Northampton Conservation Commission Approves Children's Nature Walks on City Conservation Land

NORTHAMPTON -- May 14, 2026, Northampton Conservation Commission unanimously approved a children's nature walk program on city conservation land and deferred a stormwater compliance certificate pending drainage repairs. The commission voted 6-0 to allow Chrissy Larson, a senior educator at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in South Amherst, to run her weekly "Little Bear Walks" program, for children ages zero to five, on three scouted Northampton conservation properties, including the Dimmick Street entrance to Roberts Hill and the Terrace Trails, with a Cook Street Fitzgerald Lake site available once construction wraps by June 30. In a separate 6-0 vote, commissioners issued a negative determination of applicability for a pine tree removal at 66 Federal Street on the Mill River, conditioning approval on the planting of three native understory trees and preservation of the root structure. The commission declined to issue a certificate of compliance for a long-outstanding stormwater order at 125 Carlin Drive after site visits revealed silted-in drainage swales, acknowledged in the applicant's own engineer's letter, overgrown with knotweed and filled with debris; staff will send a letter requiring remediation before a vote can proceed. In public comment, Mill River resident Richard Hudson raised concerns about city snow storage practices at Mains Field, which commissioners asked staff to place on a future agenda for formal review.