Biologists to Speak at Pittsfield Green Drinks

PITTSFIELD, Mass. Conservation biologists Linda Merry and Mara Silvers will speak at the August Pittsfield Green Drinks event. On Tuesday, August 16th, Pittsfield Green Drinks will start at 5:15 PM at Thistle & Mirth, 44 West Street, Pittsfield. Merry and Silvers will speak at 6:00 PM. 

Merry and Silvers will discuss their research on Cliff Swallow nesting, the causes of the species’ decline, the current conservation status, and measures to conserve the populations. 

Being aerial insectivores (birds that feed exclusively on insects while flying), Cliff Swallows and other swallows have seen some of the greatest declines in the Northeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada since 1970. That decline has steepened since the late 1990s.

Merry is a conservation biologist and operational meteorologist who thoroughly enjoys photography and ornithology. Her work exists at that junction where the sciences and the arts collide.

Merry is currently an Assistant in the Environmental and Life Sciences Department at Berkshire Community College. 

Silver has been working on swallow conservation projects for the past 30 years, primarily Cliff and Barn Swallow projects. Her work focuses on developing simple management techniques to attract and enhance breeding success at Cliff and Barn Swallow nesting sites.

Mara holds an M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she researched characteristics of river banks used by nesting Bank Swallows.

Pittsfield Green Drinks is an informal gathering on the third Tuesday of the month. These nights are free and open to everyone with any environmental interest. The drinks aren’t green but the conversations are. 

Pittsfield Green Drinks is sponsored by the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT). For more information, contact Chelsey Simmons at chelsey@thebeatnews.org or (413) 464-9402.

Two Berkshire Peaker Plants Have Been Put in the Past

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
07:44AM / Sunday, July 21, 2024

The plant on Merrill Road owned by Pittsfield Generating. BEAT says the company has been in talks with the group.

LEE, Mass. — Two peaker plants in Berkshire County have been out of service for two years and are in the process of demolition. Local environmentalists are rejoicing.

"It's phenomenal," said Rosemary Wessel of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team. "To actually see the physical proof of a peaker plant not just shut down but removed is just more than we really expected and it's really great."

Peaking power plants — also known as peaker plants — run when there is a high demand for electricity. Facilities on Woodland Road in Lee and Doreen Street in Pittsfield shut down in 2022 and are being removed entirely, with usable parts auctioned off.

The Lee site has already been cleared.

Owned by the Carlyle Group and operated by Cogentrix, the decades-old plants had reached the end of their commercial lives.

"The facilities reached the end of their respective useful lives," a Cogentrix spokesperson said. "They were no longer needed for peak energy use periods or grid reliability; therefore, the company made the decision to retire the units."

About three years ago, BEAT started a "Put Peakers in The Past" petition demanding that the three peaking power plants in the county revert to renewable and clean alternatives. The third is Pittsfield Generating Co. on Merrill Road (owned by Hull Street Energy.) The group also found support from the Pittsfield Board of Health.

Wessel said when the environmental nonprofit got in touch with Cogentrix, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Chris Sherman was more than open to the idea of retiring the plants. In 2021, Sherman was the vice president of regulatory affairs and has a background in clean energy.

"The first Zoom meeting, it was pretty amazing. They said, 'You're right, we should be doing it,'" Wessel said.