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Press Release | Department of Conservation and Recreation | February 14, 2020 https://www.mass.gov/news/dcr-announces-family-friendly-school-vacation-programming-0 BOSTON — The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) today announced that the agency will offer more than 90 family-friendly programs throughout the Massachusetts state parks system during the traditional February school vacation week. Programming starts on Saturday, February 15, 2020. Children and their families will have the opportunity to enjoy guided experiences or to create a park adventure on their own. The wide-ranging selection of programs include guided hikes, wildlife observation opportunities, crafting activities, games, stories, and more. A full list of activities and programming can be found on the DCR’s website.  “Winter is an excellent time for individuals and families to get outdoors and experience the programming DCR has to offer across the Commonwealth,” said Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Jim Montgomery. “The Baker-Polito Administration continues to increase both access within our state parks system and opportunities for the public to enjoy the many resources available to them.”In addition to the school vacation week programming, DCR will continue to offer its...

Lisa Friedman and Claire O’Neill | The New York Times | January 14, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/14/climate/fossil-fuel-industry-environmental-policy.html A small number of people at a few federal agencies have vast power over the protection of American air and water. Under the Trump administration, the people appointed to those positions overwhelmingly used to work in the fossil fuel, chemical and agriculture industries. During their time in government they have been responsible for loosening or undoing nearly 100 environmental protections from pollution and pesticides, as well as weakening preservations of natural resources and efforts to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Of 20 key officials across several agencies, 15 came from careers in the oil, gas, coal, chemical or agriculture industries, while another three hail from state governments that have spent years resisting environmental regulations. At least four have direct ties to organizations led by Charles G. and the late David H. Koch, who have spent millions of dollars to defeat climate change and clean energy measures. Gretchen Goldman, research director at the...

Jayda Leder-Luis | Patch | January 13, 2020 https://patch.com/massachusetts/boston/city-signs-agreement-strengthen-care-downtown-parks On January 10, 2020, Martin J. Walsh today announced the City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Friends of the Public Garden have signed a formal cooperation agreement to enhance the care of Boston Common, the Public Garden, and the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), signed today (1/10/2020), strengthens the 50-year partnership between the Parks Department and the Friends at the strategic and operational level, committing to a shared objective of preserving, restoring, and caring for these historic parks in the heart of downtown. "Our parks and gardens are so important to our community: they hold our history, they bring people together, and they bring the beauty of nature into our City," said Mayor Walsh. "The Friends of the Public Garden put their heart and soul into these community spaces, and has been a partner to the City for a long time. I want to congratulate them on their 50 year anniversary, and...

Rob Hotakainen | E&E News | January 10, 2020 https://www.eenews.net/stories/1062045073 Jonathan Jarvis, who headed the National Park Service for eight years under President Obama, said the agency now is loaded with "unconfirmed anti-public land sycophants" who want to dismantle the national parks. In an op-ed published in The Guardian today, Jarvis assailed the Trump administration for its management of the park system, saying "nothing is sacred as we watch the nation's crown jewels being recut for the rings of robber barons." Jarvis cited a long list of complaints, accusing the Trump administration of trying to double entrance fees, rescinding climate policies and moving veteran park superintendents to force their retirements. He also criticized the administration for leaving parks open during last year's partial government shutdown, misusing entry fees, opening park trails to e-bikes and considering a plan to privatize campgrounds, among other things. "These are not random actions," Jarvis said. "This is a systematic dismantling of a beloved institution, like pulling blocks from a Jenga tower, until it collapses." Jarvis is...

Jenna Fisher | Patch | January 3, 2020 https://patch.com/massachusetts/waltham/woerd-ave-dump-closer-becoming-world-class-park For decades, almost 9 acres of land have sat largely overgrown and underutilized. But the old Woerd Avenue landfill, once used as a dumping ground for ashes leftover from heating furnaces, is a step closer to being turned into a public park. In the 1930s, the city set up a town dump next to Cram's Cove called the Woerd Avenue landfill. In 1971 with an estimated 35,000 tons of ashes dumped there annually, the city closed the landfill. You can see the former dump behind Koutoujian Playground, along Woerd Avenue and Cove Street near one of the city's most dense areas and in one of the lowest income neighborhoods. For years, residents and officials have eyed the land on the Southside as other old landfills around the country were transformed into parks. About three years ago, the city, led by Housing Division Programs Robert Waters, applied for a loan to transform the property. But as the city looked...

George Barnes | Worcester Telegram & Gazette | January 2, 2020 https://www.telegram.com/news/20200102/central-mass-hikers-bikers-skaters-swing-into-2020 With the sun breaking through Wednesday morning, people found opportunities to get off their couches and head outside to celebrate New Year’s Day with first day hikes, skating, and even bicycling. At the Wachusett Reservoir, more than 100 people joined reservoir rangers Andy Leahy and Sean Flood in a hike from Gate 22 near the West Boylston-Boylston town line. The large group enjoyed a two-mile round-trip hike to the South Bay area of the reservoir, which looks across to Dover Point. It was one of 10 hikes held by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s First Day Hikes Initiative. The national effort to get people to enjoy state parks got its start in Massachusetts in 1992. Another Central Massachusetts hike was held at the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage State Park at River Bend Farm in Uxbridge. A smaller group took to bicycles for the 2nd Annual Worcester County Women’s Cycling Ride....

Editorial Board | Greenfield Recorder | December 5, 2019 https://www.recorder.com/Kestrel-Land-Trust-120319-30968163 From atop Mount Sugarloaf, farmland stretches as far as the eye can see — to the distant Seven Sisters range in Hadley and beyond. It’s a beautiful landscape that’s for the most part untouched by large swaths of commercial development. Wooded areas and open spaces afford opportunities for recreation and provide a buffer for busier economic hubs to the south. This isn’t a coincidence. The Pioneer Valley’s residents have historically valued its natural landscape and, as such, have taken steps to protect it. Through concerted conservation efforts over decades by a host of local agencies, including the Amherst-based Kestrel Land Trust, thousands of untouched acres throughout Western Massachusetts provide refuge for native wildlife. The work continues today. Soon, there will be an additional 120 conserved acres in Whately. The land, known as the Whately Center Woods Project, encompasses Westbrook, Chestnut Plain and Haydenville roads. According to the Kestrel Land Trust, the agency working on the project,...

America's State Parks | StateParks.org What better way to kick off the New Year than by getting a jump start burning off those extra holiday calories in the great outdoors? On New Year’s Day, America’s State Parks have all 50 states offering free, guided First Day Hike Programs. These hikes provide a means for individuals and families to welcome the coming year in the outdoors, exercising and connecting with nature. Last year nearly 55,000 people rang in the New Year, collectively hiking over 133,000 miles throughout the country on the guided hikes.  Numerous others hiked state park trails throughout the day. The guided First Day Hikes are led by knowledgeable state park staff and volunteers.The distance and rigor vary from park to park, but all hikes aim to create a fun experience for the whole family.People are invited to savor the beauty of the state park’s natural resources with the comfort of an experienced guide so they may be inspired to take advantage of...

Alex Brown | The Pew Charitable Trusts | December 3, 2019 When Alabama closed Roland Cooper State Park in 2015 because of budget cuts, entrepreneur Warren Meyer saw an opportunity. Meyer runs Recreation Resource Management, a concession company that maintains campgrounds, builds cabins and provides amenities at state parks and U.S. Forest Service sites around the country. The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources awarded the company, known as RRM, a contract to run the park on the agency’s behalf. The campgrounds, cabins and bathrooms reopened in 2016 for the anglers, campers and birders who visit the 236-acre park along the Alabama River. “We were able to reopen the park within a year after it closed, and RRM has been running it ever since and doing a fantastic job,” said Rob Grant, assistant director of Alabama’s State Parks Division. “It’s a net profit for us, and we were losing money there before.” Meyer advocates for increased privatization on state and federal land. He...

Barbara Moran | WBUR | November 26, 2019 https://www.wbur.org/earthwhile/2019/11/26/transforming-cranberry-farmers-wetlands-cape-cod Alex Hackman picks up a shovel and digs in to what used to be a cranberry bog. Down through an inch or two of tough green cranberry vines, down into the sandy soil beneath. Down, down, down. "It's tough going," says Hackman, stopping to catch his breath. "This is, you know, a century of effort by the prior farmers to have this beautiful dense layer of cranberry vines." Hackman is a restoration ecologist with the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. He runs a state program dedicated to turning cranberry bogs back into wetlands. The state program partners with the UDSA's Wetland Reserve Easement Program, which has been around for decades. But lately there's been an uptick of interest from local farmers, says Brian Wick, executive director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association. That's because the cranberry business has been tough in recent years, with prices driven down by competition from Canada and Wisconsin, and the trade war with...

Jon Waterman | Opinion - The New York Times | November 22, 2019 CARBONDALE, Colo. — Deep inside Alaska’s six-million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve, I could see miles of space beneath my feet as I stood on the summit of the tallest mountain in North America. The startling view from the 20,310-foot Denali of rugged wilderness spreading out in all directions, plus the challenge of climbing it, were just two of the many wonders and adventures that I’ve experienced in America’s national parks. I recently finished writing a book for National Geographic, “Atlas of the National Parks,” based on extensive research, a lifetime of exploring the parks and several years in the 1980s working as a ranger in two of them, Denali and Rocky Mountain in Colorado. I meant the book as a celebration of the 103-year-old national park system, and it is. But what I also discovered was an operation in deep trouble, with some parks degraded by ruinous overcrowding; invasions of nonnative plants and animals that are...