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Good news for paddlers!
Five
new canoe/kayak river access sites will more than double the number
of existing sites on the Housatonic River in the Berkshires.
The project is
made possible with funds received from the Natural Resources Damages
Trustee fund as part of the PCB remediation settlement with GE.
One of the access points,
located at the Searles School redevelopment site on Bridge Street, will
give Great Barrington residents another access point on the beautiful
Housatonic River. HVA is working with the Great Barrington Land
Conservancy and the town on the project.
Care will be
taken to use a low impact construction design to protect the riverbank.
Rock steps will be installed on the bank far enough into the river to
account for the fluctuation of the river’s height over the year. This
means that a step will always be available to safely enter and exit the
river.
HVA partnered with the ESS Group, an
environmental engineering and consulting organization to create and
install these sites.
Regan said,
“We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to provide an easy and safe way
for people to get on the river. It’s appropriate that Natural Resources
Damages funds will allow the public to do this since the fear of PCBs
originally kept them away.”
Meanwhile, plans are underway to
develop four additional access sites at the
Sheffield Covered Bridge, Lee athletic field, Woods Pond Pedestrian Bridge
in Lenox and Waconah Park in Pittsfield.
Regan said work is expected to
start on the Sheffield and Lenox sites this summer.
The four official existing
access sites on the Housatonic River are at
Boardman Street in Great Barrington, Park Street in Stockbridge, Mary
Decker Launch at New Lenox Road in Lee, and Fred Garner Park in
Pittsfield.
The Natural Resources Damages Trustees
received $15 million from GE for natural resource restoration projects,
half of which is available to Massachusetts and half to Connecticut. The
proposal for the access sites is one of three submitted by HVA and
approved by the NRD Trustees. |
