Williamstown, Great Barrington Awarded Wildlife Habitat Grants

08:06AM / Friday, February 06, 2026Print Story | Email Story

BOSTON—The Healey-Driscoll Administration awarded $343,985 in grants to restore over 191 acres of wildlife habitat across Massachusetts.

The Department of Fish and Game's (DFG) Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) awarded grants to seven organizations through the MassWildlife Habitat Management Grant Program (MHMGP).

In Berkshire County:

Great Barrington – Berkshire Natural Resources Council has been awarded $31,045 to manage invasive species in floodplain forests and wetlands at the Housatonic Flats Conservation Area and the Rising Pond Conservation Area.
Williamstown – The Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation has been awarded $30,661 to treat invasive species at the Lehovec River Walk floodplain forest along the Green River. In addition to habitat for rare species, this site also provides access to nature for Williamstown’s Environmental Justice community.

"This funding recognizes the value of Williamstown's conserved lands and the organizations that care for them. The work at the Lehovec River Walk will help maintain a resilient landscape that residents and visitors can continue to enjoy," said State Representative John Barrett III

This program provides financial assistance to private and municipal owners of conserved lands to improve habitat for wildlife, steward biodiversity, enhance climate resiliency, and promote outdoor recreation. Since 2015, the program has funded 125 projects that have restored over 4,900 acres of wildlife habitat.

"Partnership and collaboration will be essential for meeting our ambitious biodiversity goals. We rely on conservation organizations, cities and towns, private landowners, and other partners to greatly expand our impact," said Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Tom O'Shea. "Together, we can improve habitat for wildlife while also boosting outdoor recreation opportunities."

Many habitats that species rely on require ongoing stewardship and care. While Massachusetts has made strides to conserve land, with over 28 percent of the state permanently protected today, many habitats are degraded, and vulnerable wildlife face increasing threats from extreme weather and destructive pests and pathogens fueled by climate change. To address these challenges, habitat restoration and management will create healthy, resilient landscapes that support a variety of species, particularly those of greatest conservation need.

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Mount Greylock School Committee OKs Updated Policy on Seclusion, Restraint

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:57AM / Tuesday, August 25, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock School Committee recently approved an updated policy on time-outs, seclusion and the physical restraint of students.

The policy is based on updated state regulations that came down last winter. Superintendent Joseph Bergeron told the panel at its August meeting that his office waited on recommendations from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees that were released in May and ran the proposed changes past the district's legal counsel.

That timing — and an expectation from the commonwealth that districts have the updated policy in place for the start of the 2026-27 academic year — led to an expedited process for the School Committee, which did not do a first read with a vote at a subsequent meeting as is its practice.

"Policy JKAA speaks to the ways the school district and our procedures shall abide by the updated state regulations," Bergeron said. "We're not going to have a lot of leeway.

"Nothing about the way we interact with our students on a day-to-day basis is being shifted by this."

For example, the commonwealth does not allow schools to use "seclusion," or, "the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area, with or without adult supervision," except some extreme cases, like when, "when student behavior poses an imminent threat of assault, or imminent serious physical harm to self or others, but only if safeguards are accounted for," the updated policy reads.

"From the state's perspective and my perspective, the idea of locking a child in a room without adult supervision is something we've never done," Bergeron said. "And it's something the state wants to make explicitly that nobody ever does."

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