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Telegram & Gazette | Matthew Beaton, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (ret.) | May 4, 2019 https://www.telegram.com/news/20190504/as-i-see-it-thank-you-central-massachusetts---and-beyond I am blessed to have had the opportunity to grow up exploring central Massachusetts and its many beautiful natural resources. These experiences and an elementary school science fair project on “The Environment” at St. Mary School in Shrewsbury instilled in me an insatiable passion for the outdoors and subsequently, a life dedicated to studying and preserving the many wonderful resources bestowed upon us as residents of Massachusetts. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs in the Baker-Polito Administration. Their strong and empathetic leadership along with the dedication of thousands of public servants and collaboration with the legislature provided us the opportunity to accomplish many great successes over the past four and half years. New England faces some of the most complex energy challenges in the nation and we need to balance lowering emissions, reliability and...

Cheryl Cuddahy | The Lowell Sun | April 11, 2019 http://www.lowellsun.com/contests/ci_32566740 We may all be guilty from time to time of getting so caught up in our daily lives that we forget there is a gorgeous planet that surrounds us that sometimes can only be seen by taking the back roads. One beautiful piece of this Earth is the Wachusett Reservoir Watershed, a 117-square-mile paradise touching the communities of Boylston, Clinton, Holden, Hubbardston, Leominster, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland, Sterling, West Boylston, Westminster and Worcester. The Wachusett Reservoir, along with the Quabbin Reservoir and Ware River, are the unfiltered source of high-quality water for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority water-supply system. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation's Division of Water Supply Protection manages and protects the watersheds and the drinking-water supply. They offer educational programs to inform the public of this important mission and the importance of clean water. "The Wachusett Reservoir was constructed as a water supply to Boston and its suburbs by damming the...

PICK A PARK | GIVE A DAY | MAKE A DIFFERENCE https://www.mass.gov/service-details/park-serve-day-2019-saturday-april-27 The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) invites you to attend DCR’s Annual Park Serve Day, Saturday April 27, 2019 at parks across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. With the help of volunteers, DCR will spruce up park facilities, clean coastlines, clean and maintain trails, plant flowers, and more! These valuable resources belong to all of us, and we can all take pride in them. To read the full DCR post, please click here. To find parks & register for Park Serve Day 2019, please click here....

Jonathan Lambert | NPR | February 25, 2019 https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/25/697788559/greener-childhood-associated-with-happier-adulthood The experience of natural spaces, brimming with greenish light, the smells of soil and the quiet fluttering of leaves in the breeze can calm our frenetic modern lives. It's as though our very cells can exhale when surrounded by nature, relaxing our bodies and minds. Some people seek to maximize the purported therapeutic effects of contact with the unbuilt environment by embarking on sessions of forest bathing, slowing down and becoming mindfully immersed in nature. But in a rapidly urbanizing world, green spaces are shrinking as our cities grow out and up. Scientists are working to understand how green spaces, or lack of them, can affect our mental health. A study published Monday in the journal PNAS details what the scientists say is the largest investigation of the association between green spaces and mental health. Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark found that growing up near vegetation is associated with an up to 55 percent lower risk of mental health disorders in...

Christopher Ingraham | The Washington Post | January 11, 2019 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/11/people-are-happier-states-that-spend-more-money-public-places-like-parks-libraries A new study published in the journal Social Science Research finds that Americans report greater levels of happiness in states that spend more money on public goods such as parks, libraries, infrastructure and public safety. In economics, public goods are defined as goods that are available to everybody and to which no one is excluded from using. “They’re typically not profitable to produce in the private market, so if the government doesn’t provide them, they will either be underprovided or not at all,” study author Patrick Flavin of Baylor University said in a statement. Because they’re available to all, spending on public goods tends to be less politically contentious than other spending categories, such as antipoverty programs or unemployment benefits. Flavin suspected spending on these types of goods would be linked to higher levels of happiness in a given state. By devoting resources to amenities that otherwise would probably not exist, “government can help to...

George L. "Gige" Darey 6/5/1928 - 12/21/2018 Conservation Advocate https://www.rochefuneralhome.com/m/obituaries/George-Darey/#!/Obituary George L. Darey, 90, passed away peacefully from congestive heart failure at home in his native Lenox on Friday afternoon December 21, 2018. Born to the late John Darey and Francine Darey, Gige graduated, after some pranks, from Lenox Memorial High School, received a B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and two Masters degrees from the University of Massachusetts, in Biology and School Administration. Following graduation, he served in the Korean War. Thanks to a claimed major in Geology at induction, Gige met and began to work for a speed reading instructor in the Army, which led to a future in teaching. Gige loved teaching high school: History and Social Studies at Mahar, in Orange, MA, Speed Reading and Study Skills at Wahconah in Dalton, MA. Being a lifelong outdoorsman, he started highly successful Fish and Game Clubs at each school. He began a Lenox summer...

Opinion | Telegram & Gazette | December 14, 2018 https://www.telegram.com/news/20181214/as-i-see-it-conservationists-must-defeat-fitchburg-westminster-landfill-expansion It was a beautiful fall day, with cool crisp air and plenty of sunlight filtering through the partially bare hardwood trees when I set out to hike the Ball Hill loop in the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Leominster State Forest. The trail heads southeast from the parking lot for Lower Crow Hill Pond, where families swim and picnic during the warmer months. This beach is the most popular attraction at the 4,200-acre, nearly 100-year old state forest, which also features hiking, mountain biking, fishing, and other soul replenishing activities. As I headed toward Berry Hill, elevation 1,185 feet, I planned to walk the loop to Black Bear Run, which passes just south of the Fitchburg-Westminster landfill. At the junction of the Red Oak and Ball Hill trails, I cut the loop short by bushwhacking due north toward Black Bear Run. I hadn’t gone more than a few yards when I heard...

Editorial | The Boston Globe | November 30, 2018 https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2018/11/30/voters-say-raise-taxes-preserve-parks-but-beacon-hill-isn-keeping-with-demand/mt1Y00W9LXGaEmqd9MlRPJ/story.html Quincy is restoring a bell tower at a historic church; Bedford chose to fix up a skate park; Cambridge put its money into a rehab of affordable housing. What those projects, along with hundreds of others like them all over Massachusetts, have in common is that they were paid for with a wonky government program that’s rightly celebrated as a runaway success. Now, though, the program — a state-local partnership known as the Community Preservation Act — is becoming a victim of its own popularity. The number of towns and cities participating has ballooned to 175 over the past two decades, but the main state funding source hasn’t grown with it. Boston’s vote to join the program in 2016 put an especially big strain on its finances, forcing the state’s contribution to be split among even more municipalities. Advocates, including local leaders, are asking the state to provide more revenue to account for the program’s growth. Governor Charlie Baker is on board. Now...