$1.9 Million Awarded to Protect Land from Development in Western Mass.

Governor Deval Patrick’s administration recently awarded nearly $2 million in grants to preserve large tracts of undeveloped land in Western Massachusetts. Last week Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rick Sullivan announced the Landscape Partnership Program is supporting two projects to protect thousands of acres of agricultural and wooded land from development in Franklin and Berkshire Counties. Stephanie Cooper, Assistant Secretary for Land and Forest Conservation at the EEA, said that the Landscape Partnership Program works with private landowners, municipalities, and land trust organizations to incentivize the protection of the land with several goals in mind… “It’s about wildlife habitat, it’s about preserving working farms and forests, it’s about adapting for climate change, protecting drinking water, “ said Cooper. “It’s an investment we were happy to make.” In the Berkshire County towns of Otis and Tyringhamn, $850,000 was granted to