Dalton Residents Eliminate Bittersweet at the Dalton CRA / iBerkshires.com - The Berkshires online guide to events, news and Berkshire County community information.
 
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Dalton Residents Eliminate Bittersweet at the Dalton CRA

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DALTON, Mass. — Those passing by the house at Mill + Main, formally known as the Kittredge House, in Dalton may have noticed the rim of woods surrounding the property have undergone a facelift. 
 
Two concerned Dalton residents, Tom Irwin and Robert Collins set out to make a change. Through over 40 hours of effort, they cleared 5 large trailers of bittersweet and grapevine vines and roots, fallen trees and branches and cut down many small trees damaged by the vines.
 
"The Oriental Bittersweet was really taking over the area in front of our Mill + Main building," said Eric Payson, director of facilities for the CRA. "While it started as a barrier, mixing in with other planted vegetation for our events help on the lawn, it quickly got out of hand and started strangling some nice hardwoods."
 
Bittersweet, which birds spread unknowingly, strangles trees, and also grows over and smothers ground level bushes and plants. According to forester and environmental and landscaping consultant Robert Collins, oriental bittersweet has grown to such a problem that the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Wildlife Management has adopted a policy of applying herbicide to bittersweet growing in their wildlife management areas.
 
Collins and Irwin also chipped a large pile of cut trees and brush as well as discarded branches. 
 
"We are very grateful to be in a community where volunteers, such as Tom and Robert, are willing to roll up their sleeves and help out," said CRA Executive Director Alison Peters.
 
Many areas in Dalton, including backyards, need the same attention to avoid this invasive plant killing trees. Irwin and Colins urge residents to look carefully at their trees for a vine wrapped often in a corkscrew fashion around branches or a mat of vines growing over a bush that has clusters of orange and red berries in the Fall. To remove them pull the roots as well.
 
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Dalton Rotary Club Gifts Support Food Pantries, Fire Departments

DALTON, Mass. — Dalton Rotary Club closed out 2024 by awarding $3,550 in financial assistance to local food pantries, fire departments and the Berkshire Humane Society.
 
The gifts were made possible by Dalton Rotary's 2024 fundraising efforts, primarily through its annual golf tournament.
 
The club gave $750 each to the St. Agnes, Loaves & Fishes, and Hinsdale food pantries, $250 each to the Dalton, Hinsdale, Windsor, and Lanesborough fire departments, and $300 to the Berkshire Humane Society.
 
"Food security has become a significant issue for the Central Berkshire community and the Butternut Fire demonstrated the importance of supporting our fire departments," said Michelle Pullano, Dalton Rotary president. "We're happy to help these organizations that provide such essential services with donations made possible through the generosity of our tournament sponsors, especially Greylock Federal Credit Union, Pittsfield Co-op Bank, Lombardi, Clairmont & Keegan CPAs, and L.P. Adams Co."
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