PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city of Pittsfield, in conjunction with municipal and community partners in the Berkshires, delivered an update on year 2 of the regional work of the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Grant Program at a press conference held Thursday, Aug. 11 near the Churchill Brook culvert on Hancock Road.

 

The grant project is aimed at addressing potential flood risks throughout the county. In addition to the Churchill Brook culvert, which was recently replaced, is another nearby culvert that's currently under-sized. Culverts are infrastructure key to mitigating flooding.

 

The initiative, which includes the city of Pittsfield and towns of Lenox, New Marlborough, and Stockbridge, is funded by the state's MVP Program. Other partners include Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC), Greenagers, Housatonic Valley Association (HVA), Mass Audubon, Trout Unlimited, and the Civil Engineering Department with the University of Connecticut.

 

"The project started with a need to look at undersized bridges and culverts, structures that carry streams and rivers under the roads we travel every day. But the project quickly saw opportunities to grow, looking at flood risks more generally, engaging the community, providing job training opportunities, and educating youth about impacts in the age of climate change," said Courteny Morehouse, environmental and energy program senior planner with BRPC, of the project that kicked off last year.

 

BRPC conducted outreach which helped to identify areas of overlap where residents experience flooding and where a culvert might be a contributing factor. As the project has passed the one-year mark, partners are reviewing the data to prioritize culvert replacements. These culverts will get a first round of engineering completed in 2023, setting them up for implementation funds in the future. Additionally, the municipality will gain a comprehensive inventory of the resilience of their culvert and bridge infrastructure in a Road-Stream Crossing Management Plan to help guide spending

decisions, Morehouse said.

 

"The hope is that this not only addresses climate-related flooding in Lenox, New Marlborough, Stockbridge, and Pittsfield, but also engages youth in the conversation of preparation as each town prepares for climate change while serving as a model for climate resilience throughout the region," Morehouse said.

 

Berkshire Watershed Manager Alison Dixon, of HVA, said this project has much significance.

 

"We are grateful to have this opportunity to work with the municipalities of Lenox, New Marlborough, Stockbridge, and Pittsfield. This initiative has become even more critical as climate change is upon us because any undersized culverts are at risk for failure due to increased intensity of precipitation events. This infrastructure can also be a barrier for fish to migrate upstream to cooler waters," Dixon said. "Their ability to migrate has become more critical with increased temperatures due to climate change. For this reason, HVA is working with municipalities throughout the Housatonic watershed to help assess their culvert infrastructure and replace culverts that are identified as a priority for replacement."

 

In partnership with HVA, Trout Unlimited and Greenagers, local youth were hired to collect field data, assessing each road-stream crossing for fish barriers, flood risk, and stream restoration opportunities. Data collected will be modeled by a team from the UConn Civil Engineering program to predict the flood risk of each structure given different emission scenarios and Trout Unlimited will analyze stream restoration observations for opportunities to implement nature-based solutions such as rain gardens and stream buffers.

 

"Greenagers was thrilled to be a part of the project. Youth developed work skills in line with their desired career paths and college studies, connections with community partners, and field experience. It was our first ‘conservation crew' or ‘culvert crew' or ‘culvert ops,' but we hope it's the first of many," said Conservation Director Elia Del Molino.

 

For the student education component, Mass Audubon developed lessons on increased flood risk and planning techniques to manage them geared toward fifth-grade (in partnership HVA) and related programs for seventh and eighth-graders, and high school students.

 

"Partnering with HVA, BRPC and the municipalities on this MVP project is a dream come true, allowing Mass Audubon to deepen our engagement with teachers and students, adding new lessons and/or field trips for every grade. MVP support allows us to go beyond content learning and engage fifth-grade students in stewardship activities like willow plantings to stabilize stream banks and increase shade to keep streams cooler," said Dale Abrams, regional education manager for Mass Audubon. "Similarly, middle school students dove into flood risk assessment and planning

simulations aimed at understanding how our communities can prepare for a life in a warmer, wetter climate."

 

Every lesson is tailored to grade level, from fifth-graders learning about polluted stormwater runoff

and how implementing nature-based solutions such as riparian buffers and installing green

infrastructure such as rain gardens can reduce both pollution and the volume of water directed to our

rivers. In eighth-grade classes, students conduct community mapping of flood risk and carbon

sequestration through Mass Mapper GIS systems, Abrams said.

 

Outside the classroom students measured the amount of carbon stored in nearby forests, visited

culvert sites that were assessed to learn about river flow changes, and Greenagers facilitated an

intergenerational story exchange where middle school youth interviewed local seniors on what

changes they've witnessed in their lifetime.

 

For more information, please contact Courteny Morehouse at cmorehouse@berkshireplanning.org.