BEAT's Blog

BEAT’s reason for being is to protect the environment. You might ask what exactly we are protecting the environment from. It occurs to me that in the six years of our existence, we have protected it primarily from the Pittsfield Conservation Commission. There’s something not quite right about that.

We are a county-wide organization, not a Pittsfield organization; but Pittsfield issues take up most of our time. You might say that this makes sense, since Pittsfield is a large city. But then you would expect the Pittsfield Conservation Commission to have a heavier work load than, say the Egremont Conservation Commission or the Stockbridge Conservation Commission or the Sheffield Conservation Commission or the Monterey Conservation Commission. In fact, each of these commissions meets once or twice a month for about 2 to 4 hours per meeting. Pittsfield’s commission meets every three weeks for an hour or less.

In fairness to the Pittsfield Conservation Commission, they do have their own innovation for ensuring efficiency. The city’s paid conservation agent, whose job it is to provide technical assistance to the coommissioners, is also a voting commissioner. This has resulted more than once in the Conservation Agent presenting to the commission a proposal made by his employer, advising the commission to accept the proposal, and then voting in favor of the proposal. He has even played all three roles on projects for which he was the signed proponent of the project.

It is also my observation that the Pittsfield Conservation Commission, unlike most other commissions in the county, has never observed a violation on their own. Every violation that I can recall the Pittsfield Con Com acting on has been brought before them either by an environmentalist, an angry abutter, or the State of Massachusetts. This is despite the fact that Pittsfield, unlike the four towns mentioned above, and unlike all County towns and cities other than perhaps North Adams, has a full time conservation agent and, until quite recently, a secretary. What exactly does the agent do that requires full-time status and a helper?

It wasn’t always like this. The current agent’s predecessor used to drive around town to ensure that work being performed within the city was in compliance with regulations. It is widely believed that this is why she was replaced with the current, more City-Hall-compliant agent.

I would like to point out that BEAT has the utmost respect and appreciation for all the hard-working conservation commissioners who serve on conservation commissions throughout Berkshire County and the rest of the state, and in most cases we consider conservation commissions our allies. In fact, at the 2007 annual meeting of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions, BEAT’s own executive director, Jane Winn, was named Environmentalist of the Year by that organization.

On the one hand, Berkshire Environmental Action Team has more work than we can handle. But on the other hand, it’s easy to see how small changes in Pittsfield could put us out of work. That would be a good day.

3 Responses to “We Understand Our Mission. What’s Theirs?”

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