Officials to applaud Kampoosa efforts

By Glenn Drohan12:00AM / Wednesday, October 22, 2003Print Story | Email Story

Are good things happening at Kampoosa Bog? Some environmentalists think so

STOCKBRIDGE â€” State Secretary of Environmental Affairs Ellen Roy Herzfelder will join a slew of environmental groups, state officials and local landowners Thursday in what should amount to a giant love fest at the Kampoosa Bog, in hopes of continuing to work together to preserve it as one of the stateâ€™s natural treasures. While Herzfelder is expected to officially award the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission a grant to continue studies of the fragile fen, considered the stateâ€™s most pristine, the main idea is to introduce Herzfelder to it and to applaud the work of a diverse group of partners who have worked together to protect it over the past decade. â€œThis event is really to plump ourselves on the back and say what a good job weâ€™ve done. And we have,â€ said Judy Spencer, chairwoman of the Kampoosa Stewardship Committee. â€œPeople have been there because they wanted to preserve the bog, and in the process have learned a lot about various organizations and what theyâ€™re doing.â€ Among the â€œstakeholdersâ€ are agencies and companies about as far from â€œenvironmentalâ€ as one might think, including the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the Massachusetts Highway Department and the Tennesee Gas Pipeline Authority. The turnpike and Route 7 traverse the bog, as does a major gas pipeline, and all have contributed in some way to its potential pollution, through road salt or invasive plants â€” most notably tall grasslike plants known as prhagmites, and the choking purple loosestrife. Spencer credited the two state road agencies and the gas company for going beyond the call of duty to help preservation efforts. The Nature Conservancy of Sheffield has also contributed significantly, employing volunteers since 1995 to hand-cut the oppressive phragmites, bag thousands of pounds for removal and gently employ herbicides to kill the evil weed without damaging the bog. â€œThis meeting weâ€™re having Thursday is an excellent opportunity to show what we have done â€” itâ€™s such an interesting collaboration â€” and also to talk about where weâ€™re going in the future,â€ said Jessica Murray, the conservancyâ€™s ecological restoration coordinator. â€œKampoosa is kind of a rare find. We donâ€™t have a lot of sites left like this.â€ The bog, whose drainage area contains 1,350 acres, about 225 of them in Lee and the rest in Stockbridge, harbors 23 known rare plant species, two known rare animal species and many other unusual ones, according to conservancy literature. â€œKampoosa Bog is arguably the stateâ€™s most significant freshwater ecosystem, providing habitat for rare species that are found at very few other sites in New England,â€ stateâ€™s material on the conservancyâ€™s Web page. State environmental officials have long been champions of the bog as well, proclaiming it an â€œArea of Critical Environmental Concern.â€ Because all of the bog and most of the land surrounding it is privately owned, state officials and environmentalist groups have also applauded the efforts of landowners too numerous to count, who have also backed preservation efforts. Among those expected to join Thursdayâ€™s meeting are representatives from the following groups: the Stockbridge and Lee Land Trusts, Stockbridge and Lee Conservation Commissions, The Nature Conservancy, the Congregation of Marion Fathers, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, state Department of Parks and Conservation, the ACEC Program, the state Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Mass Highway, the Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Members of the public have been asked not to attend for fear that large numbers of people could be a detriment to the fragility of the bog. More information about Kampoosa may be found at local libraries, at www.lastgreatplaces.org or by performing a simple search on any Internet search engine.

Stockbridge Grange Community Dinner

03:12PM / Tuesday, February 03, 2026

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — The Stockbridge Grange is holding a community dinner on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, featuring spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread with dessert choices of chocolate cream or lemon meringue pie.

Dinner is $17.00 per person, take out only with 12-1:30 pm pick up at the Stockbridge Grange Hall at 51 Church Street, Stockbridge. Orders may be made by calling 413-243-1298 or 413-443-4352.

Inclement weather postpones the meal for a week.