June events cap off Mass Parks For All’s incredible first year

— DCR budget should allow agency to continue progress

— Cross-State ride on the Mass Central Rail Trail in September

— MPA at Public Lands Summerfest

In May of 2023, we launched Mass Parks for All (MPA) with great fanfare and hope for the future as we all strive to build a 21st Century state park system we can be proud of – well-funded, well-maintained parks, forests, beaches, pools, spray-decks, rinks, fields and other assets that provide for our physical and emotional well-being, while mitigating the growing impact of climate change.

Your support during this critical time yielded a year of incredible progress. Thanks to your generosity, and that of the Lawrence & Lillian Solomon Foundation, especially David Solomon and Executive Director Herb Nolan, who provided our first institutional funding, we were able to lay the groundwork for a statewide organization and hire a part-time Central Region Coordinator to work with stakeholders in Central Massachusetts. Subject to continued growth in funding, we hope to repeat this in other regions of the state.

Part of that effort included kicking off our Friends of the Friends Campaign on June 4, when we helped introduce a brand-new friends group, Friends of Callahan State Park, to the world. More than 60 people joined us at the Callahan Club, a community center for Millwood Preserve, across the street from the park’s South Entrance in Framingham. The park contains more than 800 acres of woodland, fields, streams and ponds in Framingham and Marlborough.

MPA will assist the Friends of Callahan State Park craft a Parks for All Plan to foster grassroots stewardship and harmony among the diverse groups who use the park, including dog owners, hikers, cyclists, and equestrians.  

We also held a year-end retrospective for our supporters via Zoom on June 18. Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner (DCR) Brian Arrigo joined us at both events, sharing his ambitious vision for our parks. Watch this space for more news of our progress on all of these fronts in the coming months.

DCR budget should allow agency to continue progress

As things stand now, the Legislature looks poised to support the Healey-Driscoll Administration’s generous proposal to increase DCR operations and seasonal accounts, which pay for general operations and peak season personnel, by a combined $8.5 million. Given the uncertain state revenue picture that began manifesting itself several months ago, we feel this will be an adequate amount to allow DCR to continue to make progress in making our parks better for the millions who visit them and the $16 billion annual outdoor economy they support.  

We asked the Legislature to support the Administration’s figure for these accounts, $110.0 million for operations, and $28.5 million for seasonals. If approved, this would represent an increase of $4.4 million and $4.1 million in those accounts, respectively. The Senate passed those figures as its final budget while the House figures were slightly more.

The budget is now in the hands of a House-Senate Conference Committee, which will iron out the differences between what the two chambers passed before sending it to the governor for final approval. If past is prologue, the Administration’s figures will be the base both chambers will be working from.

While final action on the budget is due before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, if the Conference Committee is unable to agree before then, the Legislature will pass a temporary spending plan based on this fiscal year’s budget to run the government until the final budget is passed and signed by the governor.

Cross-State ride on the Mass Central Rail Trail in September

Looking toward the fall, the inaugural MCRT Bike Tour will be Sept 20-22, 2024, riding from Northampton to Boston.* The goal is to showcase the corridor, increase interest in finishing the rail trail, and get more people thinking about the potential for cross-state, off-road travel.

According to an in-depth study done by Kittleson & Associates, completing the trail, which crosses some 20 existing or proposed rail trails, would bring tens of millions of dollars in economic activity along the corridor and in nearby communities.     

Right now, about half of the 104-mile route is finished. The inaugural ride will be a small group – no more than a dozen riding the entire distance, but day riders will be encouraged to join in along the way. This will be the springboard for an annual event.

Last year, Mass Parks for All joined the MCRT Coalition to support the goal of completing the trail by the end of the decade. As our website states, one of our primary missions is to foster connections between parks that do not involve use of an automobile.

For further information, please email MCRT Coalition Chairman Craig Della Penna at craigdp413@gmail.com.

MPA at Public Lands Summerfest

On Saturday, June 17, at the invitation of Public Lands Community Outreach and Education Lead Jeff Keeton, MPA Executive Director Doug Pizzi and the Friends of Callahan State Park Chair Doug Lawrence, had a table at Public Lands’ Summerfest at the store’s Framingham location alongside several environmental organizations and outdoor equipment vendors.

It was a great way to meet folks interested in the great outdoors in general and our state parks in particular. We had a fun time handing out literature and signing folks up for our respective email lists. Our thanks go out to Jeff and the Public Lands staff for this opportunity.

Doug Pizzi is executive director of Mass Parks for All

* While the directional arrows on the map go east to west, the ride will be from west to east.