Key message from The SBA’s 78th Annual Meeting (August 3, 2024): “Take a walk through Bullard Woods.”
MISSION
The Stockbridge Bowl Association (SBA) was formed on August 30, 1946. Its original mission was to protect the natural beauty of Stockbridge Bowl and to set standards for conservation. Today, SBA pursues the same objectives as at its founding, seeking to restore, protect, and preserve the ecological, economic, recreational and aesthetic value of Stockbridge Bowl and the SBA properties, Bullard Woods and Kwuniikwat Island.
We are an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization. We invite you to join us!
WHAT WE DO
The Bowl
The Stockbridge Bowl Association sits on the town’s Stockbridge Bowl Stewardship Committee, which focuses on the Bowl and its Watershed.
We are assisting the Town in finalizing the dredging project for which we have already raised considerable funds. We will work with the Town to secure additional funding and determine how to cover any financial gaps.
We partner with the Town in monitoring and removing invasive species, including ongoing removal of water chestnuts. We assist with everything from planning, to identifying sources of funding, to determining how to cover financial gaps.
We financially support the Town’s zebra mussel control and the operation of the boat wash station.
We helped to fund the purchase of the Town’s weed harvesters. We are pursuing approval for additional acres for harvesting.
We will be working with the Town Department of Parks and Recreation to improve the Town Beach.
The Properties
The Stockbridge Bowl Association owns and manages Kwuniikwat Island and Bullard Woods, both open to the public.
We work to make the properties more welcoming by regularly clearing and maintaining the trails; improving signage; and providing benches, docks, picnic areas, and more.
We are expanding our Bullard Woods projects to include the protection of old growth trees, the replanting of the meadows with pollinators to increase wildlife diversity, and the removal of invasives. We have been awarded a grant of over $11.000 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to control the hardy kiwi invasive at Bullard Woods.
We are collaborating with the Conservation Commission and the Agricultural and Forestry Commission to strategize on how best to save the hemlocks from the wooly adelgid. We are undertaking a survey of diseased trees in Bullard Woods and are developing a plan to treat them.
In season, we organize educational walks on the properties—to raise awareness of the history of these sites, to foster appreciation for the old growth trees, and to promote recognition of the birds and other wildlife that live there.