In the Berkshires, an effort to corral climate change, one stream at a time

Nate Maynard, a high school science teacher wearing dark green waders, volunteers his time to assess the dangers. He bushwhacks through plants to get to the streambed, then climbs on top of the old pipe with a measuring stick. His mission that day, along with others from the Berkshire Clean, Cold, and Connected partnership, was to document problems with this particular culvert.

The group aims to unblock and reconnect streams across the Berkshires — both restoring natural ecosystems and making communities more resilient to flooding as climate change worsens. Often, what’s required is replacing the pipe with a bridge wide enough to let the stream flow naturally beneath the road.

It’s a simple but important solution that state environmental officials and climate advocates say they hope can be replicated throughout the Commonwealth for the vast majority of the more than 25,000 known culverts, as well as small bridges, that are now inadequate. It’s estimated that at least half of these culverts and small bridges that cross streams are either structurally unsound, too small, or hamper the ecosystem by preventing wildlife, such as brook trout, from passing through.

When storm water infrastructure is overwhelmed, flood water carves new paths through residential properties, damaging buildings and inundating basements. Road blowouts can paralyze movement for days and pose a hazard to public safety.

Each infrastructure replacement, however, can cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, local officials in the Berkshires said, money that many towns simply don’t have.

“It’s almost unimaginable, the challenges that our communities will face as climate change puts additional stress on these roads,” said Beth Lambert, director of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, which administers a grant program to replace culverts.

Most of the critical infrastructure that shrunk or rerouted Massachusetts waterways was built in the 1950s and ‘60s and is beyond its intended life span. Culverts are often damaged or warped, and some are at risk of causing the above roads to collapse during a bad storm, an increasing risk as the climate warms. According to the National Climate Assessment, the number of days with extreme precipitation events has increased by 60 percent in the Northeast since the 1950s, the largest such increase of any region in the United States.

In Hancock, Maynard, trudging knee-deep in Berry Pond Creek while it swarms with deer flies, notices the culvert is a bit deformed. The earth hugging the pipe and supporting Goodrich Road is eroding. Just downstream, Chelsey Simmons, programs director for the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, calls out instructions on what to measure: the height of the pipe. Its width.

Fewer than one-fifth of the more than 25,000 stream crossings in Massachusetts have ever been surveyed this closely, according to data from the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative.

Maynard stretches his arms out wide with the measuring stick and climbs around, above, and inside the pipe, reporting back the measurements for Simmons. They discuss how fish would have a hard time jumping up into this pipe and wiggling through to the other side.

This culvert has not previously been surveyed. Ideally, the data will soon help a town or regional planning group apply for the money to replace it.

Jane Winn, executive director and cofounder of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, began documenting stream crossings nearly two decades ago. At the time, the group’s purpose was almost wholly focused on whether wildlife — particularly brook trout — could easily pass through culverts. She would notify municipalities about problems and ask them to replace the aging infrastructure.

She was usually turned down.

Today, however, heavy rainstorms are more frequently exceeding the capacity of culverts. Those situations quickly become devastating and enormously expensive. Floods in Leominster and the state of Vermont last year, both of which were declared federal disasters, are worrisome examples of what happens when storm water overwhelms local drainage systems. In Leominster, for example, temporary repairs were made to dozens of roads that partially or completely collapsed as water overwhelmed the town, but many of those stream crossings still need to be replaced.

“Fifteen years ago, I felt like they would pat me on the head and say, ‘It’s very a nice idea, dear, but you don’t understand,’” said the 66-year-old Winn, whose group led the survey of the Hancock culvert. ”Now, I think with the more intense flooding, they agree. Their answer is: ‘Find me the money.’”

That’s easier said than done. Seventy-one municipalities applied for a culvert replacement grant from the Division of Ecological Restoration in fiscal year 2024, totaling more than $12 million in requests. The agency can award a fraction of that: about $750,000 each year.

In other words, the program can only fund about 6 percent of requested projects, and the agency was forced to limit applications to one culvert per community.

“Otherwise it would be astronomical,” Lambert said, “and very difficult for us to prioritize.”

Among the 14 grants last year were $87,000 to Haverhill, $55,000 to Ashby, $53,000 to Uxbridge, and $32,000 to Leicester, all for culvert replacement work.

While legislation to increase state funds for culvert replacements over the years has yet to pass, the Massachusetts Senate has proposed a new $15 million program at the Department of Transportation for upgrading culverts and small bridges. Separately, Governor Maura Healey proposed $2.8 million to assist towns and cities with the technical expertise for culvert replacement projects. Budget negotiations are ongoing.

Ricardo Morales, commissioner of Public Utilities for Pittsfield, estimates his city needs between $2 million and $3 million per year for storm-water upgrades, but the department only has a budget of about $500,000 for the effort. Each project requires in-depth studies: Engineers must design around utility pipes, and sewer, electrical, and internet lines. There are houses, telephone poles, and retaining walls to dodge.

“It’s something we need to be better equipped to deal with to assist our residents,” Morales said, “and it’s caused by the type of climate we are living in right now.”

Across the Berkshires, problems with storm-water management continue to crop up. In Becket, a half-hour drive to the southeast of Pittsfield, a typically low and slow-moving stream now swells 6 feet high a few times each summer and overtops its banks during heavy rains, according to resident David Johnson. The stream, which crosses his backyard, has repeatedly washed out chunks of a nearby dirt road, which his neighbors rely on to access their homes.

The speed of the water rushing down the hillside concerns Johnson. The faster the water, the more likely it is to damage infrastructure.

To slow a storm’s destructive speed, Heather Geist, an education and outreach manager for the Farmington River Watershed Association, advises municipalities to install catch basins alongside new culverts, which can allow water to soak into the ground.

“We can’t slow down the rain,” Geist said. “But what we can do is slow down the water while it’s moving.”

Johnson, who is also the chair of the Becket Conservation Commission, is concerned the land here is “swamping in” from a combination of heavy rains and encroaching invasive plant species, such as common reeds, which crowd out ponds.

The phenomenon is causing several drainage problems, he said, including preventing some property owners in Becket from installing septic systems. More than a handful of people purchased property but were told they couldn’t obtain a permit to build, said Johnson, who has been on the receiving end of dozens of angry phone calls over the past few years.

“Someone told me, ‘Boy, just wait until climate change gets here,’” Johnson said. “And I said, ‘No, that’s not true. It’s here.’”

The volunteers working in Hancock ultimately determined the culvert channeling Berry Pond Creek ought to be four times wider than its current 6-foot width.

The natural width of the stream, on average, is 20 feet. According to state regulations, storm water infrastructure ought to be 1.2 times the natural width of the stream it crosses and have a natural bottom instead of metal. The standard is thought to be protective both for severe storms in a warmer climate and for wildlife, including deer and other creatures who would rather follow the bank of a stream than cross a road.

The group decides to rate the culvert as a “moderate” barrier, a high priority, but not the highest for replacement. What would be a “severe” example?

“If there were holes in the bottom,” Simmons said. “That’s something we see pretty often. And, the pipe’s clogged with debris.”

For Winn, of the Berkshire nonprofit, knowing about the pervasive problem has become a bit of an obsession when she’s driving: If she sees a construction crew working on a culvert or a small bridge, she usually rolls down her window to ask them about the project.

And when she crosses an unfamiliar stream, she pulls over, climbs down to the bank, and gazes at the underbelly of the road. She makes a note to herself: “Oh, that should be replaced.”

Erin Douglas can be reached at erin.douglas@globe.com. Follow her @erinmdouglas23.