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Press Release | Department of Conservation & Recreation | July 20, 2021 https://www.mass.gov/news/dcr-announces-1-million-acquisition-to-conserve-key-forestland-in-west-springfield-and-holyoke BOSTON - Building on efforts to conserve critical land across the Commonwealth, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) today announced the acquisition, totaling $1.05 million, for a Conservation Restriction on vital undeveloped forestland in West Springfield and Holyoke in partnership with Mass Audubon. To celebrate the conservation of this important land, DCR Commissioner Jim Montgomery joined West Springfield Mayor Will Reichelt, representatives from Mass Audubon, and members of the local community at the Bear Hole Reservoir on Saturday, July 17, 2021. “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts has seen a significant increase in residents visiting our state parks to seek fresh air, exercise, and respite in the wonderful natural resources we have here in the Commonwealth,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides. “By protecting this beautiful open space with our partners, the Baker-Polito Administration is conserving important forestland, expanding outdoor recreational opportunities for children and families, and protecting this critical habitat in perpetuity.” “Conserving development-vulnerable land is an important part of our efforts to protect vital green spaces while expanding access to outdoor recreation opportunities,” said DCR Commissioner Jim Montgomery. “Bear Hole Reservoir is a...

City Parks Alliance is hosting an Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) technical assistance webinar. National Park Service staff will review specific program requirements, identify common proposal issues, provide tips on how to write a strong ORLP application, go over the suggested form formats, and answer questions. Join CPA on Wednesday, July 14 at 3 pm EST to hear from National Park Service staff who will provide tips on how to write a strong ORLP application, go over the suggested formats for the forms, and answer questions. Link to register. The webinar will feature: Ginger Carter, Grants Management Specialist, National Park Service Ginger Carter has a background in historic preservation and planning.  She’s been with the National Park Service since 1992, managing grant programs to preserve battlefield lands, rehabilitate properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and to assist Tribal Historic Preservation Offices before moving into the State and Local Assistance Programs office as the Lead for the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program...

Chris Lisinksi, State House News Service | WBUR | July 8, 2021 https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/07/08/walden-pond-open-water-swim-ban-lifted Five days after banning open water swimming at Concord's Walden Pond as part of a package of changes in response to a spate of drownings around Massachusetts, the Baker administration plans to begin allowing the practice again, according to an official. An administration official told State House News Service that the Department of Conservation and Recreation planned to issue new guidance Wednesday evening that will once again permit swimmers to navigate waters beyond those marked by ropes and buoys. The update includes several modifications aimed at increasing safety for swimmers, lifeguards and visitors. On Friday, DCR banned open water swimming at Walden Pond "indefinitely" after a flurry of drownings across the state. The move drew criticism from the Massachusetts Open Water Swimming Association, whose members said restricting access would negatively impact their health while doing little to improve public safety. Fifty state lawmakers, representing one quarter of the members in the 200-seat Legislature, signed a letter Wednesday...

Alex Brown | The Pew Charitable Trusts | June 23, 2021 https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/06/23/flush-with-federal-cash-states-invest-in-their-crowded-parks For years, Michigan officials have fretted about the ever-growing list of overdue maintenance needs at their 103 state parks: roads and trails, water and sewer systems, restrooms and electrical infrastructure. All are in dire need of replacement or repair—with a price tag that exceeds a quarter-billion dollars. “A lot of these parks are coasting on the fumes of the investments we made in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” said Dan Eichinger, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “We’ve had this $264 million millstone around our neck.” Much of that aging infrastructure was pushed to the limit last year, as the pandemic drove people outdoors in record numbers. Michigan state parks saw 36 million visitors in 2020, up from 27 million in a typical year. State leaders expect that demand to continue. So when the American Rescue Plan dropped more than $6 billion in federal funds into the state’s coffers this year, state...

Miles Howard | WBUR | July 7, 2021 https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2021/07/07/walden-pond-open-water-swimming-ban-miles-howard Boston might like to think of itself as the “hub of the universe,” but it has nothing on Walden Pond. On a broiling day, you can walk the path around the pond and observe a multiracial, multilingual spectrum of Massachusetts denizens, congregating under the red maples for one of life’s most elemental pleasures — an open water swim. This could mean swimming across the entire pond, or simply floating in one of the pond’s secluded coves. It’s a centuries-old draw. Before Henry David Thoreau planted his beans here, the pond was home to Indigenous peoples and formerly enslaved Black Concord residents who built their own community in the Walden Woods. As the historian Laura Walls put it, Walden Pond was a place where you could “live out life on the margins of society, without anybody minding too much.” Today, as a state reservation, Walden holds another distinction. It’s one of the few publicly accessible swimming ponds in the Greater...

Shira Schoenberg | Commonwealth Magazine | July 6, 2021 https://commonwealthmagazine.org/state-government/jockeying-starts-over-how-to-spend-5b-in-federal-aid/ Chris Carlozzi, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, wants at least $1 billion. That’s what he thinks government should spend to help replenish the unemployment insurance trust fund, so businesses don’t have to spend 20 years paying off debts incurred due to government-forced shutdowns. Carlene Pavlos, executive director of Massachusetts Public Health Association, would be happy with $251 million. That’s what it would take, she said, to fix the long-standing inequities and inadequacies in the public health system, which the pandemic brought to light. It would let local public health boards hire and train staff and build centralized data systems. Another $1 billion would satisfy John Pourbaix, executive director of Construction Industries of Massachusetts. He said Massachusetts has long underfunded its roads and bridges, and rebuilding infrastructure will be essential to economic recovery. The federal American Rescue Plan Act provided Massachusetts state government with an unprecedented $5.3 billion in direct aid to...

Matt Murphy | State House News Service | June 17, 2021 https://www.wbur.org/news/2021/06/17/baker-legislature-billion-federal-relief-battle In an attempt to end the battle over who gets to spend nearly $5.2 billion in federal relief money, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday pitched a plan that would see him cede much of his control over the aid to the Legislature, as long as lawmakers agree quickly to spend more than half on priorities such as home ownership assistance, substance abuse treatment and job training. Baker visited a new housing development in Haverhill on Thursday where he detailed his proposal to allocate about $2.8 billion in federal relief money, attaching a sense of urgency to a plan that would also allow the Legislature to determine for itself how to spend the remaining funds. The governor pitched the stimulus spending plan on the same day he faced a deadline to act on a bill passed by the Legislature that would sweep nearly $5.18 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding into the...

Kate Lusignan | The Boston Globe | June 11, 2021 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/11/metro/seeking-improve-accessibility-safety-dcr-unveils-plan-parkways The Department of Conservation and Recreation released a $200 million Parkways Master Plan on Friday that outlines proposals to improve the utility of its roads in Greater Boston. The plan, which was completed in August 2020, outlines templates for all of the agency’s roads, referred to as parkways, and individual plans for properties spanning 30 municipalities between Wakefield and Milton, and east of Waltham. In a statement to the Globe, a spokeswoman for DCR wrote that “final review and release was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Short-term modifications include adding crosswalks, shared-use paths, marked bicycle lanes, and curb ramps for increased accessibility. Longer-term goals include full parkway reconstruction and raised bike lanes that offer a height separation from vehicular traffic. In an effort to prioritize these goals, DCR created an office of Green Transportation last year to oversee its parkway projects. The recommendations are based on findings from a 2015 study conducted by Toole...

Abbey Niezgoda | NBC News Boston | June 10, 2021 https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/swim-at-your-own-risk-lifeguard-shortage-hits-beaches-pools-in-mass/2402917/ A nationwide lifeguard shortage is having an impact at beaches and pools across Massachusetts. As cities and towns scramble to fill open positions, they are closing some swimming locations and leaving others unguarded. In Barnstable, the town usually hires 105 lifeguards for the season. This year, they have yet to fill 22 of the positions. They have a training class next week, but so far only two people have signed up. If they cannot recruit more lifeguards, they will be forced to close two swimming sites, the town’s recreation department director said. They have yet to decide which ones will be closed. “We’re trying to figure out how to make it happen, but the whole thing stinks. It really stinks,” Director Patti Machado said. The shortage is being felt in Natick too. The town is still looking to hire more lifeguards for Memorial Beach at Dug Pond. “It’s becoming a major problem,” Dan Keefe, the assistant...

Kay Lazar | The Boston Globe | June 7, 2021 https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/07/metro/covids-silver-lining-new-possible-lasting-passion-outdoors/ The pandemic drove people outside. They really liked it. Cornhole games on Bedford’s town common. Busy walking trails along New Bedford’s waterfront. Long-promised bike lanes added in Boston. And an explosion of newcomers to parks and campgrounds across Massachusetts. Countless people cooped up by restrictions during the pandemic discovered the outdoors, where they could have fun with little risk of contracting the virus. But perhaps more surprising, as restrictions have eased and most indoor places fully reopened, there are signs that this new-found love affair with nature seems to be enduring. Nature preserves are reporting big jumps in membership while cities and towns across Massachusetts are moving to make temporary outdoor spaces permanent. “That’s the great silver lining of the pandemic,” said Sarah Stanton, Bedford’s town manager. “We are seeing everybody come out and try new things, go for hikes. People I would normally not see in town, you see out on a bike.” Like many...

Matthew Daly | The Associated Press | June 3, 2021 https://apnews.com/article/outdoor-recreation-business-lifestyle-travel-environment-and-nature-554446b9d0610732bfc7839860ed9f18 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Thursday proposed funding for dozens of conservation and recreation projects across the country as it allocates $2.8 billion in grants and programs authorized by a landmark conservation law enacted last year. Congress approved the Great American Outdoors Act by wide, bipartisan majorities with a mandate to support rural economies, boost outdoor recreation and improve access to public lands. The law authorizes $900 million per year — double previous spending — for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and $1.9 billion per year on improvements at national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and rangelands. Projected spending in the next fiscal year includes $19.4 million to rehabilitate the popular Ahwahnee Hotel at Yosemite National Park in California, and $91.3 million at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to replace the Yellowstone River Bridge and upgrade the wastewater treatment system at the park’s famed Old Faithful geyser. On the other side of the country,...

Bike to Parks this June From MassBike We want you to enjoy nature by bike this June, so we’re challenging you to bike to a park and share your adventure with us. You can bike to your local park or turn it into a longer adventure. Adventure Cycling’s Bike Travel Weekend is June 4th-6th, which is the perfect excuse to plan a bike camping trip to one of our great state parks (like Nickerson!) How to Participate: Bike to a park & take a photo during your adventureShare your story with us! Either tag @MassBike in your bike to parks photo on social media or email us a photo and sentence about your adventure to bikeinfo@massbike.org Those who bike to a park between June 1st and June 7th and share their bike to park adventure with us via social media or email will be entered for a chance to win a free entry to the RoundQuabbin gravel fondo happening on July 5th thanks to Domestique Events. If a gorgeous day biking around the Quabbin sounds like fun...