2022, A Year To Remember
Doug Pizzi | December 22, 2022
Massachusetts Conservation Voters (MCV) has had its most successful year since rebranding to focus primarily on our state parks nearly four years ago. In the space of 12 months, with your support, we have gone from a fledgling state park-supporting NGO to a vital leader in park advocacy.
One reason for this was October’s MCV state park summit, attended by more than 20 organizations. Summiteers produced an open letter signed by more than 50 organizations and distributed it to legislators, the incoming and outgoing gubernatorial administrations, and the media. The idea was, in part, to satisfy many legislators’ requests that to the extent possible, park advocates speak with one voice.
Here are links to some of the media coverage we obtained, which started with the State House News Service and Commonwealth Magazine, a publication of MassINC, picking up the story. This includes an editorial endorsing our position, and quoting the letter, which ran in the Gloucester Daily Times, Lawrence Eagle Tribune, and Salem Evening News.
In addition to this coverage, MCV was invited to write two pieces for the Boston Sunday Globe Local section’s The Argument. We weighed in on the role park fees should play in running the DCR facilities that charge them. In September, we said DCR should rely less on user fees to fund our state parks. It is worth noting here that the FY2023 state budget eliminated fee-based retained revenue from DCR’s day-to-day operations. More on that later. In November, we argued that, because of changes to the state budget and the availability of federal and surplus state funds, DCR should eliminate day-use parking fees from the parks and beaches that have them. In June, we spoke with NBC 10 News about the prospect of DCR being able to adequately staff its facilities for the summer season.
Another reason for celebration is the passage of the Public Lands Preservation Act, enacted by the Legislature during the informal session, when a single objection can scuttle a bill, and signed into law by Gov. Baker on Nov. 17. The law codifies the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ (EEA) “no net loss policy” when public open space covered by Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution is converted for any other use. Twenty years in the making, the law will forever stop attempts to end-run the EEA’s policy calling for a public process, an alternatives analysis, and providing compensatory open space. Once the process is completed, the EEA policy and now state law requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for final approval. MCV joined a coalition of groups supporting this law in 2018 when we wrote an op-ed piece that appeared in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in December of that year, as well as a letter to the editor in the Boston Globe in March of 2021.
We would be remiss in marking this achievement without giving thanks to the late Phil Saunders, of Weston, a passionate PLPA advocate who spent 20 years on Capitol Hill trying to get the bill passed. Unfortunately, Phil left us in May, but true to his nature, his obituary contained a plea to contact legislators to seek final passage. Even during his last days, Phil worked tirelessly on the bill with state legislators Rep. Ruth Balser and Sen. Jamie Eldridge, the lead sponsors in the House and Senate. When he fell ill, his daughter, Elizabeth Saunders, the Massachusetts state director for Clean Water Action, a longtime PLPA supporter, stepped in to continue his work.
As noted earlier, state government adopted and supported positions we have been advocating for, including a $10 million increase in the DCR operations budget (2810-0100), eliminating the reliance on retained revenue for those operations, converting some seasonal employees to full-time DCR staff, and backfilling some of the 300 positions DCR lost in the wake of the 2008 recession. In addition, state Sen. William Brownsberger, at the meeting of the Legislative Parks Caucus on Dec. 7, said the state Legislature should elevate DCR to a cabinet-level agency reporting directly to the governor. MCV agrees, and asked the Special Legislative Commission on DCR, itself a Brownsberger creation, to recommend this change.
Speaking of the Legislative Parks Caucus, more than 70 park advocates and legislators, including MCV, attended that meeting. The energy and optimism at that virtual session were palpable. MCV looks forward to working with caucus chairs, Sen. Mike Rush, Rep. Bruce Ayers, and the rest of the caucus to keep park issues at the forefront of legislative priorities.
Finally, on December 5, the Baker-Polito Administration announced the creation of a state Office of Outdoor Recreation (OOR), to be housed within EEA. MCV joined several NGO’s and outdoor businesses in the effort, led by The Trustees of Reservations, American Whitewater, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Mass Audubon, and the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance. Years in the making, the OOR will coordinate public and private support for our state’s $16 billion annual outdoor economy, in which parks play a vital role.
Suffice it to say, it was a very good year for our parks and MCV is proud to have played a role in making it happen. But there is still a lot more work to do. We look forward to working with the new Legislature, the incoming Healey-Driscoll Administration, and the FY2024 budget process. The progress we made with your help will allow us to continue our mission to take our public park system from the last in the nation in per capita public tax dollar funding to second to none.
Our priorities include seeking follow through on the park summit letter priorities, including making sure our parks get their fair share of remaining federal American Rescue Plan Act funding. We will also seek an estimated cost, with a design and construction schedule to implement the DCR Parkways Master Plan.
But we can’t make anything happen without your help. If you support our work, please consider making a one-time or recurring donation to MCV. Any amount is helpful. Thank you again for your past, continuing, and future support. We at MCV wish you and yours a happy, healthy holiday season. And never forget that when you give to MCV, the park you save may be your own.
Doug Pizzi is the executive director of Mass Conservation Voters