More than half a million dollars in Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs grant funding is coming to communities in the Woodlands Partnership Program, with $271,372 coming to western Franklin County.

Money from the grants will go toward communities and regional conservation and economic development organizations in the Woodlands Partnership of Northwest Massachusetts to fund projects related to outdoor recreation access in public forests, ensuring safe outdoor play and the implementation of climate-resilient forestry practices. The Woodlands Partnership is made up of 21 towns, including Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Conway, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, Leyden, Monroe, Rowe and Shelburne in Franklin County.

Topping the list of grant awards is $75,000 for the Connecticut River Conservancy and Deerfield River Watershed Association, which will fund a feasibility study to see if portions of the Deerfield River are eligible for a National Wild and Scenic River designation. Federal legislation to fund a study has been filed by western Massachusetts’ congressional delegation, however, it has yet to be approved.

“We applied for a Woodlands Partnership grant ... with the hopes that we can use that funding to jumpstart our study process and we were really pleased that we were awarded this grant,” said Deerfield River Watershed Association Vice President Chris Curtis. “It enables us, at least the Massachusetts portion of the watershed, to have the necessary study to really look at whether different segments of the river are eligible for the designation.”

The $75,000 grant will also help create an advisory committee that will develop a management strategy for the river, which will “protect those wild and scenic values everyone holds dear.” Curtis said the work needs to be done by June 30 of next year. Once complete, and if there is support for a designation, the process will have to go back to Congress for the filing and approval to enact the designation.

Wild and Scene River designations open up a variety of benefits to the river, including federal funding for projects intending to enhance or protect the river, while also prohibiting projects such as dams from being built on free-flowing sections of the river.

In Rowe and Heath, the two towns received $50,000 to pursue a multi-year effort to connect the Catamount State Forest in Colrain to the Mohawk Trail State Forest in Charlemont through a series of existing trails and privately preserved property, according to Heath Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Mike Cucchiara.

“This grant funding will enable the towns to pay for the acquisition of trail easements and trail licenses on private lands in the two towns,” Cucchiara wrote in an email. “It is anticipated that this access process will continue for another two to three years before trail construction will be able be undertaken. If all goes to plan, it will someday be possible to hike on public trails from Deerfield all the way to Albany, New York, in effect retracing the ancient Indigenous trail from the Connecticut River to the Hudson River.”

Heath also received an additional $25,000 for wayfinding signs and kiosks, which will be used to direct visitors to existing recreation opportunities in town.

“These kiosks will be particularly helpful once the regional trail is constructed, as the kiosks will contain trail maps and other helpful resource information to area visitors,” Cucchiara said. “There will be three kiosks constructed in various places in town, including at future trailheads and adjacent to the H.O. Cook State Forest.”

With a $49,532 grant, the Franklin Land Trust will undertake a variety of improvements on two of its properties: the Crowningshield Conservation Area in Heath and the recently acquired Edge Hill Golf Course in Ashfield. Improvements will fall into the category of parking areas, equipment to manage trails, educational kiosks and what Director of Stewardship Will Sloan Anderson called a combination of “citizen science” and drone work.

While parking area work and trail equipment may be self-explanatory, Sloan Anderson said the kiosks will educate folks on the land-use history of each location. At the Crowningshield Conservation Area, folks will learn about stream ecology and geomorphology, while the Edge Hill kiosk will talk about the Franklin Land Trust’s future plans, which include restoration of wetlands and work around the grasslands.

In terms of citizen science and drone work, Sloan Anderson said the funding will allow the Franklin Land Trust to purchase Chronolog stations, which are brackets people can put their phones in to take a picture. Over days, months and years, the photos will show changes in habitat and reflect the conservation work the land trust is doing. Drone work, on the other hand, will help the land trust document its work from the air.

“It develops a time-lapse video that will show changes in habitat over time, seasons and things like that,” Sloan Anderson said. “That will help us better communicate the work we’ve been doing.”

Other awards that will benefit Franklin County municipalities are as follows:

■Charlemont was awarded $25,000 to install portable toilets at the Shunpike Rest Area on the Mohawk Trail, as well as create enhanced parking facilities in town for improved weekend river access.

■Shelburne landed $9,000 to establish a trailhead for a trail along the Deerfield River connecting to the Mahican-Mohawk Trail.

■Rowe received $12,840 to implement one of the state’s first climate-smart forestry plans.

■Leyden received $25,000 to buy a utility terrain vehicle (UTV) for search-and-rescue purposes and fire prevention.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.