Remembering Shep Evan
Rarely does a day go by that I don’t think about Shep as a friend, a great naturalist, and the many ways he supported conservation efforts in the Berkshires and mentored GBLC regarding land protection and stewardship. Many folks think of Shep when we hear peepers begin to chorus in spring or the faint echo of peeper calls around fall equinox, when daylength matches spring. Shep was the creator of the annual Spring Peeper Stampede, a lighthearted competition to see who would hear, or most accurately predict the date and time of, the first peeper chorus in the Housatonic river watershed from Pittsfield to the Connecticut state line. Each year, the lucky winners, in both categories, were treated to a midday meal with Shep at The Red Lion Inn!
Along with serving on many conservation organization boards, Shep is credited with writing much of the Berkshire Scenic Mountain Act which became Mass. General Law, Chapter 131, Section 39A, in 2006. This act allows individual cities and towns in Berkshire County to adopt local regulations to protect their mountain regions, to preserve the natural scenic qualities of the environment, and protect critical watershed resources from activities that could cause erosion, flooding, and water pollution. Shep was the force behind Great Barrington adopting the Scenic Mountain Act later that year.
He also played a critical role in a collaborative campaign for adoption of the Community Preservation Act (CPA) by Great Barrington voters in 2011/12, which allows the town to receive and allocate local and state funding for open space protection, historic preservation, affordable housing, and outdoor recreation. Since 2015, well over $4 million has been awarded to dozens of CPA projects in Great Barrington, including the Riverfront Trail along the Housatonic River at Bridge Street and Brookside Road and the recently completed Lake Mansfield Recreation Trail and shoreline restoration project, and many others.
GBLC’s board president, Christine Ward, remembers Shep serving as GBLC president and later as Great Barrington”s Conservation Agent and his steadfast support of the lake Mansfield improvement efforts, and how he played a crucial role with his unwavering advocacy for Lake Mansfield road closure instead of a one-way road, so that substantial habitat restoration could be accomplished. Similarly, he was a powerful voice pushing for remediation of illegal tree cutting and removal (by an abutter) of the Pfeiffer Arboretum and other protected land bordering Long Pong. Ever a birder and ecologist, Shep also advocated for improved mowing practices, habitat management, and signage to support Bobolinks, an uncommon bird from South American, that nest in the fields at the town’s McAllister Wildlife Refuge.
Shep’s legacy runs deep. We are deeply grateful for his decades of service and encourage everyone to follow Shep’s role model and find ways to support land conservation and wildlife habitat protection in the Berkshires as a member and volunteer with GBLC, BNRC, BEAT, HVA, and other like-minded organizations in our communities.
Shep Evans passed away on July 18, 2025
- written by Dale Abrams 9.23.25
Other links:
MACC Mourns the Passing of Shep Evans
