accelerating Clean Transportation for All, will fund 10 projects across the state that are focused on improving infrastructure for electric taxis, increasing adoption of e-bikes, electrifying nonprofit fleets, or educating consumers about electric vehicles. “The overarching goal of that program is to address clean transportation in areas that are overburdened by greenhouse gasses and also underserved by public transportation,” said Rachel Ackerman, director for transportation programming at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the agency administering the grant program. Environmental justice has been a centerpiece of Massachusetts’ policy since last year, when the state passed ambitious climate legislation that included several provisions for ensuring the clean energy transition benefits low-income residents and communities of color. Accelerating Clean Transportation for All was developed with this goal in mind." Read More
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Scientists have discovered a microscopic ocean predator with a taste for carbon
Sky News
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"Scientists have discovered a new and tiny marine predator which is capable of naturally sequestering carbon. They say the single-celled microbe could be 'a secret weapon in the battle against climate change' as oceans get warmer and more acidic. According to the team at the University of Technology Sydney, in Australia, the critter could be cultivated to help offset carbon emissions. The microbe uses photosynthesis and secretes a carbon-rich mucus that attracts and traps other microbes. The predator eats some of these microbes before abandoning the heavy carbon-rich mucus which sinks to the bottom of the ocean, contributing to the natural carbon pump." Read More
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Wooly Bears Awake, Feeding & Soon To Pupate
Mary Holland | Naturally Curious
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"Isabella Tiger Moths (we call their larvae Woolly Bears) are one of the few moths or butterflies that overwinter as caterpillars. In the fall they produce a chemical which acts like anti-freeze and protects them against damage from freezing and thawing. The caterpillars remain curled up in a protected spot, such as in leaf litter or under loose bark, nearly frozen solid all winter. When spring arrives and the temperature reaches the high 40s and 50s they become active again, feed for a few days, and then pupate inside a cocoon made with their own bristles. Adult Isabella Tiger Moths emerge in about a month, anywhere between April and June, mate, and lay eggs. Within two weeks the eggs hatch. In New England, a second generation of woolly bears will be produced and these are the larvae that overwinter." Read More
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
We list events from a variety of local and regional organizations and individuals.
Events with BEAT:
FRIDAY, APRIL 1
Community Calendar:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30
THURSDAY, MARCH 31
FRIDAY, APRIL 1
SATURDAY, APRIL 2
MONDAY, APRIL 4
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30
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JOBS
We list jobs related to the environment from a variety of organizations.
Trail Crew | | Berkshire Natural Resources Counsel | Pittsfield
EPA Student Interns | New England Regional Office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
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Environmental Monitor
MARCH 23, 2022
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:
Pioneer Valley Index:
Statewide Index:
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Public Notices
Public Notices listed here 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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Berkshire Environmental Action Team
20 Chapel St., Pittsfield, MA 01201
(413) 464-9402
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