Individually, we’re strong, but together, we’re stronger
On February 18, we launched our new Friends of the Friends web page as part of our Friends of the Friends Campaign. The page includes listings and contact information for some 200 (and growing) park friends groups and other groups that promote preservation of and access to open space from every corner of Massachusetts.
Our primary goal is to unite all of us who have an interest in preserving, protecting and expanding these essential, often historic assets that play such a vital role in keeping us physically and mentally fit. The pandemic drove this point home inside and outside state government.
The size and resources of these groups vary widely. Some have significant annual budgets and staff. Others are solely volunteer. But no matter where your group falls along this continuum, it makes sense for all of us to be in contact with each other and support each other on the issues that are important to all of us. This resource will help you discover other groups, network with them, and share best practices.
This time of year, we need to focus on the annual budget for FY2026, which starts July 1, 2025, submitted by the Healey-Driscoll Administration as H.1 (House Bill 1) earlier this month. If you saw last month’s blog, you know that MPA, for the first time in three years, is seeking to increase the Administration’s proposed budget for the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). While we appreciate the enormous support the Administration and the Legislature gave our parks in FY2024 and FY2025, this year’s gubernatorial proposal, a 2.3 percent increase in the Parks and Recreation Operations account (2810-0100), doesn’t keep pace with inflation. As such is actually a small budget cut that threatens to slow the great progress DCR has made over the last few years.
We will be meeting with legislators and other stakeholders to see if we can get the House and Senate to increase this amount as the budget moves through the Legislature. It’s going to take support from all of us who value our parks, organizations and individuals alike, to make this happen at a time when state finances, including aid that comes to Massachusetts from the federal government, is uncertain.
While this process takes place every year, there is another opportunity to have a major positive impact on our parks beginning this spring and continuing for about a year, that happens only once every five years, sometimes longer.
The Administration is currently assembling a five-year environmental bond bill, which will chart a capital spending plan for environmental projects, including those at DCR, and has asked environmental organizations, including MPA, to weigh in with priorities. The environmental bond supplements the annual capital budgets at the agency level. The last environmental bond bill passed in 2018.
As you know, DCR currently has a $1.0 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Going back to our input to the 2021 Special Legislative Commission, MPA has been on record calling for a $250 million per year capital spending plan for DCR. This fiscal year, DCR has some $152.3 annual capital budget. This is, from where we sit, a treading water budget that does not allow DCR to make meaningful progress on the backlog while keeping up with new projects that need to be addressed. Infrastructure work needed to finish the 104-mile long Mass Central Rail Trail comes immediately to mind.
The environmental bond bill is the vehicle to get DCR’s capital spending to a level that allows the agency to retire the backlog within the next ten years while keeping up with current demand. MPA is focusing on two line items in the upcoming environmental bond. One is the general park project line item (2840-7025), which was $420 million in 2018, and the parkways and trails line item (2890-7034), which was $160 million in 2018. We are seeking $600 million for general park projects and $400 million for parkways and trails. These figures represent discounting legislators’ earmarks and inflation. MPA estimates that parkways reconstruction represents 40 percent of the deferred maintenance backlog.
MPA wants to activate our Friends of the Friends organizations to be key advocates in this effort. While the details are not yet developed, we plan to hold a virtual meeting for our friends later this year. The purpose is to draft a unified message in support of the bond bill to make sure DCR gets a fair share of this capital funding.
Until that time, if your organization isn’t on the Friends list, or there’s a correction or addition, or if you want to have your logo with a live link displayed on the page, please contact our regional coordinator Kat Powers at kat@massparksforall.org.
You may have also noticed that our social media presence has increased considerably over the last few months. In addition to Facebook and Instagram, we are also on Bluesky and Threads. That is also Kat’s doing. One prominent feature is our State Park Sunday series, where we feature our own and subscribers’ photos of their favorite state parks. If you’re interested in seeing your photos featured, Kat is your contact there as well. When you send them, please let her know if you would like a photo credit if we’re able to use the photo.
As always, we thank you for your love of and support for our parks. Spring is just around the corner, and we will welcome the opportunity to engage in more outdoor activities across the state. Until then remember, join us in this effort because the park you save may be your own.
Doug Pizzi is executive director of Mass Parks for All