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North Adams residents invited to share their hopes, dreams for Hoosic River as modernization of flood control system gets off the ground

A view of the concrete flood control chutes that channel the Hoosic River through North Adams, Massachusetts.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC
A view of the concrete flood control chutes that channel the Hoosic River through North Adams, Massachusetts.

Next week, North Adams, Massachusetts and the Hoosic River Revival will hold a meeting about modernizing the city’s crumbling flood control system.

For 70 years, the Hoosic River has flowed through North Adams in and out of a series of concrete chutes built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The system has been showing its age for some time, with sections actively disintegrating and collapsed walls spilling into the water below. The deterioration has been hastened by extreme weather like the heavy rain and flooding that battered the city in early July. On Friday, the Corps is making its long-awaited return to North Adams to kick off a three-year feasibility study of what revamping the system might look like.

“Modernization of the Hoosic River flood chutes is a tremendous opportunity for the city to increase its flood protection and climate resilience and really create a river environment that responds to community priorities. And Hoosic River Revival, which is a local nonprofit, has been working for more than a decade to advance this modernization effort," said Carole Ridley, the HRR and city’s project manager for the study. “This is a really important inflection point with the start of this feasibility study and the exciting partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to really launch a very thorough evaluation of alternatives and incorporate the community in in considering its vision for the river, what's important, and what needs to be addressed in this modernization effort.”

Community members are invited to a public input session Wednesday at the UNO Community Center about the project.

“We think it's really important that residents of North Adams are able to really express their ideas and concerns as it comes to any changes in the flood control system, and we really want to hear from people about what observations they have of the current condition of the flood chutes, we want to talk to people about their stories, about the rivers history and its importance to the community over the generations, and we want to also share some examples of river restoration efforts in other communities and see if those are examples that people think would work in North Adams," Cary Kandel-Nadler, the HRR’s clerk and co-chair of its community outreach committee, told WAMC. She says the project isn’t just about a flood control system, but also restoring the city’s inseparable and transformative relationship to the Hoosic River.

“North Adams built its industrial history on the power of the Hoosic River," Kandel-Nadler continued. "People literally got their livelihood from the Hoosic River. And so, I think that has really made a huge impact. I think, unfortunately, rivers flood, and the community suffered really significant losses over the decades, especially in the 30s and the 40s. And so, I think that created some distance. The loss of industry and manufacturing in North Adams combined with flooding, I think, created a sort of a barrier with the Hoosic River. And so, we're really hoping that with a more modern flood control system, we can kind of bring the Hoosic back into the fold, a piece of our history, and kind of current lives that we can appreciate and feel safe from, but really feel connected to again.”

The feasibility study will cost $3 million, which the Corps and North Adams – with help from the commonwealth and federal government – are splitting.

The City of North Adams and Hoosic River Revival community listening session at the UNO Community Center is scheduled to begin at 5:30.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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