Risks associated with a changing climate, such as higher temperatures, increased precipitation, and extreme weather, increase the vulnerability of everything that is special about Franklin County–our residents, infrastructure, food systems, forests, rivers, wildlife, economy, and government.
Climate resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to hazardous events, trends, or disturbances related to climate. Climate resilience is also about our ability to successfully manage the impacts of climate change while preventing those impacts from growing worse. The way we have used land in the past, how we are using it currently, and how we plan to use land in the future determines how climate resilient our communities are and can be.
News
FRCOG updates the Franklin County Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) every four years. The RTP is a comprehensive accounting of transportation…
FRCOG received a Nonpoint Source Pollution grant through the MA Department of Environmental Protection to develop watershed-scale zoning to reduce…
FRCOG received a Nonpoint Source Pollution grant through the MA Department of Environmental Protection to develop a Dirt Roads Stormwater…
FRCOG Planning Staff are excited to share we received funding from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)…
Climate Resilient Rivers & Watersheds
Untreated, unmanaged stormwater, along with shifts in river pathways due to natural or human causes, are all part of a complex set of stressors impacting our rivers and their watersheds.…
Housing Planning
Investment in new and existing housing is a critical need in rural towns, where a mismatch exists between current housing stock and current needs. A lack of housing production, old…
Hazard Mitigation & Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Planning
A changing climate is increasing the frequency and severity of damaging storms. Hazard Mitigation Plans and Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Plans inform a community's long-term strategy to reduce damages from…
Clean Energy
In 2019, FRCOG was awarded funding by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) through the Affordable Access to Regional Coordination (AARC) Program to increase local-level knowledge of clean and efficient…
FERC Relicensing of the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage and Turners Falls Dam Hydroelectric Projects
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licenses for five hydroelectric projects on the Connecticut River expired in 2018. Two projects are located in Franklin County – the Northfield Mountain Pumped…
Zoning Bylaw Technical Assistance
The FRCOG works with towns on a wide variety of zoning topics including affordable housing, floodplain overlay districts, short-term residential rentals, pollinator habitat, large-scale solar facilities and recreational marijuana. In…
Open Space and Recreation Planning
An Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) helps a community to act strategically to protect and enhance the natural, cultural, and recreational resources they value most, makes them eligible to…
Green Communities Technical Assistance
Twenty one (21) of the 26 towns in Franklin County are now designated Green Communities. Towns can become a Green Community by meeting a set of five criteria outlined by…
Regional Pollinator Plan
Native pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, bats and hummingbirds. Pollinators are vital to plant reproduction and plant diversity and pollinators support many benefits that humans receive from…
The Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership is a cooperative association of municipalities and regional organizations working collaboratively to implement the goals…
Green Infrastructure, or, Low-Impact Development (LID), treats stormwater as a resource, not a waste product. LID techniques preserve and recreate…
A Framework for Resilience is the first watershed-based climate change resiliency plan in the Commonwealth. The Deerfield River Watershed includes…
With funding from the MassDEP’s s.319 grant program that leverages $100,000 provided by the Town of Conway’s Community Preservation Act…
The Massachusetts Local Food Action Plan, co-authored by the FRCOG and released in December 2015, presents goals and actions to…
In 2017, the FRCOG conducted an inventory of public street trees in South Deerfield and Old Deerfield, funded by a…