Berkshires Awarded Grants to Boost Woodland Restoration, Tourism

• An Invasive Plant Management Plan for Greylock Glen: Prepare an Invasive Plants Management Plan for Greylock Glen, focusing on areas under the Town of Adams' lease with the Commonwealth. 

• Hoosac Range Climate Smart Forest Stewardship Plan: Develop a Forest Stewardship Plan for BNRC's Hoosac Range Reserve, a 992-acre property located in North Adams and Florida. 

• Trail Kiosks: Install two informational trail kiosks on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail for recreational users. 

• Fire Department Communications Upgrade: Purchase five new portable radios utilized by the Fire Department to ensure compatibility with digital upgrades to the E911 system. 

• Purple Trails Mountain Bike Trail Improvements: Construction of a one mile segment of critical intermediate level mountain bike trail within a professionally designed 20+ mile trail network in the mountains of Williamstown. 

North Adams Updated on Schools, Council President Honored With 'Distinction'

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:31PM / Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Superintendent Timothy Callahan gives a presentation on the school system at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council got an update on what's up in the school system and its president was inducted into the mayor's Women's Leadership Hall of Fame.

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, as the city's first woman mayor, established the Hall of Fame in 2022, during March, Women's History Month, to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on the city. Past inductees have included the council's first woman president Fran Buckley, Gov. Jane Swift and boxing pioneer Gail Grandchamp. 

 

She described President Ashley Shade as a colleague and a friend and a former student. 

 

"Ashley is known not just for her leadership, but for her compassion, her ability to listen, to understand and to stand up for those whose voices are often gone unheard," the mayor said. "She has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ plus community and marginalized communities at both the local and national level here in North Adams."

 

Elected in 2021, Shade is the first openly transgender person to hold the role of council president in Massachusetts. She also leads the first-ever woman majority council in the city's history. 

 

The McCann Technical School graduate also has served on boards and commissions, "always working to make our city more inclusive, equitable and welcoming," said the mayor. "Ashley not leads not only with strength, but with a heart, and our community is a much stronger place because of it."

 

Shade, wearing her signature pink suit, was presented with a plaque from the mayor designating her a "woman of distinction."