In his January report to the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, DFW Western District Manager Andrew Madden announced that it had recently acquired 190 acres of land along Maple Hill Road in West Stockbridge.  This parcel is the second phase of a large acquisition project.  The first part was the 273 acre Flat Brook Wildlife Management Area (WMA) project, that was partnered with the Berkshire National Resources Council and was purchased in June, 2011.

This property will become part of the existing 202 acre Maple Hill WMA. “The parcel is excellent habitat for a variety of wildlife species and contains wetlands, uplands (with good oak trees) and old orchard area.  The hillside slopes down toward the Williams River.  With extensive road frontage it greatly improves access to the entire WMA.  It would have been a shame if this piece was developed”, said Madden.

 These lands will be open to the public for hunting, fishing and other passive recreation such as bird watching and hiking.  Motorized vehicles are not allowed on any DFW WMA’s.

 Once the weather clears the DFW plans to make a parking area off of Maple Hill Road. *****

 Madden also reported that Western District stations checked approximately 215 deer during the muzzleloader hunting season.   Most of those deer are from zones 1-4 but some may have been brought from further east and checked here because the hunter lives locally.   In 2011 some 201 deer were checked in. *****