BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Alander, Massachusetts

44 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Mount Washington town. It lies in ZIP code area 01258. It stands on Mount Ashley. The Survey maps it on the Bash Bish Falls quadrangle.

Alander within Berkshire County

Then and now

1885 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 112 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Alander, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Alander, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

44 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires nearby

9 since 2010

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Alander between 2010 and 2020, burning about 5 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
20 September 2010Arson/incendiarismunder an acreNew York Forest Rangersnot named
16 May 2016Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 April 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 April 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 April 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
27 March 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 October 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 October 2015Debris and open burning1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Berkshire County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 836 shown

Museums hold 836 specimens collected within 10 miles of Alander between 1860 and 1973: 689 Plantae, 108 Animalia, 38 Fungi, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. L. Ericson, A. Lorenz, A. Lowe and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Equisetum sylvaticum L.Equisetum sylvaticum L.1900Day, M.E.Sheffield.
A photograph of the species Percopsis omiscomaycus, not of this specimenPercopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum, 1792)1860Britton McCabeGreen R. (trib. of Housatonic R.), 1 mi. S of Great Barrington on Rt. 23
A photograph of the species Carex vesicaria, not of this specimenCarex vesicaria L.1878L. H. HoysradtMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Anthoceros laevis, not of this specimenAnthoceros laevis L.1887UnknownSheffield
A photograph of the species Coltricia cinnamomea, not of this specimenColtricia cinnamomea (Jacq.) Murrill1887L. M. UnderwoodMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Crucibulum laeve, not of this specimenCrucibulum laeve (Huds.) Kambly1887L. M. UnderwoodMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Marasmius siccus, not of this specimenMarasmius siccus (Schwein.) Fr.1887L. M. UnderwoodMt. Everett.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1897Elizabeth G. BrittonMount Washington
Gyrostachys ochroleuca Rydb.1897Mrs. LongMt. Washington
A photograph of the species Hylocomium splendens, not of this specimenHylocomium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp.1897Elizabeth G. BrittonBashbish Falls
A photograph of the species Neckera besseri, not of this specimenNeckera besseri (Lobarz.) Jur.1897E. G. BrittonBashbish Falls
A photograph of the species Dichodontium pellucidum, not of this specimenDichodontium pellucidum (Hedw.) Schimp.1900E. G. BrittonBashbish Falls

All 836 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

4 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Alander: 3 past producers, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Zinc, Manganese. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Copake Limonite MineIron, Manganese, ZincPast ProducerGoethite, Limonite
Copake Limonite MineIron, Zinc, ManganesePast Producer
Copake MineIronPast ProducerResidual
Spurr ProspectIronProspect

Every working recorded in Berkshire County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Ashley Falls6.9 miles43
Sheffield7.0 miles43
South Egremont7.7 miles42
East Sheffield8.8 miles43
Egremont Plain9.3 miles42
Clayton9.5 miles43
Gomorrah9.5 miles43
Brookside9.7 miles40

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 607265. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.