Berkshire Humane Society Welcomes Two New Board Members

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Lisa Sihvonen-Binder and Susan Tremblay joined the board of directors for Berkshire Humane Society at the nonprofit's annual meeting.  
 
Sihvonen-Binder brings management and grant-writing expertise to the board. She's operated a grant consulting practice since 2007, taught Grant Writing for Corporations & Foundations for Bay Path University for 13 years and is a member of the Grant Professionals Association. Her 34 years of professional experience also includes roles in communications and program management in nonprofit and corporate sectors. Sihvonen-Binder has edited several books for CharityChannel Press on nonprofit management and fundraising. She holds a Master of Science degree in Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two rescue dogs.
 
Tremblay's background includes sales, marketing and volunteerism. In her corporate marketing career with businesses ranging from a small startup long distance telephone company to Fortune 500, multi-national MCI, Inc., she has been responsible for web development, communications, revenue production, sales force productivity, product management and corporate partner deal execution. She was a key donations-producing volunteer in leadership roles with two Fairfield County (Connecticut) private schools, Malta House (a homeless shelter for women and children), and The American Red Cross. Tremblay has a BA in English from Franklin and Marshall College. She and her husband live in Richmond, Massachusetts, and have a son and a standard poodle.
 
"Both Lisa and Susan bring valuable skills to our organization," said the Society's board of directors President Laura Bykowski. "I'm excited to work with them to forward Berkshire Humane Society's compassionate mission of helping vulnerable companion animals and the people who love them. Please join me in welcoming Lisa and Susan."
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Dalton Air Quality Report Links Dust to Digsite

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — For more than a year, neighbors of Berkshire Concrete's unauthorized dig site have complained that sand drifting into their neighborhood is affecting their air quality.
 
A five-month study is providing data that may support these claims.
 
Air Partners Collaborative of Needham monitored the air quality over five months — from October to April — using a network of monitoring sensors at strategic locations surrounding the site. 
 
Sensors were positioned west and southeast of the site at four locations: Raymond Drive, Off Prospect Street, Renee Drive, and the shooting range 80 meters northwest of the site to provide background measurements for the northwesterly winds. 
 
During the observation period, it was determined that Dalton is experiencing "extreme events of coarse particulate matter, with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 micrometers (PM10)
 
The National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM10 is 150 micrograms per cubic meter within a 24-hour period, the report says. But Dalton is seeing concentrations reaching 1,000 to 10,000 micrograms per cubic meter during individual events. This is seven to 67 times the national standards.
 
The wind direction analysis indicates that 10 of the 12 exceedance events, or 83 percent, suggest the digsite may be contributing to the issue, but this cannot be proved with certainty.
 
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