Letter: Protect Our Water

To the Editor:

Have you heard about the proposed industrial logging project at our forested public drinking-water reservoir in North Adams? In the late summer there was quite the hubbub (rightfully) after the Conservation Commission recommended that herbicides not be sprayed ... next to Notch Reservoir. It seems ridiculous it was ever a plan supported by Mass Audubon. After nearly two years of secretive planning this was the first time most of us heard about this project.

Were you at the Conservation Commission meeting in September where Friends of Notch Forest packed the room, overflowing into hallways, lining the street in protest? Were you one of the 2,000-plus people locally, regionally and internationally who signed our Save Notch Forest petition?

North Adams deserves more than to be used as an experiment by Mass Audubon and its new industrial-logging partners, which seek to unnecessarily replace a mature diverse forest with a tree-seedling farm that cannot enrich the City, nor benefit its human and wildlife residents. We have a vision — not just to stop the logging project to protect our forest, beloved Bellows Pipe hiking trail, and our drinking water — that could financially benefit the City and our environment for generations to come.

Devin Raber
North Adams, Mass.

North Adams Airport Commissioners Discuss Next Steps for Restaurant

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
08:05AM / Thursday, February 19, 2026

The vacant restaurant space in the administration building has been waiting for an occupant for six years.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — With the donation of kitchen equipment for the proposed airport restaurant, the Airport Commission met Tuesday to discuss how to manage the incoming equipment and how to best advertise the space.

 

"I like putting the equipment in there but letting whoever is going to go in there figure out where they are going to put it," Chairman James Haskins said during the commission meeting. "Because it does cost a lot of money to do that."

 

The commission has envisioned a restaurant in the renovated administrative building for years; however, with multiple Requests for Proposals (RFPs) going unanswered, the space has remained a shell. It was previously believed that the primary obstacle was the lack of kitchen equipment.

 

Earlier this year, Williams College offered to donate used kitchen equipment that is no longer needed because of an upcoming renovation. That equipment is scheduled for delivery in May.

 

Haskins asked whether the city should pursue a new RFP within the next few months or begin building out the kitchen before advertising the space. He suggested that while installing the equipment could make the space more attractive, it might also dissuade potential restaurateurs who have a different vision for the layout.

 

"We have pretty much a full kitchen," he said. "But I just don't know where any of it goes. Where does the grill go? Where does the fryolator go?"

 

There were also concerns that installing the equipment prematurely could impact the property's insurance and increase liability.