image description

BRPC Launches Outdoor Recreation Website

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's new outdoor recreation website connects residents and visitors with the county landscape while promoting the region.

On Monday, BerkshiresOutside.org was launched with more than 550 access points to trailheads, boat launches, parks, and more. It will serve as a companion to 1Berkshire's tourism website Berkshires.org.

"I think the idea here is to try and make available information about everything that there is to do outdoors in the Berkshires," BRPC's Assistant Director Laura Brennan said. "There's a lot more than people realize."

Built by Gemini Creative of Stockbridge, the user-friendly website allows filtering by location, activity, and preferences and includes an interactive map of the county. Filters allow users to tailor their search for specific needs such as dog-friendly locations or places near public transit.

Most of the experiences are free but some, such as golf facilities, have charges.

Brennan explained that being a region with so many outdoor recreation options can be a part of a person's decision to make a life here and is an increasingly large part of why people vacation in the Berkshires.  

"We've had a reputation of course for arts and culture for a long time but that's always been in the beautiful natural setting of the region and as the marketing of the Berkshire's evolved, it has included more and more about what there is to do actively outdoors," she said.

"And that helps that helps us to attract visitors that maybe come with families or stay longer and do lots of different things."

With this, visitors can have a well-rounded trip filled with theaters, museums, and fresh air.



Berkshires Outside includes more than 400 parks owned and managed by almost 100 organizations from New Marlborough to Williamstown. While the Berkshires are known for scenic views and natural resources, many don't know just how much there is to do outdoors.

Popular spots like Monument Mountain and Olivia's Overlook can get overcrowded and this tool allows people to expand their recreation spots and get the quiet peacefulness that many go to the woods for.  Curbing overcrowding also helps preserve the land.

There are nearly 900 miles of documented trials on the website.

Brennan and Mark Maloy, BRPC's GIS, data and information technology manager, led the project. Both are excited for the launch.

"I really have enjoyed this project," Maloy said.  

"We both really enjoy outdoor recreation and so getting asked to explore some of these sites has been a great opportunity but it's also something I think we're going to use ourselves. Personally. I want to go hiking this weekend. Where do I go? Well, pull up the map and see what's in the area we want to go to."

The website has been under construction for a year and is about three years in the making.  A number of outdoor recreation stakeholders including 1Berkshire, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation were consulted.

"We're very pleased with the results so far and the response from the outdoor recreation industry has been really positive," Brennan said.

The primary source of funding was through a state earmark and there have been several smaller funding sources.


Tags: outdoor recreation,   public parks,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Op-Ed: If Trump Really Wants to Help Working People He Won't Kill This Federal Agency

By U.S. Sen. Elizabeth WarrenGuest Column

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created to protect regular people from abusive banks and other businesses. Isn't that what Trump said he wants to do?

When a bunch of billionaires tell you they know what's best for you, hang onto your wallet. Over the past few weeks, Republican politicians and billionaires have come out swinging with lies about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, hoping they can pave the way to "delete" the agency. But if you have a checking account, credit card, mortgage, or student loan, you might want to know what it could mean for you if the CFPB disappears. That's the dangerous promise of Project 2025.

Suppose you take out a car loan with Wells Fargo. Month after month you make your payments, but the bank messes up. Maybe they piled on fees you didn't owe or charged you the wrong interest rate. On their end, it looks like you've fallen behind on your payments, so they repossess your car. Now you can't get to work or take your kids to school. What are your options? You can't afford to sue. The police won't help. Before the CFPB, about all you could do was reach out to the bank's customer service and beg them to solve the problem, get left on hold, transferred from department to department, and end up nowhere. That was it — until the CFPB.

That's not a hypothetical. The CFPB received thousands of complaints that Wells Fargo had unlawfully repossessed cars and wrongfully foreclosed on homes. Wells Fargo illegally injured the owners of more than 16 million accounts — you may have been one of them. That's where the CFPB comes in. The agency took on the giant bank, stopped the repos, and ordered the bank to pay back more than $2 billion to those customers who had been wronged. No need to file a lawsuit. No need to spend hours on the phone. That's the power of having a cop on the beat.

While CEOs and right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation try to get rid of the CFPB, it's worth remembering that the agency didn't appear out of thin air. The CFPB was created in 2010 in the aftermath of a huge cheating scandal that led to the 2008 housing crash. Shady lenders were tricking and trapping people with complicated mortgages that eventually crashed our economy and cost millions of people their homes. In "never again" mode, Congress created the CFPB as an independent agency with the power to stand up to giant corporations intent on cheating American consumers. Congress even funded the CFPB through the Federal Reserve to insulate it from everyday partisan politics. And it worked: The agency set standards so that people didn't get fooled, and those rules drove the seedy, fly-by-night companies out of our markets.

In the years since the mortgage crash, the CFPB has taken on aggressive junk fees that make price comparisons impossible. When servicemembers and veterans were being tricked into paying interest rates that surged up to 200 percent on pawn loans, the CFPB beat back the predators. And when it became clear that some medical debt collector companies were double billing patients or even charging patients for services they never received, the agency stepped up to try to right those wrongs.

Navient, one of the companies that doles out student loans, exploited students, lied to borrowers, overcharged service members, and conspired with fraudulent for-profit schools to trick students into taking on more loans they couldn't repay. In September, the CFPB delivered over $100 million in relief to Americans and permanently blocked Navient from the federal student loan system. Without the CFPB, Navient would probably still be cheating students.

The election made clear that working people want the government to unrig the economy. The CFPB is doing that work — and that's exactly why these billionaire CEOs don't want the agency around. When the CFPB stops a big bank from cheating you, that's one less chunk of change that goes into its pockets. These CEOs have made big political donations hoping to buy a Congress and a president who will "delete" the agency.

For years, when big banks would say "jump," too many politicians would ask, "How high?" Trump promised change. He pledged to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent — it will take a strong CFPB to make that happen. He promised to rein in the influence of big tech — the CFPB is tackling that right now. He promised to make government work better for working people — the mission the CFPB delivers on every day.

Trump's first big decision on the CFPB will be to settle on a director — someone who will help the CEOs try to destroy the agency or someone who will keep the CFPB true to its mission to unrig the system. Will Trump decide to stand up to giant corporations to help the workers who voted for him or will he cower to the corporate billionaires? We should know soon.

This op-ed also ran in The Boston Globe on Dec.11, 2024. Warren helped create the CFPB before she was elected to Congress.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories