WILLIAMSBURG, Mass. – The Trustees of Reservations hosted a celebration of the state awarding the Town of Williamsburg a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant for $1,194,255 toward local flood resilience and the restoration of the former Beaver Brook golf course. The Trustees acquired the 260 acres of land this summer.
A press event today at Beaver Brook with Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Undersecretary Katherine Antos, Senator Paul Mark, Representative Lindsey Sabadosa, Williamsburg Town Administrator Nick Caccamo, and Trustees President and CEO Katie Theoharides formally announced the MVP grant for Beaver Brook and other projects across the state.
The MVP funding was part of a $28.7 million pool of grants awarded to 54 Massachusetts communities to prepare for increasingly extreme weather, including heat waves, flooding, wildfires, and storms. The funding supports on the ground improvements such as protecting wetlands that reduce flooding in neighborhoods, which is an important part of the restoration work The Trustees will do at Beaver Brook.
“The MVP program is focused on building resiliency to climate change, but at its core, it is about building the communities of tomorrow – places that support people, the environment, and local economies,” said Theoharides. “We are grateful to the Healey-Driscoll administration for their commitment to climate resiliency through MVP and proud to partner with the Town of Williamsburg and the Hilltown Land Trust to rewild the former golf course at Beaver Brook to become a publicly accessible community park that will hold and absorb flood water, support critical habitat connectivity for plants and wildlife, and provide outdoor access for everyone, forever to this special landscape in Western Massachusetts.”
The MVP funding will address three different needs for the project. First, $850,000 will be used to transfer a conservation restriction on the property to the Town of Williamsburg. Approximately $35,000 will be used to do planning work for the ecological restoration, and the remaining $65,000 will be earmarked for the Hilltown Community Development Corporation to do a housing feasibility analysis for a small portion of the property.
The MVP grant is the latest in a string of positive developments for Beaver Brook, said Wendy Ferris, The Trustees’ vice president for the Central and Valley region. Ferris added that some work has started on the property this summer, including cleaning out buildings, weed trimming and control of invasive plants with 50 Trustees’ staff from all over the state pitching in to complete the tasks. A Smith College student collected oral history interviews with local residents this summer about the history of farming on the property before it was a golf course, along with deed research and historic photographs. The Trustees also recently acquired a 10.8-acre inholding that features a beaver pond and trail connections, which brings the total acreage of the property to 260 acres.
“Over the summer we also worked with state agency and other partners to conduct wildlife inventories, including for those living in the brook itself, to better understand habitat quality,” Ferris said. “We’ve also been in touch with several environmental, educational, recreational, and social services nonprofits that have expressed interest in partnering with us on various projects and programs.”
Over the next six months, The Trustees will be conducting conceptual design and a budget plan for renovating the former clubhouse into offices for its western Massachusetts-based staff, hiring a consultant to delineate the wetlands on the property which will help shape trail planning and other uses of the property, and begin working on the restoration planning. This fall, Ferris said the staff will engage with the University of Massachusetts Amherst Landscape Architecture Department about restoration work and begin work with the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Fiske Center for Archaeological Research on a cultural resources inventory of the property.
Ferris said Beaver Brook is informally open to visitors and that it is consistently visited by dog walkers (on leash), plein air painters, and joggers.
For more information on Beaver Brook, go to www.thetrustees.org/beaverbrook.
Founded by landscape architect Charles Eliot in 1891, The Trustees has, for over 130 years, been a catalyst for important ideas, endeavors, and progress in Massachusetts. As a steward of distinctive and dynamic places of both historic and cultural value, The Trustees is the nation’s first preservation and conservation organization, and its landscapes and landmarks continue to inspire discussion, innovation, and action today as they did in the past. We are a nonprofit, supported by members, friends and donors and our more than 120 sites are destinations for residents, members, and visitors alike, welcoming millions of guests annually. www.thetrustees.org.