DCR Stewardship Council Unanimously Passes Budget Resolution
Sometimes what seems like a small step becomes monumental in retrospect. Just such a moment may have occurred at the July 22nd Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Stewardship Council meeting.
For the first time, the Council unanimously passed a budget resolution early enough in the state budget process to influence the Governor’s final budget released each January. Its budget priorities include:
- Increasing DCR’s capacity to develop partnerships with nonprofit organizations, friends’ groups, and local governments to support its mission.
- Fully staffing and funding the office responsible for the development of Resource Management Plans (RMP).
- Supporting a new line item for a public communication and outreach campaign for state parks and programs.
The Council’s interest in strengthening partnerships with park organizations has run through many Stewardship Council meetings over the past two years. This priority is welcome news for everyone who cares about a state park and wants to donate time and money to make it better. Anyone who has been to Walden Pond since the new visitor center opened will see the fruit of these kinds of relationships.
And for those concerned about losing efficiency in pursuing reinvestment in our park system need to look no further than the RMP and Asset Management Modernization Program (AMMP). Gaining public support through the RMP’s and inventorying and maintaining parks through the AMMP will establish an efficient and agile agency able to tackle the demands that the system’s assets demand.
Finally, public communication has not been a DCR strong suit for many years. Though during the worst of the pandemic, DCR showed it could successfully take on this task in real time. And the recent hiring of a social media coordinator is another big step in the right direction. Informing the public about the variety of state parks and programs and responding to questions from the public quickly and efficiently will make DCR a more publicly open and transparent agency forging a stronger bond with its users.
The resolution also includes policy objectives with a clear stance on user fees funding the state’s park system:
“Given the many social and economic benefits of our state parks and facilities, we should not be using our state parks as a source of revenue.”
Both Councilor Jack Buckley (Middlesex County) and Dicken Crane (Berkshire County), representing the Finance Subcommittee, spoke to the importance that the Council become early and active participants in the DCR state budget process and insisting that it was the Council’s role and responsibility.
MCV agrees and thanks them for their leadership and the Council’s unanimous support.
But there’s more, also on the agenda was Patrice Kish, Chief of Design and Engineering. Kish is a little-known hero of our parks system, working for decades at DCR and creating some of its most important initiatives and accomplishments. During a meticulous presentation of the FY22 Capital Budget, she publicly confirmed that DCR has a one billion dollar deferred maintenance deficit and that it is the Commissioner’s goal to address that deficit.
Following the presentation, Councilor Buckley asked if DCR had the capacity to expend the Governor’s proposed $100 million in additional capital funding from the Covid Relief Funds. After hesitating, Kish responded that, “some DCR programs have sufficient capacity.” Her response echoes the Commissioner’s statement some months ago that DCR did not have the staff to take on additional capital spending that could eliminate the deferred maintenance deficit.
Councilor Melissa Harper (Plymouth County) said the deferred maintenance deficit was a safety concern for park users and supported Councilor Buckley’s request for a list of the projects included in the deferred maintenance backlog.
MCV hopes that the Council also requests a list of the programs that cannot presently handle the demands of capital reinvestment.
This exchange points to the challenge facing DCR, state park advocates, and all of us who frequent the vast holdings under DCR’s care – the operating and capital budgets must be informed by the needs of decades of disinvestment in its assets. Like the state’s transit system, years of neglect have made these agencies structurally unable to fulfill their mandates.
We hope the DCR Special Commission is listening, too, as it begins to review the Donahue Institute’s draft recommendations. There is overwhelming evidence that DCR cannot become the park system its citizens expect and deserve without a dramatic increase in operating and capital funding.
MCV urges the Special Commission to ignore the small stuff, the anecdotes, and complaints. There is one overriding issue facing DCR, the future of our park system, and the decades of insufficient funding and disinvestment – an honest accounting of needs and costs and how to bring the Massachusetts park system into the 21st century.
Chuck Anastas chairs the board of directors of Massachusetts Conservation Voters
Doug Pizzi is the executive director of Massachusetts Conservation Voters