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Another tree was planted in Wellsley Park on Friday in honor of Arbor Day.

Pittsfield Highlights Tree Planting Program To Honor Arbor Day

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Laurie Reid outlined the state's Greening the Gateway Cities program.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The state has planted more than 1,100 trees throughout the city over the last two years.

And, in honor of Arbor Day, one more was added to the total.

"At the end of 2017, Pittsfield, so far, has been planted with 1,173 trees through the Greening the Gateway Cities program. Statewide, Greening the Gateway Cities program last year has planted 11,637 trees," Laurie Reid, a forester with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, said.
 
"The program's goal is to plant 10 trees per acre within our planting area. It will increase the urban tree canopy by 5 to 10 percent."
 
The city is part of the state program to significantly boost the number of trees in urban areas. Some 2,400 trees are to planted throughout the city's core to particularly help the climate.
 
"Cities on average are hotter than rural areas. Asphalt and concrete structures absorb the sun's energy and radiate the heat into the surrounding areas, which increases the air's temperature. This increase in heat is accelerating many of our nation's health problems such as asthma. Planting trees are the best way to combat urban heat islands because trees have a higher potential to cool our climate and reduce carbon dioxide," Reid said.
 
Reid said heating and cooling costs can drop as much as $230 per household with the additions. In the summer, the shade helps cool the area and in the winter, it blocks the wind from whistling through homes. She added that the trees are sound barriers, provide habitat for wildlife, prevents stormwater runoff from bringing toxins into the streams, increases property values by 5 to 15 percent and there have even been reductions in crime noted in areas with more trees.
 
The program recognizes the importance urban trees play in the environment and attempts to reverse the declining number of urban trees.
 
"Tree canopy in our urban areas has been decreasing. Large, mature trees are being replaced with smaller species if they are being replaced at all. But the more mature the tree, the greater the benefit," Reid said.
 
Reid was the keynote speaker at the city's Arbor Day celebration. When she finished, yet another tree was added to those totals when foresters put in a brand new tree at Wellesley Park.
 
Wellesley Park, which is a small park in a residential neighborhood near Herberg Middle School, is seeing a number of new trees being planted in it after neighbors had petitioned the city for more. According to Parks and Open Spaces Manager James McGrath, that's not the first time neighbors have asked the city for help with those trees. McGrath held up a petition from 1980 when the neighbors asked for and received help maintaining the Silver Maples in the park.
 
In 2015, the group returned to the city asking for more trees to be planted there.
 
"After that meeting in 2015, we wrote a grant, got some money and planted 10 trees," McGrath. "In a few weeks, in early June, we hope to plant another seven more trees in the park. This is an initiative, from the city's perspective, that we are happy to be a part of. This is a great little park."
 
McGrath also used part of Friday's ceremony to thank volunteers who assist throughout the park system - not just at Wellesley. 
 
City Council President Peter Marchetti read a proclamation on behalf of the city celebrating Arbor Day.

Tags: arbor day,   trees,   

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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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