BOSTON — During Climate week in September, the Baker-Polito Administration awarded the city $280,000 to fund the Saw Mill property acquisition. 

 

The Baker-Polito administration announced the awarding of $12,013,525 in grant funding for park improvements and open space acquisitions in 43 communities across the state.

 

"Investing in these important open space projects will make Massachusetts parks more resilient to climate change, increase the availability of open space and improve access to the outdoors for people in communities across the state," said Gov. Charlie Baker. "Our administration is proud to assist communities and land trusts acquire new land for parks and open space that will make available natural resources for children, their friends and family, and others to recreate locally."

 

Pittsfield received a LAND, or Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity, grant that assists municipal conservation commissions in acquiring land for natural resource protection and passive outdoor recreation purposes. 

 

The parcel includes 52.3 acres that protect approximately quarter-mile of frontage on the Housatonic River and directly serves the city's efforts to develop a greenway of protected lands for hiking, bird watching, and fishing at the river's edge. 

 

The grants, administered through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs' Parkland Acquisitions and Renovations for Communities (PARC), LAND, and Conservation Partnership Grant Programs and funded through the capital budget, will aid municipalities and land trusts to protect land for future generations for outdoor recreation purposes.

 

The PARC Grant Program was established in 1977 to assist cities and towns in acquiring and developing land for park and outdoor recreation purposes. Any community with an up-to-date Open Space and Recreation Plan is eligible to apply for the program. The LAND Grant Program was established in 1961 to assist municipal conservation commissions in acquiring land for natural resource protection and passive outdoor recreation purposes. The Conservation Partnership Grants provide funding to assist non-public, not-for-profit corporations in acquiring interests in lands suitable for conservation or recreation purposes.

 

"These great local projects being awarded through the PARC, LAND, and Conservation Partnership Grant Programs today will significantly help communities in their efforts to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Beth Card. "The Baker-Polito administration has prioritized investing in parks and outdoor recreational amenities that are well designed to handle the more severe weather events that are expected to continue."

 

There are two categories of PARC grants: the Small Town grant category for towns with less than 35,000 residents, with a maximum grant award of $100,000, and a separate category for cities and towns with more than 35,000 residents, which has a $400,000 grant award maximum.