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The Berkshires sound different. The afternoons carry a long electric buzz from somewhere high in the trees. At dusk, clicking and trilling rise from the grass and understory, and after dark the crickets settle into a steady rhythm. By evening, an open window lets in more sound than breeze.
Cicadas, katydids, crickets: these sounds mark particular stages in their life cycles. Male cicadas produce their calls to attract mates; katydids and crickets do much the same, rubbing specialized parts of their wings together to make sound. It is not a particularly subtle season. Everyone seems to be eating, calling for a mate, avoiding being eaten, or preparing to leave town.
This is a vivid time to look closely at what lives here and what it takes to keep these habitats healthy. Showing up is one; making this work possible is another.
Below, you'll find program updates, upcoming events, environmental news, and ways to get involved.
Brittany, Chelsey, Jay, Melanie, and Rose
(image: Painted Lichen Moth, Matthew Rymkiewicz at BEAT's Moth Night on July 24)
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STEWARDSHIP
Of course, not everything thriving in August belongs here. Earlier this month, about a dozen BEAT volunteers headed into the woods near Burbank Park in Pittsfield to tackle hardy kiwi, an invasive vine that can grow rapidly over trees and other vegetation. Volunteers cut vines, pulled roots, and collected the ripening fruit before birds and other wildlife could eat it and carry the seeds elsewhere.
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STEWARDSHIP
BEAT’s Stop Non-Native Fish Stocking campaign page is updated with new scientific research, resources, and information that even more clearly shows why we believe routine stocking is at odds with protecting biodiversity.
MassWildlife maintains that stocking does not measurably harm ecosystems and is compatible with the Commonwealth’s biodiversity goals. Scientific literature raises important concerns with that conclusion. If protecting native biodiversity is the goal, why continue investing substantial public resources in routinely raising and releasing hundreds of thousands of hatchery fish—including non-native species—rather than putting more of those resources toward native fish and habitat conservation?
The updated campaign page brings together the research behind that question, along with further reading, maps, and ways to ask MassWildlife to stop stocking local waterbodies.
Explore BEAT’s Stop Non-Native Fish Stocking campaign
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STEWARDSHIP
As part of Berkshire Pulse’s Young Dancers and Choreographers Intensive, youth dancers visited Old Maid’s Park with BEAT to experience the landscape and consider the many layers of the project, from the future of the dam and river restoration to stewardship, community use, and the park’s future. The collaboration brought the arts into that ongoing conversation, giving the dancers another way to explore and interpret a changing place. Their observations and responses culminated in a performance of original choreography that moved through the entire park, with family and friends following along as the landscape itself became part of the performance.
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PIPELINE PROPOSALS
Public Comment Opportunity: National Transmission Needs Study
The U.S. Department of Energy is accepting comments on its draft 2026 National Transmission Needs Study, which identifies areas where the federal government sees potential need for expanded or upgraded electric transmission. Of particular concern for the Berkshires, the draft identifies the connection between the New York and New England grids as an area of high congestion.
In 2024, DOE considered a National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor along the existing Eversource corridor from Stephentown, New York, to Northfield, Massachusetts. That proposal, which contemplated a corridor up to a mile wide, was put on hold following stakeholder comments, including comments from BEAT.
BEAT has prepared a Public Comment Guide explaining the study, its potential implications for our region, and issues residents may want to raise. Among them: prioritizing upgrades to existing transmission corridors, energy efficiency and storage before clearing land for new transmission lines, and requiring careful review of impacts to forests, wetlands, wildlife, agriculture, and the regional economy.
Comment deadline: September 7, 2026, at 5 PM ET.
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CLEAN ENERGY TRANSITION
Public Comment Opportunity: Protect Public Participation in Air Permitting
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to remove federal minimum public-participation requirements for state and local Minor New Source Review permitting programs. These programs cover many smaller sources of air pollution, which can include some diesel generators used for backup or on-site power at facilities such as data centers. The change could give states and local permitting agencies greater discretion over when the public receives notice and an opportunity to comment on these permits. Sierra Club has created an action form where you can submit or personalize a comment to EPA.
Comment deadline: August 21, 2026.
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How Free Market Thinking Has Blocked Climate Action (and other things we need)
August 22 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Sandisfield Arts Center
Historian and Harvard professor, Naomi Oreskes will speak about The Big Myth, her book with Erik Conway examining how American business interests helped build public faith in unfettered markets and distrust of government regulation. Oreskes, co-author of Merchants of Doubt and a leading scholar of climate disinformation, will connect that history to the role of science, government, and industry in contemporary public policy.
Learn More
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MassDEP and the American Farmland Trust will host two Farmers Forums in Berkshire County focused on agricultural exemptions under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, conservation planning and engineering, and available funding opportunities. The forums will be held :
- Wednesday September 9, 2026, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Milne Public Library in Williamstown
- Thursday September 10, 2026, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Stockbridge Town Hall
Questions? Contact Daizha Baptiste-Johnson: Daizha.Baptiste-Johnson@mass.gov
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Berkshire Biodiversity Day
September 19 - 20
Bartholomew’s Cobble, Sheffield, Massachusetts
Join BEAT for our annual 24-hour BioBlitz, where community members, scientists, and naturalists work together to document the incredible biodiversity of the Berkshires. Explore guided walks, bird banding, species surveys, hands-on demonstrations, presentations, and family-friendly activities while helping identify hundreds of plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms.
Learn More
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Why are people removing hardy kiwi plants at Burbank Park? Volunteers hope it'll make the forest healthier
Greg Sukiennik, The Berkshire Eagle
About a dozen BEAT volunteers gathered near Burbank Park and the Hillcrest campus in Pittsfield to remove invasive hardy kiwi, cutting vines from trees and collecting fruit before wildlife could spread the seeds. The fast-growing vine can overwhelm native vegetation and trees, and BEAT has advocated for Massachusetts to formally list hardy kiwi as an invasive species.
READ MORE
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Massachusetts put 832 solar panels on 10-foot stilts above cropland; then farmers planted broccoli beneath them
The Economic Times
A Massachusetts farm in Hadley is demonstrating “agrivoltaics,” growing crops beneath 832 solar panels elevated high enough for farm equipment to operate underneath. The project allows the same land to produce both food and renewable electricity, while providing farmers with additional income and potentially reducing soil moisture loss through shading.
READ MORE
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Berkshire Climate Career Lab Opens Pathways to Climate Careers
Business West
The Berkshire Climate Career Lab is helping local young people explore careers in the growing climate and clean-energy workforce through hands-on learning, professional connections, and exposure to regional employers. The program aims to create clearer pathways into climate-related jobs while building a local workforce prepared to support the Berkshires’ transition to a more sustainable economy.
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As darkness falls at Pleasant Valley Sanctuary, residents learn to see bats in a new light
Tara Monastesse, The Berkshire Eagle
Mass Audubon held its first Twilight Bat Walk at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox, where participants learned about Massachusetts’ nine bat species and used acoustic technology to detect their calls before watching bats emerge over Pike’s Pond. The program also highlighted threats facing local bats, particularly white-nose syndrome, which has contributed to severe population declines and left five Massachusetts bat species listed as endangered.
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