News

Press Release, Department of Conservation & Recreation | March 2020 In an effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Baker-Polito Administration is urging the public to stay home as much as possible to avoid person-to-person contact. However, should individuals and their families need to get outside for healthy, outdoor recreational activities, including walking, hiking, jogging, and bike riding, Massachusetts state parks and other natural resources managed by DCR remain open and accessible to the public. Additionally, state parks are public areas, and while the agency continues to make efforts to sanitize high-touch locations, these surfaces are only as clean as the last person who has come in contact with it. Please take appropriate steps to protect your health and the health of others by following the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s (DPH) guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Visitors to state parks should follow these additional guidelines: Minimize outdoor recreational time to limit potential exposure...

Jim Robbins | The New York Times | July 14, 2012 https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sunday-review/the-ecology-of-disease.html THERE’S a term biologists and economists use these days — ecosystem services — which refers to the many ways nature supports the human endeavor. Forests filter the water we drink, for example, and birds and bees pollinate crops, both of which have substantial economic as well as biological value. If we fail to understand and take care of the natural world, it can cause a breakdown of these systems and come back to haunt us in ways we know little about. A critical example is a developing model of infectious disease that shows that most epidemics — AIDS, Ebola, West Nile, SARS, Lyme disease and hundreds more that have occurred over the last several decades — don’t just happen. They are a result of things people do to nature. Disease, it turns out, is largely an environmental issue. Sixty percent of emerging infectious diseases that affect humans are zoonotic — they...

Opinion | Will Harlan | The New York Times | February 23, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/23/opinion/appalachian-trail-pipeline.html BIG IVY, N.C. — I live in Appalachia, and on Sunday mornings I hike the Appalachian Trail across the mountains I call home. It is my church. I drink from its springs and rest in the shade of its ancient forests. For decades, the trail has been my refuge. I have run for miles through tunnels of rhododendron, crossed paths with bears and camped with my children beneath starry skies. A few years ago, however, the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline broke ground, and crews began clear-cutting a scar across the mountains to move fracked natural gas from West Virginia to customers in Virginia and North Carolina. On my trail treks in Virginia, I watched the bulldozers creep closer. Then suddenly, on a crisp fall morning in 2018, the bulldozers stopped. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated a permit allowing the pipeline to cross the trail deep beneath...

Kathy Abbott, Boston Harbor Now | Architecture Boston | February 20, 2020 https://www.architects.org/stories/on-the-right-tract Boston is a city that prides itself on having parks before there were parks. Boston Common, set aside in 1634 to graze cows, is credited as “America’s first public park.” One hundred thirty-five years ago, the city was also home to America’s first playground, when Frederick Law Olmsted designed and developed the Emerald Necklace—envisioning 1,100 continuous acres connecting major parks from the Common to Franklin Park and eventually Boston Harbor, along rivers, streams, and parkways. Olmsted’s parks were built to address issues of the day: increasing urban density, public health, flooding. These historic parks still provide some of what’s needed today, but we are facing new challenges. What can we do now that will set a new standard of excellence for our parks for the next 135 years? In 2020, Boston is experiencing its most rapid population growth in nearly a century. Thanks to immigration, the populace is becoming increasingly...

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...