Volunteer We need volunteers to help us with tasks such as: Certifying vernal pools - we will hold a training in early May to teach you how to certify a vernal pool. This documents the pool and provides more protection under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. Many vernal pools have no protection unless they are certified. If you would like to be on the list of people to contact next April, send us an email.   Monitor a vernal pool - We have a couple of vernal pools in Pittsfield that we need some dedicated soul to look at and record what you see once a week from May through July or possibly even August. If you are up for the challenge, please let us know.   Watching public notices in area newspapers for environmental issues. BEAT checks the public notices in the Berkshire Eagle each week to put in The BEAT News, but we need people to check the other papers in the county, and let us know what is happening. If you could take responsibility for watching a paper in your area, and then either scanning or typing up the public notices for Conservation Commissions, logging, or other items of environmental interest, please let us know.   Taking pictures - We would like to get picture of all the river bridges in Berkshire County. We want to see if there is road run-off going into the stream, or invasive species on the banks, or trash in or next to the river, and good things, too - like are there trees and shrubs along the banks providing shade to keep the water cool for fish like brook trout. - Please let us know if you would be interested in doing this. We will have you email your photos to BEAT along with the way you want your picture credited. (your name below the photo on our website). All photos submitted become the property of BEAT.   Operating cameras at public meetings - training is provided. For some meetings you are in a separate room operating the camera by touch screen or joysticks. For other locations we need people to pickup and return equipment, as well as people who would be comfortable being trained to set up the equipment, tape, and then tear down the equipment. Our taping is in cooperation with community access television stations. (see schedule below) If you think you might like to help, please let us know.   Contacting conservation commissions - we need someone in each town or city who can call their town hall on an ongoing basis and find out when the next conservation commission meeting is and ask for an agenda to be sent to BEAT. Some towns, like Becket and Otis, automatically send their agendas to BEAT. Others, like Pittsfield, post the agenda on their website. Others, like Alford, have a set date and time, but we still need to get the agendas. And then there are real problems like Adams, which has no set schedule and we never know when there are meetings or what is covered. We could really use help there! (see Conservation Commission page) If you would like to help, please contact BEAT and let us know what town Conservation Commission you are interested in. Environmental movie night - A number of Berkshire County environmental organizations discussed having an Environmental Movie Night three or four or more times a year. We all could think of movies that would be great to show. We could have lively discussions after the movies as well. We might have someone related to the movie - a star or producer or.... come speak. The one big hold up - who would be willing to put in the time and effort to pull this together? If you would be interested in volunteering to organize an Environmental Movie Night, please email Jane or call her at BEAT's phone: 413-230-7321.   Researching topics (e.g., visiting libraries, searching the Internet, calling and visiting government offices and agencies - or out in the field) - We would love to have information about invasive species that occur locally on our website. Please contact BEAT if this something you could help with?   Putting up posters to advertise events - we will send you and email or give you a call when we need help in your area to put up posters. This usually only happens once or twice a year. If you are interested, let us know that you would like to help with putting up posters.   Helping with door-to-door flyer distribution to publicize issues and meeting - we will send you and email or give you a call when we need help in your area. This usually only happens once a year. If you are interested, let us know that you would like to help with flyering.   Participating in river clean-ups - we will send you and email or give you a call when we need help. This usually happens two or three times a year. If you are interested, let us know that you would like to help with river cleanups.   Coming to governmental meetings when we need a crowd - we never can tell when this will happen. We will put a notice in The BEAT News e-newsletter asking for people to attend a specific meeting. (sign up to receive The BEAT News) There are other tasks as well, or maybe there's a task you would like to suggest to us. Drop us an email or give us a call at 413-230-7321. All volunteers are asked to keep track of their hours and let BEAT know how much time they have donated. These hours help in getting grants, so any amount of time you give has even more impact than you may ever know! We're sure there's a way you can help.

Meeting schedule that BEAT needs help to videotape Date Time Meeting Place   Thursday December 6, 2007 January 10, 2008 5:45 pm - ?9:00? Pittsfield Conservation Commission Pittsfield City Hall - film remotely from a small room on the second floor If you can help with any of these, please contact BEAT Wednesday December 5, 2007 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Pittsfield Municipal Airport at the airport, but we need someone to pick up equipment from PCTV and return it the next day as well. If you can help with any of these, please Contact BEAT Wednesday December 5 , 2007 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm Citizens' Coordinating Council with General Electric, US Environmental Protection Agency, and MA Dept of Env Protection TBA We need a volunteer to run the camera at the meeting. If you can help, please contact BEAT We have a volunteer to pick up and return equipment.