Boston and Berkshire County — On Monday, October 28, the Healey-Driscoll administration announced grants totaling over $3.7 million for river and wetland restoration projects. The funds will be provided by the Department of Fish and Game’s (DFG) Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) programs.
According to the administration, the funded projects will strengthen community resilience to climate change, reduce flood risks, improve climate-ready infrastructure and public safety, and restore crucial wildlife habitat and water quality.
DER is awarding over $2.1 million to 17 municipalities through its Stream Continuity Program via the Culvert Replacement Municipal Assistance (CRMA) Grants and the Culvert Replacement Training Site Initiative.
The CRMA Grants help municipalities replace outdated culverts with new, improved crossings. These upgrades restore river ecosystems, enhance fish and wildlife passage, and reduce flood risks, improving climate resilience and public safety.
The Training Site Initiative will turn some of these project sites into training hubs, creating a network of locations for hands-on learning to teach local roadway managers about culvert replacements in Massachusetts.
Additionally, DER has allocated $754,635 to support three Restoration Partnerships through its Regional Restoration Partnerships Program. This program boosts the pace and scale of ecological restoration in Massachusetts by strengthening local and regional organizations that collaborate on restoration projects, helping both people and nature adapt to climate change.
DER is also awarding $899,200 to the Herring River Estuary Restoration Project through DER’s Priority Projects Program. The Priority Projects Program is the vehicle by which DER pursues wetland and river restoration projects that present the greatest benefit to the state ecologically, socially, and economically. Priority Projects underway include removal of aging, unsafe dams; restoration of freshwater wetlands in former cranberry farmlands; replacement and removal of undersized and degrading culverts; and restoration of tidal flow to degraded coastal habitats.
The following Berkshire County municipalities were awarded funding through DER’s CRMA Grant Initiative:
- Town of Savoy, Phelps Brook Culvert Replacement: $62,000. The Town of Savoy will collect field data, perform design and engineering work, and conduct permitting work for the replacement of an undersized culvert on Old Main Road over Phelps Brook, which is a Coldwater Fisheries Resource.
- Town of Stockbridge, Marsh Brook Culvert Replacement: $51,500. The Town of Stockbridge will collect field data for a partially crushed and perched culvert on Rattlesnake Mountain Road over Marsh Brook, where flooding has been an issue.
- Town of Windsor, Dry Brook Culvert Replacement: $400,000. The Town of Windsor will replace a perched and degraded culvert on a tributary to Dry Brook on Cheshire Road, which is an important road between towns for emergency services, commuting, and school bus routes.
The following partnership was awarded funding through DER’s Regional Restoration Partnerships Program:
- Housatonic Valley Association, Berkshires Clean, Cold, Connected Partnership: $248,000. The Berkshire Clean, Cold, Connected Partnership supports a network of organizations, agencies, and communities working for healthy aquatic systems and building climate resilience in the Hoosic, Housatonic, and Farmington River watersheds. This award supports their efforts to continue building local and regional capacity for restoration education, planning, and support the implementation of locally driven priority restoration projects.
