WILLIAMSTOWN - The Hopkins Forest Fall Festival will be held Sunday, Sept. 23, from 1 to 4 p.m. Hopkins Forest is managed by the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies and is situated at the intersection of Northwest Hill Road and Bulkley Street. The annual event is free and open to the public.
Festival-goers will be able to explore the life of the forest at a number of science stations, forest-related trades and crafts stations, and a cider-pressing station. It will include children's events and performances by local musicians. Refreshments will be provided.
The forest has long been a center of scientific research and exploration. The widow of Col. Amos Lawrence Hopkins, the son of college President Mark Hopkins and an 1863 alumnus, offered the forest to the college in 1934. From 1934 to 1971, the U.S. Forest Service used it as a research site. In 1971, the original 1,600-acre plot expanded to 2,500 acres and the forest has become an invaluable research facility for Williams College.
The forest service's research projects focused on forestry, meteorology, hydrology and tree genetics. Today, professors and students are building on that collection of work. Professor of geology and mineralogy David Dethier carries out meteorological, hydrological, and biogeochemical monitoring in the forest. Landscape historian and professor of biology Henry Art studies the developments of plant communities with the help of forest monitoring records that date back to the 1930s. Tom Baribault from the University of Vermont studies sugar maples that the forest service planted in the 1960s. The trees are peculiar for their high sap sweetness potential and Baribault is working to identify the genes for sweetness in the tree's DNA.
New projects are always emerging. Professor of biology Joan Edwards is analyzing the population dynamics of the invasive garlic mustard plant in the forest. Assistant professor of biology Manuel Morales is studying ant/treehopper mutualism. Senior lecturer in biology David Smith has studied black-capped chickadees, among dozens of other research projects in the forest.
The Center for Environmental Studies encourages disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching, academic activity, and research in the forest. Andrew Jones is the manager of the forest.
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Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant
Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building.
"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu.
A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building.
White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.
He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns.
Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot.
A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use.
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