by Julie Gowel ·
Friday, May 1, 2026
The Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management Committee announced at its meeting Monday, April 27, that it received a grant aimed at expanding community education around watershed stewardship. To help residents better understand how everyday household decisions affect the health of the pond, the committee was awarded $4,490 to put toward initiatives such as townwide mailers and water quality expert speaker events.
Kerry Shrives, a member of the committee, authored the 94-page application with assistance from Chair Bruce Leicher, and submitted it to the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts Environmental Preservation and Animal Welfare last month. She received word of the grant award on April 15.
According to the committee, approximately 500 homes, or a quarter of Harvard households, are within the pond’s 2,427-acre watershed, meaning runoff from lawns, driveways, and streets across town ultimately drains into Bare Hill Pond.
Grant-funded educational materials will emphasize practical steps residents can take, such as reducing fertilizer use, managing pet waste, limiting road salt, and maintaining natural vegetation buffers to prevent runoff. “This project translates years of technical watershed planning into something residents can actually use,” the application says, emphasizing that small changes across many households can have a cumulative impact on water quality.
The initiative has drawn strong support from local organizations, including the Conservation Commission, Harvard Climate Initiative Committee, and the Harvard Conservation Trust, all of which submitted letters of recommendation for the grant application. The underlying theme of each letter stressed the importance of community engagement in protecting the pond.
If successful, the program could serve as a model for other communities facing similar challenges. Project leaders plan to make the materials adaptable for use in neighboring towns, extending the impact well beyond Harvard.