Local Highlight: Berkshire Environmental Action Team

When considering the world around us, and when thinking to the future, the idea of stewardship arises. How can we preserve this incredible planet for our children, how do we pass on the knowledge we have gained, and how can we improve on what we’ve built?

The heart of those questions lives in a small organization with a big impact. Berkshire Environmental Action Team (or BEAT) is a group of hard working individuals leading through example and education.

They got their start over twenty years ago, when a group of citizens simply couldn’t ignore infractions on environmental regulations happening right in their backyard. A soccer field was being built at Berkshire Community College, the proposal for which violated the MA state Wetland Protection Act. 

They had also submitted false topographical maps, and included designs that pushed into a recognized vernal pool. The process of citizen action around this issue would snowball into BEAT becoming a formal organization with a focus on environmental concerns.

Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. We protect the environment for wildlife in support of the natural world that sustains us all. BEAT has three major focal areas: stewardship, education & outreach, and watchdogging.

Anyone who knows us will tell you that we take the “action” part of our name seriously. Through these efforts, we enact meaningful change throughout Berkshire County and western Massachusetts.

For a long time the group was small, led by founding member and executive director Jane Winn, but the group has always been very active. Ten years after their inception they would go on to absorb another local movement called No Fracked Gas in Mass. This was an initiative that had been co-founded by local Rosemary Wessel with the intent to combat the Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct pipeline. After their success they have shifted to broaden their fight for clean energy in the Northeast.

Photo: Jane Winn – Founding Executive Director

Over time BEAT continued to grow. They were subsisting off just one part time and two full time employees, who were trying to cover all of Berkshire county’s environmental concerns. Their numbers have grown, and shifted, over the years and currently they employ one part time and four full time employees with two interns assisting with research. Specifically into newly developing issues like NIETC, a new federal energy corridor proposal from NY, through the Hilltowns to Northfield, and the new gas pipeline expansions proposed by Enbridge.

For years this group of intrepid stewards operated out of three bedrooms in the upstairs of their founder’s home. When it was clear their group had grown beyond the reasonable use of the space they turned their eyes to finding a home of their own. In 2019 they moved into their current abode: a local church who was happy to sell to BEAT knowing the principle of stewardship was being upheld.

Photo
Left: Rosemary Wessel, No Fracked Gas in Mass, Program Director

Right: Brittany Ebeling, Deputy Director

After a successful capital campaign, they were able to fully purchase and renovate the space, aligning it with the group’s principles of accessibility and environmentalism.

Through this capital campaign they built out offices, made key accessibility renovations, and added a balcony made from local locust wood to enjoy their branch of the Housatonic. They built a rain garden, which is now stocked full of native plants. The garden acts as a buffer for the river, allowing rain from their, and neighboring, properties to soak into the soil before entering the water table. The building also boasts plenty of demonstration space.

It includes interactive science exhibits, as well as production spaces where they can repurpose old signage and materials from previous protests. There is space to hang their waders, key tools for cleaning trash from our waterways, and educational resources* to peruse. In short, it provided a permanent residence for the 21 year old organization, ensuring they could focus on three primary areas: Stewardship, Education & Outreach, and Watchdogging.

* The Old Creamery is thrilled to be able to add to the extended BEAT library. The Sustainability Library has now been moved to live with BEAT’s educational resources.

As a whole, the organization handles an incredible scope of work. They work at the high end of policy discussions, at both state and regional levels. They advise and work with large energy companies to help dismantle their old and polluting peaker power plants. All the way down to educating folks about seasonal salamander crossings, hand testing air quality, and physically removing invasives. BEAT is busy.

Stewardship: BEAT has already organized two river clean-up events this year with a third coming up on Aug 10th, cleaning trash from the Housatonic River. They actively test water sources and runoff drains up and down Berkshire County to make sure our waterways are staying clean from sewage and industrial dumping. If that wasn’t enough, every Friday morning they roll up their sleeves and host an invasive kiwi pull in Pittsfield. If you have any interest in volunteerism they have opportunities.

But that’s still not all, last year they received a stewardship award from the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET). This is recognition of their work connecting wildlife ecology spaces through two sets of continuous interconnected systems. This means ensuring waterways are traversable for fish and aquatic species, as well as ensuring safe places for land based wildlife to cross under, or over, roads and bridges which connect key habitats “across the Northern Appalachians in the Acadian Region of the US and Canada”.

Education & Outreach: The group organizes an annual Kids in Kayaks event, giving children a chance to navigate the Housatonic river. Every month they offer an informal but informative talk at local restaurants and pubs, called “Berkshire Green Drinks”, where experts can share their area of knowledge and attendees can sip and snack while they learn (and network!). They’ve also been adding accessibility to these events by recording them and uploading them to their YouTube channel. The organization also works hand in hand with programs like Greening the Gateway Cities Program to help plant trees in urban residential areas. And that’s just scratching the surface of the work BEAT does with governmental departments, private companies, and initiative programs.

Watchdogging: The spark that started the organization is still burning brightly. BEAT is still on the forefront of issues affecting our local legislation, regulation, and enforcement. Supporting grassroots movements in everything from sign making to offering a vast wealth of knowledge and experience fighting for our environment.

And they sport an incredibly positive track record. Most recently No Fracked Gas in Mass has helped facilitate the closing of three peaker power plants in Western MA. It started with an open letter asking about the company’s plans for transitioning old plants in Pittsfield and Lee. The same company that worked with them is looking at additional plants across the country, looking to emulate those shut downs and transition another 15 plants across the Eastern US. One of the top polluting peaker plants in the state, located in West Springfield, that was still in operation is now shut down and awaiting the final approval for converting their connections to the grid for battery storage and renewable energy generation. And a new pipeline fight, Stop Project Maple, is creeping up from the shadows. Though the proposal for a pipeline expansion that runs from New Jersey through New York and into Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts hasn’t been officially filed, the company who wants to build it has been sneaking small portions through the regulatory process, forcing a new coalition of activist groups to fight each one individually. The fight goes on.

BEAT is hoping to secure funding to initiate the second phase of renovations and improvements at their home in Pittsfield. This will include solar panels with battery storage, EV chargers, a lift for visitors to easily access their downstairs facilities. It includes plans for a lab where they can administer testing water samples, as well as showers so folks can clean up after cleaning the river. The plan is to be Net Zero, through reducing their carbon emissions and becoming fossil fuel free.

The building will become a heating and cooling center for power outages. Once they can secure funding they are poised to enact the next phase, as the relationships needed to realize these dreams are already in place.

This building is an anchor for the wide range of BEAT’s activities, a hub for grassroots organization, and shows the solidity and enduring nature of their work. BEAT is a place for neighbors to organize and win local ecological fights together. It’s a place to tap into a network of experience, to show up and make a real hands on difference for our forests and waterways. It’s a home for technical experts to work on legislation.

It’s a place to report violations and to find paths for official recognition of important spaces like vernal pools in your town. BEAT is an inspiration, but also it’s an answer to the question of how we can keep this incredible world safe for our children, and to offer a voice for those plants and animals who can’t speak up for themselves.

If you’d like to find out more about them, contact them, or are interested in the multitude of opportunities they offer -Please check out these links. And if you can, Donate. This is the very best way to ensure they have the resources they need to keep moving forward.

Berkshire Environmental Action Team

20 Chapel Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201
team@thebeatnews.org
(413) 464-9402

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