For immediate release Contact: Wendy Fox
STATE OFFICIALS AND PARTNERS CELEBRATE
GRANTS TO PROTECT KAMPOOSA BOG ACEC
State officials joined the
Kampoosa Stewardship Committee today to celebrate a successful 12-year
partnership to preserve and restore the Kampoosa Bog Area of Critical
Environmental Concern (ACEC). Massachusetts Department of Conservation and
Recreation (DCR) Commissioner Rick Sullivan and Department of Fish and Game
(DFG) Commissioner Mary Griffin joined Judy Spencer, co-chairman of the Kampoosa
Stewardship Committee, and other partners at the Congregation of Marians’
property in Stockbridge that overlooks the Kampoosa Bog to acknowledge five new
grants to help protect the ACEC.
“The Kampoosa Stewardship Committee is an
exceptional model for public-private partnerships and environmental resource
stewardship,” said Commissioner Sullivan. “The Committee’s commitment and
dedication to its vision ‘to restore and preserve Kampoosa by fostering community
stewardship’ is exemplified by the multiple grants-funded preservation projects
they have successfully implemented.”
The Kampoosa Stewardship
Committee was established following state ACEC designation of the 1,350-acre
Kampoosa bog in 1995. Located in Lee and Stockbridge, Kampoosa is recognized as
an Area of Critical Environmental Concern because of the unique, global
significance of its ecosystem, the high concentrations of rare species there, and
the beauty and inspiration it affords. ACEC designation has helped provide a
framework for the cooperative stewardship efforts needed for Kampoosa.
Commissioners Sullivan and
The five new grants for
2007-2008 include:
·
$47,698 from the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) Natural
Resource Damages & Restoration Program, in cooperation with the US Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFAWS), for the portion of the Housatonic River Floodplain
Forest Restoration Project that includes a Kampoosa Bog test site for learning
about replanting native species in the bog, plus an education/outreach
component for conservation commissions;
·
the final payment
of a five-year $75,000 grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust for
scientific data collection and analysis by Smith College in the bog,
coordinated by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission;
·
the final payment
of a $10,000 grant from the USFWS Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program for
habitat management;
·
$51,811 from the
Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game/Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
Landowner Incentive Program (LIP), in cooperation with the USFWS for Early
Successional Habitat Management, which will control invasive species in the bog;
·
$30,000 from El
Paso Corporation, which manages the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that is adjacent to
the bog, for the Kampoosa Bog Invasive Plant Control Program, a private
matching grant for the public LIP grant above.
Officials from the Tennessee Gas Pipeline were at the event to present a
check for their grant award.
Also during the event, DCR
and DFG presented special certificates of appreciation to the Congregation of
the Marians, who own the Kampoosa Bog land and have actively supported its
protection over the years, and to The Nature Conservancy Berkshire Taconic
Landscape Program, which for over 25 years has worked to preserve this rare
ecosystem, control invasive plants in the bog, and administer many of the
Kampoosa Bog grants.
“The Department of Fish and
Game and our Division of Fisheries and Wildlife are pleased to be able to contribute
to the protection and restoration of the Kampoosa Bog through the award of a
Landowner Incentive Program grant,” said DFG Commissioner Mary Griffin. “I
would like to congratulate the Kampoosa Stewardship Committee and thank all of
the partners who have worked so hard in recent years to preserve this
environmental treasure, particularly the Congregation of Marians and The Nature
Conservancy.”
Added Wayne Klockner,
Massachusetts State Director of The Nature Conservancy, "The Nature
Conservancy is honored to be a part of such an effective partnership. In both
the recent restoration and these new grants, we have much to celebrate for this
important natural area."
The Stewardship Committee includes
representatives and participation from the following public and private groups:
municipal boards and commissions; the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission;
Stockbridge and Lee Land Trusts; The Nature Conservancy; the Congregation of
Marians; state agencies such as DCR, DFG, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, and
MassHighway; and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company.
Since 1995, the Kampoosa
Stewardship Committee has undertaken a series of successful projects with the
participation and support of an extraordinary and diverse group of citizens and
public and private agencies and organizations. Accomplishments include ongoing
efforts to control and manage invasive species and provide public education
about Kampoosa and the need for preservation and wise stewardship.
For further information about
the Kampoosa bog, please contact Judy Spencer, Kampoosa Stewardship Co-Chairman,
at 413-298-4742.
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