CHESTERFIELD — After an eviction from Indian Hollow last year, and a lengthy approval process, the educational nonprofit Biocitizen is cleared to return fully licensed to Indian Hollow and other properties in the Knightville Dam Project.
“The students were just jumping out of their skins,” said Kurt Heidinger, Biocitizen’s president and executive director, who also said that teachers at the nonprofit were “overjoyed.”
Now, Heidinger is looking to enlist other stakeholders in creating a new safety position for Knightville Dam area.
Biocitizen is a Westhampton-based educational nonprofit that teaches children in outdoor settings around the country and world.
In 2020, Biocitizen was asked to leave Indian Hollow by the state police and Army Corps, who said that Biocitizen needed a permit to be there. Following the incident, Hedinger said nonprofit officials didn’t know they needed a permit and that they were interested in acquiring one.
Previously, Biocitizen had been conducting educational activities in the Knightville Dam area for a decade.
The organization used the structure of the license it has with the Forest Service to craft a license with the Army Corps, Heidinger said.
“We’re actually the only entity like ours that has a license,” he said.
After sending in their application around last Thanksgiving, they were granted their license this year, he said, with final hurdles for the group being able to access the Knightville area cleared at the end of the summer.
Heidinger said that all of his staff are certified as lifeguards and in first aid, and that their main job is to prevent accidents and educate children that wild places are dangerous.
He also said that when accidents occur, his staff know where cellphone hotspots are, and that they’re also equipped with walkie-talkies.
Heidinger said he’s looking to get a charette together of Biocitizen and other stakeholders to fund the creation of a summer safety position for the Knightville Dam area.
“The region is really ready to step up to that level,” Heidinger said.
This position could serve as a guide for the area and identify safety and other issues, such as vandalism, he said.
Heidinger also said that he will be talking to agencies and elected officials about organizing the charette.
Henry Badner is a member of the Chesterfield Board of Health, which contacted the Army Corps last year after receiving complaints from neighbors about Biocitizen’s activities that precipitated the group’s removal.
Asked about the group’s return, Badner said he was OK with it, “As long as they’ve got a reasonable plan from a point of view from emergency services and they’re permitted.”
“I don’t see any problem with it really,” he said.
As for the safety position, Badner said that the town “should take a hard look at it.”
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.