The Appalachian Mountain Club will no longer manage Bascom Lodge and the Visitors’ Center on Mount Greylock, the state’s highest mountain, ending an arrangement of 15 years, an AMC spokesman said this week.
“The AMC is basically moving out of the Berkshires,†said John Brennan, AMC manager at Bascom Lodge Monday.
The decision to end the arrangement was voted by the AMC board in Boston last week, said Brennan.
“We’ve been here 15 years,†said Brennan.
The decision, he said, was prompted by lodge’s need for extensive repairs — totalling about $1 million.
“Bascom Lodge needs a tremendous amount of work, a new septic system, a new water system. Right now, the waste is trucked out,†he said.
“We’ve had a contractual arrangement with DEM to manage Bascom Lodge and in exchange we provide programs,†said Brennan.
He is one of six full-time AMC staffers at Mount Greylock, where seasonal employees number about 30.
“We have programs that will run through April,†he said. “We’re not leaving here until May 31.â€
AMC spokesman Hal Lacroix in the Boston office said, “We’re sending a letter to DEM this week notifying them that we’re going to discontinue our management of the Visitors Center and Bascom Lodge.
“We’re looking for some other offices in the area,†he said.
“We intend to continue our full commitment to our conservation and trails program out here,†he said. “Our maintaining the trails will not change at all. We have a trained staff that are experts at trail maintenance, and we have very active volunteer membership.
“But whether we’ll still be leading hikes remains to be seen.â€
“We have an extensive program, and [its future] is still to be determined.â€
The lodge is closed for the winter, but, Lacroix noted, “we’ve led workshops out of the lodge.â€
The lodge is a popular stopover for through-hikers. The workshops and hikes attract both visitors and local residents. And the berry brunches in season are regular sell-out attractions.
Said Lacroix, “The key thing is that we’re not going to be operating the lodge with overnights and food service, and we’ll be out of managing the visitors’ center.
“It’s an environmental issue, really, on top of the summit. DEM is mandated by the state to upgrade its water and waste disposal system. They need to deal with it. It’s been identified for quite a while, that the septic system was failing.â€
“After April we don’t have any plans to operate out of the lodge. The workshop and education program is undergoing changes. The specific situation is related to environmental issues,†he said. “Elsewhere, the club is thriving.â€
The Appalachian Mountain Club has 87,000 members nationwide, 32,000 of them in Massachusetts.
The club maintains 350 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut and New Hampshire, and has 1,400 miles of trail, some of it in the Berkshires.
Douglas Poland, DEM regional supervisor of forests and parks, referred inquiries to state Director of Forests and Parks Todd Fredericks in Boston, who could not be reached for comment.
Poland said only that the AMC and DEM planned to make a joint release about the change.
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Youth for the Future: AYJ Fund Volunteers
By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — For 14 years, generations of AYJ Fund youth volunteers have worked to support families fighting cancer — one smile at a time.
The non-profit was founded in memory of Anna Yan Ji Arabia, who became an angel at the age of 16 after a 3 1/2-year battle with gliomatosis cerebri.
Today, the young adults who step up to volunteer for the organization carry forward the positive and outgoing spirit for which Anna is remembered.
The work these teens do to bring smiles to children with cancer, while organizing and aiding in fundraising efforts, has earned them the iBerkshires.com Youth for the Future designation.
Youth for the Future is a 12-month series that honors young individuals that have made an impact on their community. This year's sponsor is Patriot Car Wash. Nominate a youth here.
Throughout the year, the AYJ Fund organizes initiatives like musical bingo, care packages through its Smiles Program, and bake sales to uplift kids with cancer, help them stay connected to friends and school, and support brain cancer research in the quest for a cure.
One of its biggest events is the "Once Upon a Dream" Children's Princess Concert, providing children the opportunity to meet their favorite princesses, and some princes, while raising funds to support the fund's mission.
The non-profit was founded in memory of Anna Yan Ji Arabia, who became an angel at the age of 16 after a 3 1/2-year battle with gliomatosis cerebri.
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She and her classmates, along with two graduates in medical assisting program and 11 in the cosmetology program were presented with the diplomas on Tuesday night at the school.
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