Friends of Pontoosuc Advise Spring Pause for Fishing

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Friends of Pontoosuc Lake surveyed the lake after it was treated with aquatic herbicides to control invasive vegetation.

Diquat was used to control three invasives in the 53-acre lake in mid-June. The survey was done over two days at the end of June, focusing from zero to 12 inches of the lake's perimeter.

The team surveyed: Lanesborough Island and Pittsfield Island, Narragansett Park to the Causeway, Causeway to A Street, A Street to National Street, Narragansett Avenue to the condominiums, the condos to Ridge Avenue, Ridge to the park on Hancock Road, U-Drive boat rentals to Nonamie Trailer Park.

Mike Callahan from Friends gave the findings to the Conservation Commission on Monday.

"We try to do the areas in which were treated to see, and what we came up with this year is we've seen a great deal on number of fish, we saw bass, carp, pumpkinseed, catfish, and pike," he said. "The water temperature was between 68 and 66 degrees, and we noticed that the weird weeds were starting to bend and knot on top of the water. That was done during the survey."

The crew categorized the fish from small, medium, large, and big. They found 156 small, 31 medium, eight large, and 12 big.

They noticed the big fish would scare off the little fish resulting in periods of no fish seen at all.

They also said they believe Pontoosuc Lake is fished a lot year-round leaving little time to recover and thought it might need some help to repopulate the fish.

"It's a very heavily fished lake, and the only way we could come up with of including the fish population is to close fishing from March to July during the spawning season to try to let them let the lake reproduce more fish," he said.

As the recommendation to pause fishing is not through the Conservation Commission, they sent it to the Select Board, which might want to follow up.

In other notes, citizens' requests for turtle crossing signage is in review. The Friends are looking for possible grant options and educational support to place the signs in high-risk areas. The Department of Public Works is willing to install them.

The commission also spoke about another potential buyer for the Berkshire Mall, and recommended to update wetlands delineation first. There have been four different companies that have reached out to the commission.

From Empty Storefronts to New Opportunities, Park Street Eyes a Comeback

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:07AM / Tuesday, August 25, 2026

The latest Park Street sale is the 1890 Carlow building, a Queen Ann flatiron, purchased this past spring. The former owners ran Coffee Liberation Front until retiring. 

ADAMS, Mass. — For several years, Park Street has seen a steady stream of businesses open their doors, only to close again after brief operations. Now, some are hopeful of a new beginning, with new businesses bringing fresh energy to the area.

 

Some residents can remember a time when people walked the streets of downtown Adams to shop or eat, whether it was getting your photo taken at Smith Studio, shopping at Schiff Clothing or Groves & Co. Women Apparel, or having lunch or ice cream at The Crest. 

 

Over time, storefronts closed, and the once-bustling street grew quieter, with fewer people on the sidewalks and parking spaces sitting empty.

 

Adams is a very walkable town, said Glen Diehl, who sits on ProAdams Board of Directors.  

 

Diehl highlighted ProAdams' destinations map that sits at the corner of Park Street and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. 

 

The town needs restaurants and businesses he said, and as more move in the nonprofit will update the map. 

 

Small-town retail corridors face challenges from the shift to online shopping and the high cost of renovating historic buildings to meet modern codes, real estate agent Jeffrey Loholdt of Engel and Volkers Wellesley.