What is the deepest lake in Massachusetts?

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What is the deepest lake in Massachusetts? Ryan Pause | 95.9 | September 22, 2022 https://live959.com/what-is-the-deepest-lake-in-massachusetts/ For those that don't have the time and money to drive all the way to The Cape to go to the ocean (even though I think it's well worth it), we spend a lot of time in Berkshires or Massachusetts in general at what we call "The Lake." Whether you swim and fish at Windsor Lake in North Adams or enjoy live music at Onota Lake in Pittsfield where LIVE 95.9 presents the Live on The Lake concert series during the summer months. In fact, out of those two favorites, they're a total of over 3000 lakes here in the Commonwealth! Now of course many lakes including Cheshire Lake (what we been calling it for years even though you can't swim in it but you can fish in it), are man made. In the Berkshires, the water depth is uneven for a lake versus say if you head...
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Dried out forests are on fire across Massachusetts due to record-setting drought

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Dried out forests are on fire across Massachusetts due to record-setting drought Craig LeMoult | WGBH | August 26, 2022 https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/08/26/dried-out-forests-are-on-fire-across-massachusetts-due-to-record-setting-drought As wildfires burned for the seventh straight day in the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus, firefighter Karyn Lothrop stood at the edge of Pearce Lake as a Blackhawk helicopter approached. “He's coming in now,” she said. The pilot hovered the Massachusetts National Guard helicopter over the lake, causing the water beneath it to blow around in a circle, then lowered to fill the 600-gallon bucket dangling from a rope below. As quickly as it could, the helicopterlifted back up with a full bucket. In just two minutes, it would return for more. "This helicopter is working what we call the ‘ash fire’ at the moment,” said Lothrop, who works for the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation. “And it's got a real hot spot towards the center. It's a marsh, more [of a] wetland, that's been dried because of the drought. And so it's holding a...
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Where to find universally accessible hiking trails in Mass.

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Where to find universally accessible hiking trails in Mass. Natalie Gale | Boston.com | August 14, 2022 https://www.boston.com/travel/travel/2022/08/14/where-to-find-universally-accessible-hiking-trails-in-massachusetts Massachusetts is almost bursting at the seams with places to hike, bike, or spend time in nature. To help all folks plan ahead for a jaunt into the woods, here are some of the best universally accessible trails in the state. Most accessible trails are paved or hard-packed, with gentle grades and fairly wide paths—read on for more details. The below roundup includes trails in metro Boston, Cape Cod, and all the way out to the Berkshires. While some trips call for finding the trail closest to you, others might be perfect for exploring a new region of the state. For more information, check out the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Universal Access Program, increasing outdoor recreational opportunities for folks with mobility disabilities. To read the full article, please click here...
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MCV’s August Blog, A Mid-Year Parks Roundup

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MCV's August Blog, A Mid-Year Parks Roundup Chuck Anastas | August 15, 2022 HEAT ISLANDS The dog days of summer are now behind us, and we’ve learned this year that extreme heat, like the impacts of the pandemic, can be mitigated by public open spaces. Although many of the most severe heat islands can be found in urban areas, they are also in dense mixed-use suburban downtowns. Many of the state’s existing land preservation efforts are primarily centered on adding to existing large tracts of state open space, which continue to be crucial for the state’s future ecological health and its efforts to combat climate change. Those efforts must continue. But we also need a new emphasis on assisting densely populated areas with the tools and funding to add to open space for residents’ health now and in the future. PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS A year ago, MCV noted an important milestone made by the DCR Stewardship Council - budget recommendations to the Administration for the department, making...
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What are heat islands and how do they affect New Bedford and area towns?

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What are heat islands and how do they affect New Bedford and area towns? Kevin Andrade | The Standard-Times | August 10, 2022 https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/2022/08/10/what-heat-islands-and-how-do-effect-southcoast/10212721002/ NEW BEDFORD — Across from Serenity Gardens, Buddy Andrade sat in the shade created by the trees in front of the Old Bedford Village Development Corporation on Bedford Street, when multiple fire engines raced by on Pleasant Street.  "This is an all-day occurrence," Andrade, the corporation's director, said. "It's an older neighborhood now ... So, we have a lot of [health] problems. "Heat and housing helped trigger a lot of the issues we're talking about." There are many factors aggravating those, he said. But one of them is that of heat island. Heat islands, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, are urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than the outlying areas. These densely populated zones are full of buildings, pavements, and other surfaces that absorb and re-emit heat with little to no tree cover. This causes temperatures to rise several degrees higher than greener spaces nearby. The results...
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Massachusetts Has a Public Beach Access Problem

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Massachusetts Has a Public Beach Access Problem Jose Da Silva | Boston Magazine | July 28, 2022 https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2022/07/28/intertidal-zones-massachusetts-beaches/ Massachusetts summers arrive with gifts—Red Sox games, maybe some free furniture from Jordan’s, and, of course, days to tan and splash along the shore—but also a particular frustration. Full beaches, full parking lots. Not enough shoreline. In my memory as a kid growing up in the Bay State, this frustration sounds like the dull hum of an outboard boat engine, and it looks like a man in a green wooden skiff. As kids, my cousins and I would head to Pine Island Cove, in Lewis Bay, to find a specific sandbar. The sandy spit, exposed at low tide, extended into a small channel. We’d run, spring from the sandbar, and achieve a rarified launch from dry land into water so deep we couldn’t touch the bottom. Inevitably, the telltale sound of the outboard would come in from the bay. The man in the skiff worked for Great Island,...
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When is the Clarksburg State Park footbridge being replaced? The DCR says the project will be done next year

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When is the Clarksburg State Park footbridge being replaced? The DCR says the project will be done next year Scott Stafford | The Berkshire Eagle | July 24, 2022 https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/northern_berkshires/footbridge-at-clarksburg-state-park-will-be-replaced/article_b685d5f6-09e0-11ed-82da-afee258f5644.html CLARKSBURG — The footbridge at Clarksburg State Park is still gone after being removed for safety reasons in the spring of 2021. And contrary to previous reports of a five-year process, its replacement will be installed next year. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation had told local officials that the pedestrian bridge, a key feature of a popular trail, would not be replaced for another five years. That would have been a hardship for regular users of the bridge, which connects a walking path around the Mausert Pond. The only way to get over the stream that the bridge once crossed is to climb down a more than six-foot embankment, walk through the stream on rocks and climb back up the other side. For elderly walkers, or even those not especially spry, the crossing is...
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Barriers at the Beach: People tussle over scarce access as sea levels and property values rise

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Barriers at the Beach: People tussle over scarce access as sea levels and property values rise Chris Burrell | WGBH | July 25, 2022 https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/07/25/barriers-at-the-beach-people-tussle-over-scarce-access-as-sea-levels-and-property-values-rise Summer traffic in Gloucester has become so extreme in recent years that residents can't always get out of their driveways or run weekend errands in town. Overwhelmed with the onslaught of traffic to its well-known public beaches, the city started an online reservation system this season specifically for nonresidents to secure parking spaces. City leaders hope that tool will mitigate frustration for both residents and visiting beachgoers. Other coastal towns are taking similar approaches to restrict the number of out-of-towners who can park near their shores. This dynamic of tightening access and rising demand in Massachusetts is stoking increasing tensions at the shoreline between would-be beachgoers and the gatekeepers controlling who gets on the beach and who doesn’t. It’s made worse by the fact that many beaches are shrinking due to the effects of climate change, eroding the already small...
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Public Lands Preservation Act, State Budget Updates

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Public Lands Preservation Act, State Budget Updates Doug Pizzi | August 4, 2022 The following are updates on the Public Lands Preservation Act and the State Budget. PLPA: The coalition supporting the Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA), which includes MCV, has weighed in on the Legislature’s inability to come to an agreement between the House and Senate versions of the bill before the legislative session ended in the early morning hours of Aug. 1. We are disappointed the legislative conference committee named to bring the respective versions into agreement could not finish before the clock ran out. The coalition supporting the bill has urged legislators to continue working so that the bill can come up for approval in informal session. The conferees have committed to as much. The reason to avoid missing the end of session deadline is that for a bill to pass in an informal session the vote must be unanimous. More succinctly, one no vote can scuttle a bill. But the...
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Public lands preservation legislation comes up short

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Public lands preservation legislation comes up short Chris Lisinski, State House News Service | Commonwealth Magazine | August 2, 2022 https://commonwealthmagazine.org/environment/public-lands-preservation-legislation-comes-up-short/ BOSTON (State House News Service) – Lawmakers were unable to find agreement on a bill aimed at maintaining open spaces across Massachusetts in a marathon final formal session Sunday into Monday, but one top negotiator said he remains hopeful the measure can still pass in the coming months. Sen. Sal DiDomenico, one of the leads on a conference committee that failed to produce an accord by the time the Legislature shifted to an easygoing mode for the remainder of the 2021-2022 session, told the News Service he does not believe the proposal died with the final gavel. “My goal is to get this done during informal,” the Everett Democrat said Tuesday. “We’re very optimistic that we can come to a resolution. We made some progress during the last couple of weeks.” DiDomenico and his House counterpart, Rep. Ruth Balser of Newton, are tasked with...
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Joint Statement on the Public Lands Preservation Act Conference Committee

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Joint Statement on the Public Lands Preservation Act Conference Committee August 2, 2022 A coalition of environmental groups, including the Massachusetts Conservation Voters (MCV), today issued this statement on the legislative conference committee's inability to reach consensus on the Public Lands Preservation Act. MCV will continue to advocate for this bill, which now would have to pass in an informal session before year's end, where one objection can derail it. Joint-Statement-re-PLPA-Conference-Committee_02AUG22Download...
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Things are looking decidedly better for our parks

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Things are looking decidedly better for our parks Doug Pizzi | July 20, 2022 The state Legislature on Monday sent a $52.7 billion FY 2023 budget to Gov. Baker for his consideration. The budget contains considerable good news for our state parks, people who frequent them, and those who care for them at the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). If Baker approves the proposed funding for DCR, the Parks and Recreation Operations Account (2810-0100) will see about a $10 million increase, to $85 million, an increase Mass Conservation Voters has been seeking for this account for nearly a year. The Legislature also funded a separate earmarks account, which funds specific projects in lawmaker’s districts, at $8.0 million. MCV had asked lawmakers to keep earmarks out of the general operating budget because every earmark in that budget reduces funding for day-to-day operations by a like amount. The action comes on the heels of last December’s report from the Special Legislative Commission on DCR, which...
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The DCR Revolving Door Keeps Spinning

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The DCR Revolving Door Keeps Spinning By Chuck Anastas | July 2022 At the end of June, Acting Commissioner Stephanie Cooper resigned and returned to DEP. This was her second Acting Commissioner term with DCR. She previously served during the early months of Governor Baker’s first term in office. We thank her for her service. She’s the fifth Commissioner, acting or permanent, since Governor Baker’s term began in January 2015. Doug Rice from the MWRA, and formerly general council at DCR, is now the sixth. We wish him well. He will serve nine months less than the average Commissioner’s stay of 1.3 years.** The DCR Revolving Door began in 2015 with the appointment of Carol Sanchez. It took the Governor until April to name her as Commissioner – hardly a priority appointment. The little-known Sanchez lasted until November, overwhelmed by the Baker/Polito DCR politically appointed bad actors in her midst. Unfortunately, some of those same bad actors would last long enough to help...
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A Unique Opportunity to Implement a New Vision for the Council

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A Unique Opportunity to Implement a New Vision for the Council Former DCR Stewardship Council Chair Nate Walton speaks to his experience on the Council and where he sees DCR five years from now Nate Walton and his son at the Esplanade. Photo Credit: Nate Walton. Nate Walton served on the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Stewardship Council for five years. A graduate of Bates College and Brown University, he works as a consultant to defense technology businesses. Formerly a resident of Boston, Nate now lives with his wife and their two children on the North Shore. Nate became the Council Chairman midway through his five-year term during a tumultuous time for the Council, replacing Whitney Hatch, who the Governor did not reappoint. In fact, there was nearly a complete turnover of Councilors just before his chairmanship began. Soft-spoken but determined, he brought stability to the Council while new members found their footing. With the backdrop of the pandemic, he ushered in a...
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Baker-Polito Administration Announces Over $11 Million for 81 Trail Improvement Projects Across the Commonwealth

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Baker-Polito Administration Announces Over $11 Million for 81 Trail Improvement Projects Across the Commonwealth Press Release | Department of Conservation & Recreation | June 28, 2022 https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-announces-over-11-million-for-81-trail-improvement-projects-across-the-commonwealth The Baker-Polito Administration today announced $11.4 million in funding through the MassTrails Grant Program to support 81 trail improvement projects across the Commonwealth to expand and connect the state’s network of trails. Today’s announcement was made by Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Beth Card, Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Secretary Jamey Tesler, Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner (DCR) Doug Rice, and state and local officials at Wharf Street Park in the Town of Milton. The grants will assist municipalities, non-profit organizations, and other public entities for the design, construction, and maintenance of a variety of public trails throughout the state, including hiking trails, bikeways, and shared-use paths. Additionally, this year, MassTrails has partnered with the Conine Family Foundation’s HubLuv Initiative, which seeks to further improve the Commonwealth’s existing trail network.  “Over the last couple of years, the importance of the Commonwealth’s...
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