Committee Reports

See what our committees have been up to during the waning days of the summer.

A.T. Management

Scheduled upcoming wildlife transects ✧ Corridor monitoring continues ✧ Summer project schedule (trail work, maintenance, and monitoring activities) is winding down ✧ Have three new B-level sawyers ✧ Volunteer monitors (natural heritage and corridor) and a shelter coordinator are needed

Bicycling

West Connecticut River Valley Ride (19-Aug-2023) ✧ Berkshires- Great Barrington to Mill River Ride (20-Aut-2023) ✧ Turners Falls to Northfield (26-Aug-2023) ✧ September's bike rides are listed in the AMC's activities database and on the Western MA bicycling webpage

Communications

August was a great month for the Communications Team! We saw big increases in some of the data that we are tracking, such as Facebook and Instagram interactions and website views ✧ Posted 17 items on Facebook ✧ Posted 12 items on Instagram ✧ Sent 1,408 newsletters ✧ Pushed two new initiatives live (Pit Privy Replacements and Invasive Species Removal) ✧ Pushed the new Families Outdoors page live ✧ Created and deployed the Western MA Exchange online newsletter ✧ Created a photo album for the Conservation Committee ✧ Updated activities and volunteer bios ✧ Performed general maintenance on the website

Family Programs

We redesigned the StoryWalk^® path at Noble View to create a walking loop ✧ The September StoryWalk^® (until 09-Sep-2023) is "The Camping Trip", installed in collaboration with the Hilltown Family Center ✧ A natural woods playground for families is under construction on the Dry Trail at Noble View, overseen by H. Wyman in collaboration with local Boy Scouts ✧ Attended two FallFest planning meetings ✧ Planning for new events and collaborations is currently ongoing

Hiking

Trips this past month: Mount Tom (01-Aug-2023) ✧ North and South Sugarloaf (15-Aug-2023) ✧ CT NET (22-Aug-2023) ✧ Currently working with committees on Fallfest activities and Women's Weekend ✧ Compilation of volunteer bios for the website continues

Paddling

D. Piers-Gamble completed her second co-lead and is now a qualified paddling leader ✧ Trips this past month: Whitewater Class II trip on the Deerfield River, Fife Brook section lead by M.T. Durr (17-Aug-2023) ✧ Womens+ Affinity Flatwater Paddle on Littleville Reservoir, lead by D. Weisenstein and D. Piers-Gamble (08-Sep-2023)

Training and Education

Ongoing planning continues for new training classes