BUCKLAND — The town has been awarded $100,000 through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Planning 2.0 grant program to further the work it began in 2018 to increase climate resiliency, with a focus on the Clesson Brook Watershed.
The town was one of 21 municipalities and three regional groups representing another 11 municipalities that were selected to receive a total of more than $3 million from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. The most recent round of funding, announced earlier this month, supports projects addressing the impacts of climate change. Buckland was the only Franklin County town to receive a grant.
“Our cities and towns are dealing with climate change head-on — flooded streets that cut off neighborhoods, beaches disappearing to rising tides, and scorching days that put our students and seniors at risk,” Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said in a statement. “That’s why the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program matters. We partner with communities to build stronger roads, restore wetlands, plant shade trees and make sure everyone has a voice in shaping a safer future.”
Nearly every municipality — about 99%, or 349 communities— is enrolled in the state grant program after completing the initial planning grant process, according to the Healey-Driscoll administration. MVP 2.0 Planning grants can be used to help cities and towns update their climate resilience plans, prioritize the needs of residents facing the greatest risks and launch pilot projects.
Buckland Town Administrator Pam Guyette told the Selectboard last week that the $100,000 grant will be used to continue work focusing on the Clesson Brook Watershed that began in 2018.
“We were granted the award, which is exciting news,” Guyette said. “Basically, MVP 1.0 we started back in 2018, and through that process, we identified vulnerabilities in Buckland and we decided to focus on the Clesson Brook Watershed, because of the flooding we had in [Hurricane] Irene and the other events over the years. It’s been very much impacted.”
Since 2018, Guyette said the town has been working to study and design a restoration plan for the brook. This most recent grant will support revisiting past studies and priorities, determining the next best steps and beginning the work.
“There’s a lot of components to this grant. I’m going to be busy,” Guyette said. “The next six months are spent visiting our resilience priorities in town, and then 13 months more will be spent on a seed project that we have to implement.”
Guyette said she doesn’t know what that project will be yet as it will be determined by the group of town employees and volunteers who are working on the MVP project after they review the town’s environmental priorities and needs. Other towns have used their seed project funds to establish community gardens or youth leadership programs, for example.
In addition to the MVP Planning 2.0 work, the town is also hoping to continue restoration work at Clesson Brook and is applying for an MVP Action Grant. Guyette said that, unlike the MVP 1.0 and 2.0 grants, which focus on conducting studies, planning and then action items, the Action Grants let the town carry out the projects that were determined to be priorities during the previous studies and planning processes. With an Action Grant, the town would be able to implement erosion controls along the banks.
The Selectboard voted to sign a letter of support for the Action Grant application.
“We’re sort of polishing that up and trying to get more letters of support to show that this is a very worthy project,” Guyette said about the application. “It’s ultimately going to help prevent some pretty major issues.”