The Berkshire Natural Resources Council announced this week that it has added 109 acres of protected land in Tyringham, Massachusetts to its conservation portfolio. The nonprofit has shielded Berkshire County land from development since 1967, caring for more than 26,000 acres. The 19 lots on the north and south side of Webster Road were approved for a subdivision project in the 1980s, but went undeveloped and have remained untouched since. The BNRC says the acquisition will bolster a conservation corridor in the Southern Berkshires as the land sits near both Beartown State Forest and the Appalachian Trail. A consortium of public and private funding sources pooled $650,000 to help the council buy the land last month. BNRC Director of Conservation Nick Pitel spoke with WAMC about the purchase.
PITEL: This particular property is pretty close to the Appalachian Trail corridor. It's less than half a mile down the road. It really boasts some unique habitats where the south side of the property was previously farmed and consists of northern hardwood forests, a really great mix of quality tree species that wildlife prefer, like hophornbeam and witch-hazel and things of that nature. And then the north side of the road is pretty much a solid hemlock forest that transitions down to a large wetland complex. That's the headwaters to Merry Brook, which is the cold water fisheries for native brook trout.
WAMC: Now, I know you guys have talked about this as the expansion of a conservation corridor- Can you speak to that a little bit? What does that mean?
Like I said previously, it's pretty close to the Appalachian Trail corridor, and then it also abuts a portion of Beartown State Forest. And then BNRC has some other holdings adjacent to it, where we have a conservation restriction on private property, and it's also not too far down the road from some Division of Fish and Wildlife management areas.
Now, give us a sense again about what it means to conserve this- What does that mean for Berkshire County and this land that is going to be off the table, so to speak, for some other uses?
So, we received the state's forest reserve grant for private lands funding for this, so that means that this particular property will not have any active forestry management allowed on it, which is in line with the designation of the Beartown State Forest in this area. So, it really made sense for this property, but it still has some woods roads on it that will be available for public access and recreation- Passive recreation like hiking, birding, things of that nature. And there's a few pull offs along the road that even if you just want to hike down Webster Road, it's a beautiful walk. There's no power lines in that section of the road, which is kind of unique to see.
Now, how does this play into broader BNRC efforts in the region?
We're really focused on trying to protect quality wildlife habitat and resilient forest lands that are going to be more resilient to climate change in the future. And so, being that this abuts existing protected land and is in a corridor of a large landscape of protected forest, this will help bolster resiliency in the area and both connect wildlife and plant species for future climate change.
Break down the funding for this acquisition- I know it was a group of different agencies and foundations who came together on this. How did BNRC get the money together to do this? How much was it? And how do you break down the attribution of that funding?
The overall property purchase was for $650,000 and we utilized a number of different funding sources to make this possible. We received funding from the Nion Robert Thieriot Foundation, Mass Audubon's 30x30 Catalyst Fund, the Wyncote Foundation, like I said earlier, the state Division of Conservation Services' grant for forest reserve program, and then also some support from some private donors.
Anything about this I've not thought to ask you, Nick, that you want to make sure folks understand about this new acquisition for BNRC?
It's one of those properties where, like I said, you could even just walk down the road, which is pretty unique. It is a public road, but it is also doesn't get maintained in the winter, so there's a snowbound turnaround, but it's really nice. Looking for spring ephemerals this time of year, there's going to be spice bush flowering- It's just a really nice property that has a lot of great mix of habitats, and it's a nice, quiet road, so it's a pretty, pretty nice walk.
