HADLEY — People interested in a stables building at the Fort River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge will have a few more weeks to submit comments on its future.
The comment period for the environmental assessment on the former Bri-Mar Stables on Moody Bridge Road, which has become a popular nesting site for barn swallows, will run until May 10. The original deadline was Friday.
Three alternatives are included in the environmental assessment for removing the 22,500-square-foot stables building, which federal officials have said is necessary because it is deteriorating and there is a federal government directive to reduce the amount of real property on national wildlife refuge lands by 5 percent by the end of 2020.
The proposed action by the federal agency, known as Alternative A, is to phase the building’s closing and demolition, with the full removal to take place after the barn swallow nesting season next year.
The western side of the building will be closed prior to this year’s nesting season, with the middle section closed prior to the 2020 nesting season. The idea is that barn swallows can begin transitioning to other suitable nesting sites on the refuge or on surrounding public and private lands.
Critics, including members of Save Our Swallows, have argued that the building should be preserved as one of the largest nesting sites in Massachusetts, and to prevent a potentially catastrophic decline in the species. In New England, barn swallow populations have declined by about 50 percent since the 1980s, and recent data shows a steeper decline since the 1990s.
The draft assessment is online at:
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Silvio_O_Conte/.
Printed copies are available for review at the Goodwin Memorial Library, 50 Middle St.
Comments will be accepted through May 10 and can be submitted electronically to northeastplanning@fws.gov, or in writing to Andrew C. French, Project Leader, Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, 103 East Plumtree Road, Sunderland, Mass., 01375