Committee Reports

See what our committees have been up to over the last month.

A.T. Management

Most recent meeting: 2024-Jan-08 ✧ Next meeting: 2024-Mar-04 ✧ Recent projects and activities: hazardous trees were removed at several overnight sites; wildlife transects and corridor monitoring are ongoing; trail projects will start up asap ✧ The 23rd annual Volunteer Gathering was held 27-Jan-2024. 70 people attended; 9 new volunteers signed up. Several people were recognized for service awards ✧ 2024 season will include 2 Greenagers projects ✧ Volunteer recruitment needs: natural heritage monitors, corridor monitors, shelter coordinator, and 2025 committee vice chair

Bicycling

Draft calendar for 2024 biking season is completed; initial distribution to leaders is in process

Communications

January was a huge month for Communications! We saw an unprecedented number of views on an unboosted Facebook post (Come Play with Us at Noble View on January 27th with 9497 views), and gained 32 new followers ✧ The website saw an increase of 38% in users and 10% increase in views ✧ We started to implement our 2024 goal by sending two ads to be published in Berkshire Magazine’s spring edition of their Outdoor Rec 413 Guide ✧ Facebook: 22 posts (Come Play with Us at Noble View) ✧ Instagram: 16 posts (top post: Announcement of new Conservation Chair) ✧ Newsletters: 1392 messages sent ✧ Website: 1) developed guidelines for photo submittals 2) developed website/mailbox orientation for new chairs 3) created Black Heritage Trail interactive map to promote Black History Month 4) prepped March interactive promotions

DEI

AMC Western MA and the Inter Chapter DEI Committee are sponsoring a DEI Speaker Series Zoom event with Sebastian Moreno, February 15th from 7-8:30 entitled Understanding Barriers: Bringing the Natural World to the People ✧ AMC Western MA and Women Outdoors have reserved Noble View for the third annual Women's affinity weekend, "Connecting Women, Connecting with Nature" for July 26th-28th ✧ The Grand Opening of the All Persons Trail at Noble View will be held during FallFest, October 5th, 2024. ✧ The Accessible Trail Bill has moved forward ✧ MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda reports that establishing Indigenous People's Day to replace Columbus Day is one of their top five priorities

Family Programs

We had two successful wildlife tracking hikes at Noble View Outdoor Center with AMC leader Jim Pelletier and co-leader Dawne Piers-Gamble

NET Management

Next NET Committee meeting is 09-Feb-2024 ✧ In process of planning 2024 work parties; site visits are ongoing ✧ The NET Coordinator is attending Hike The Hill in Washington, DC - an annual opportunity to advocate with congressional and federal agency leaders on hiking issues such as funding/land protection ✧ MassTrails Grants have been submitted for 2025 projects

Paddling

Previous meeting: 2024-02-06; next meeting: TBD ✧ Planning is currently underway for this season's paddling events, demos, leader training, workshops, and invasive pulls. Deerfield-Fife Class 2 outings are posted on ActDB

Training and Education

Committee last met on 02-Feb-2024 ✧ Updated and approved changes to chapter leadership skills training ✧ Chapter Leadership Skills Training is scheduled for 24-Mar-2024 in Greenfield, MA ✧ Updated and approved changes to WFA reimbursement ✧ Reviewed upcoming AMC SOLO WFA/WFR courses on ActDB (2024 Options) ✧ Taught Adult MHFA at Summit; more Adult MHFA and Youth MHFA training is being scheduled ✧ Planning continues for other training and education activities (summer) including Leadership Refresher Topics and Leave No Trace ✧ Volunteer Facilitator Training - for folks who are interested in improving facilitation skills - have been scheduled in NY and Boston