"Scenic vistas will ultimately be permanently protected," said Elizabeth Giannini, Franklin Regional Council of Governments senior transportation planner.
A sign along Route 112 in Goshen marks the entrance of the DAR State Forest. Federal funds will help protect land along the Route 112 Scenic Byway, which runs from the Vermont border south through several towns in Franklin and Hampshire counties.
The Federal Highway Administration announced an award of $228,000 to the Franklin Regional Council of Governments to go toward natural and scenic land preservation measures along the byway. Possible steps are the purchase of conservation restrictions and agricultural preservation restrictions from landowners.
FRCOG applied for the funding through the discretionary National Scenic Byway Program in February 2010. The money has not been disbursed yet.
“Scenic vistas will ultimately be permanently protected, “ said Elizabeth Giannini, senior transportation planner for the FRCOG. “It kind of exemplifies Franklin County in a lot of ways.”
In the case of agricultural land, the goal is to have it enrolled in the state’s protection program, she said.
FRCOG is teaming with Franklin Land Trust, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.
The project team will work only with willing landowners.
Similar projects have been completed on the Mohawk Trail and the Connecticut River Scenic Farm Byway. Since 1992, Massachusetts has received $11.4 million in grants from the National Scenic Byway Program, according to its records.
The timetable for the Route 112 project has not been finalized, but similar projects have taken six to nine months, Giannini said.
Because funding will come through the state department of transportation, the FRCOG and its partners must sign a contract with them and wait to begin work until they have received a notice to proceed, she said. When the work is complete, the funds will come in the form of a reimbursement.
“I’m thrilled. We submitted quite a few applications and there were only three projects in Mass. that received funding,” she said.
The other two are a study of possible trail linkages between Route 112 in Hampshire County and Jacob’s Ladder Trail, and phase two of a pedestrian and bicycle path connecting downtown Williamstown and North Adams.