Berks Nature and You!

Kim Murphy, President of Berks Nature talks with Fred Moreadith, President of BAMBA, (Berks Area Mountain Biking Assoc), about their efforts to maintain biking trails on Neversink Mountain and Mt. Penn. Berks County has 125 miles of single track bike trails and Berks Nature manages 27 miles of those trails.

Neversink Mountain Preserve is part of Berks Nature and the collaborative efforts between Berks Nature and the trail maintenance volunteers from BAMBA helped BAMBA attain bronze status and earned Berks County the designation of Ride Center.

Berks County is one of only 37 ride centers in the world and the only one in the North East corridor of the United States BAMBA has been an IMBA (International Mountain Biking Assoc) chapter since Dec of 2012 and was able to earn this Ride center status in just 3 short years.

They work diligently on trial advocacy, establishing relationships with land managers and raising awareness across the country about Berks bike trails. As a result of this collaboration Berks Nature resurrected the Greater Reading Trails Initiative. Tune in to find out what makes Berks County special enough to earn this designation from IMBA and why it is important to Berks County.

Jo Painter welcomes Kim Murphy, President of Berks Nature, to the People Chronicles as they begin their new series! 'Berks Nature and You'. You will find Berks Nature behind the scenes of much that we take for granted ... clean water, urban gardens, maintained trail system, preserved land and so much more!

If it has to do with the outdoors Berks Nature is likely involved. Kim Murphy talks about the variety of initiatives Berks Nature handles. Berks Nature works with land managers and watershed authorities to protect our water supply and preserve our land. Berks Nature is building a new Nature Center at Angelica Park where they are already conducting field trips and educational programs.

Berks Nature hosts tailor field trips around specific topics and age groups. This small but mighty staff is developing a number of diversified programs to offer to the community. Berks Nature works with BAMBA to maintain hiking and biking trails and manages 10 urban gardens in the City of Reading.