Two Franklin County towns and a local land trust are slated to benefit from a total of $125,000 from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs that will support land conservation work, invasive species control and emergency response.
Ashfield received $25,000 to study methods of controlling invasive species at the Ashfield Lake Dam, the town of Heath received $25,000 to buy a utility task vehicle (UTV) for the Fire Department and the Shelburne Falls-based Franklin Land Trust was awarded $75,000 to put toward furthering its Lands for H.O.P.E. (Habitat Outreach Protection & Education) program.
Franklin Land Trust
Lands for H.O.P.E., according to Franklin Land Trust Director of Stewardship Will Sloan Anderson, is a land management initiative that involves outreach to private landowners. Sloan Anderson said for the past three years, the land trust has been working to do public outreach to “give people hope about the environment” and show them that maintaining conservation land is not impossible to do on your own.
“We started this initiative to recognize that we do a lot of work to maintain these properties, and we don’t have an endowment,” Sloan Anderson explained. “We have to look for grants and funding and essentially maintain these properties as a private landowner. We’ve developed a series of land management practices and we thought we should educate them on our practices.”
Last year, the trust was awarded a Woodlands Partnership grant, which was used to develop marketing materials and install informational kiosks at some properties.
The $75,000 state grant will be used to support the management of wetlands and fields at Edge Hill Conservation Area in Ashfield, and fund an ecological study of macro-invertebrates at the property, as well as take an inventory of the flora and fauna there. Sloan Anderson added that the grant will also allow the land trust to purchase a 50-horsepower tractor to demonstrate mowing and forestry practices with a machine more accessible to property owners.
“This will help us be nimble and be able to communicate what it takes to manage these properties,” Sloan Anderson said. “A grant like this is really important to help us do our work and educate people on land management practices.”
Ashfield
Ashfield plans to use its $25,000 award to study the effectiveness of various methods of removing invasive species — specifically Asiatic bittersweet and Virginia creeper — on the riprap portion of the dam. The riprap is a layer of large stones on the slope of the dam that protects it from erosion.
The study will look at the effectiveness of using herbicides, smothering the vegetation, and a combination of hand pulling and burning, when compared to a control plot. Engineering firm Tighe & Bond proposed the study to the town in February, noting the vegetation would need to be removed for regular inspection and maintenance.
Dam keeper Ron Coler had originally considered asking for funding for the study as part of his annual budget, then told the Selectboard he believed he could find a grant to support the study, allowing the town to save its money for implementation of the preferred removal method and future maintenance of the dam.
“The mission is to find a sustainable solution,” Coler said earlier this year. “Every year we don’t deal with it, the roots grow deeper.”
Heath
In Heath, Fire Chief Nicholas Anzuoni said the $25,000 grant will allow the town to purchase a utility vehicle with a heated cabin, something the town realized it needed after a prolonged power outage last winter.
“Bottom line is, last year during that winter event, we needed those devices. Fortunately, Colrain had an extra one,” Anzuoni recounted. “But the thing is, to do what we need to do and what they were doing last year, we need an enclosed, heated cabin. You can’t stick people in the back of a UTV, especially either young people or older people, and I would not be happy riding in the back in the wintertime.”
Anzuoni said the grant funds, plus approximately $5,000 of Fire Department money, will allow the department to purchase a vehicle that can traverse rough terrain and keep crews comfortable in a climate-controlled cabin.
“Free money is always good,” Anzuoni said.
The $125,000 coming to Franklin County is a slice of the total $313,250 that the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs awarded to nine recipients in late August to protect forests and boost local economies in western Massachusetts. The grants will improve outdoor recreation opportunities in public forests, ensure community safety and implement sustainable forestry practices that promote forest resilience.
“Forests play a central role in these communities. They support local jobs, improve air quality and shape the identity of the region,” Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said in a statement. “This funding helps protect those natural spaces while supporting local efforts that ensure people can continue to hike, camp and enjoy the outdoors for years to come.”