Commonwealth Conversations: The Great Outdoors

Weekly Outdoor Events 5/7/12

Maia Fitzstevens

Multimedia intern, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)

View Maia's Bio

Opportunities for family friendly fishing continue this week! This is your chance to enjoy the natural resources and beauty of our Commonwealth and to connect with other anglers. Weekend fishing festivities include a Kids Fishing Event on May 12 in Sunderland at the Cronin National Salmon Station, sponsored by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (email Bryan for more information) as well as the MassWildlife Fishing Derby at Coes Pond in Worcester (see picture below).

Photo credit: By Michaeldavid54 on Flickr

For those in the Boston area, this weekend is the perfect time to head over to Milton for some fun outdoor events! Give back to the community and join the Friends of the Blue Hills Trail Crew on Saturday morning to help spruce up the trails of the beautiful Blue Hills Reservation. If you’d rather just enjoy the gorgeous view of the Blue Hills, Department of Conservation and Recreation staff will host an Open House and Kite Festival at the Blue Hills Observatory (call 617-696-0562 for more information). Also in Milton this Saturday is Creepy Crawly Days at MassAudobon’s Trailside Museum, where kids of all ages can enjoy live animal exhibits, fun bug hunts, crafts and more!

Photo credit: Blue Hills Reservation http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmch/ 

Check out the Great Outdoors interactive calendar for a complete listing of outdoor events in Massachusetts. Bookmark the MassWildlife events page too, for wildlife related talks, events, hikes and more!

Accessible Winter Activities

Marcy Marchello

Universal Access Program Coordinator, Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)

View Marcy's Bio

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is kicking off its Universal Access Program winter activities season!

Running through March, this program was created to make outdoor recreation in Massachusetts more accessible to everyone. Designed for people with disabilities, their families and friends, these free programs will sponsor a wide variety of adaptive cold-weather recreation opportunities at locations across the Commonwealth.

Come join in on the fun, and partake in these accessible activities including cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, kick sledding, snowmobiling, and ice skating. Staff assistance and use of accessible equipment, such as sit skis and kick sleds, will be available for use at no additional cost. For additional information on the Universal Access Program, a schedule of activities, and to preregister, visit DCR's Universal Access page or call 617-626-1294 or 413-545-5353. 

If you would like to volunteer to assist in the adaptive winter programs, please call Heidi Marie-Peterson at 413-577-3840. There are two trainings scheduled for January – January 7 at Wendell State Forest and January 22 at the Weston Ski Track.

Gleaning to fight hunger

Commissioner Scott Soares

Commissioner, Department of Agriculture Resources (DAR)

View Commissioner Soares' Bio

Never heard of “gleaning”? Not to worry – you’re not alone! When I tell folks about our new pilot Massachusetts Gleaning Network it’s not uncommon for people to ask, “What’s that?”

Gleaning is the act of harvesting leftover crops from farm fields and orchards that would otherwise not be harvested. Considering that these crops are quite literally the fruits of a farmer's labor, farmers are of course interested in finding opportunities for this food not to go to waste. Solution: Helping solve hunger!

The volunteers that help glean these crops provide an opportunity to move these crops from field-to- fork by harvesting and then delivering them to food pantries, food banks and other hunger relief organizations. USDA estimates about 96 billion pounds of pre-consumer food are wasted each year. With approximately 600,000 Massachusetts residents struggling to feed themselves, this is a wonderful way to recover some of this safe and nutritious food that would otherwise get thrown away.

Even though these crops are left behind, they are still fresh and good quality. There are all kinds of reasons why produce might not be marketable. Often it’s for cosmetic reasons, a blemish on an apple or a bruised squash. Sometimes the market price due has dropped below the harvest cost due to a high volume of a particular crop.

On October 24, I joined Governor Patrick, EEA Secretary Sullivan and Congressman Jim McGovern and many enthusiastic volunteers from 4H, the Boston Area Gleaners, Project Bread and the Food Project at The Food Project Community Farm in Lincoln and the Tougas Family Farm in Northboro. Together we gleaned well over five bushels of carrots and 2,040 pounds of apples!

The Massachusetts Gleaning Network includes farms, volunteers, service agencies, food banks and other organizations – our role is to help them partner with one another in gleaning projects across our Commonwealth.

Gleaning is one of the most rewarding activities I’ve ever participated in and I hope you’ll join the effort.

For more information about the Massachusetts Gleaning Network contact Rose Arruda at 617.626.1849 or Rose.Arruda@state.ma.us.

Weekly outdoor events

Reginald Zimmerman

Assistant Press Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)

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With fall officially underway, there are a lot of great events to get you outside this season and connected with the environment!

Tonight, from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. in Athol, biologists from MassWildlife will host a Wildlife Habitat Site Walk at Millers River at the Cass Meadow parcel of the Millers River Wildlife Management Area. Site walks are designed to provide an opportunity for interested conservation-minded citizens and landowners to observe habitat management operations that benefit different kinds of wildlife in special need of conservation.

This week kicked off the Eastern States Exposition, also known as The Big E, in West Springfield. Running through October 2, the Big E, the largest agricultural fair in the Northeast, features crafts, cooking demonstrations, concerts, and traditional fair events including a giant pumpkin and squash weigh off for kids, cheese and pie competitions and livestock competitions!

National Public Lands Day is this Saturday, September 24! National Public Lands Day is the largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve public lands in the nation. From 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., join the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Waltham Land Trust at the Lyman Estate at 185 Lyman Street in Waltham to lend a hand on trail work on the Massachusetts Central Rail. Gloves, tools and refreshments will be provided.

Also on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., The Friends of Myles Standish State Forest, the DCR and MassWildlife present the 5^th Annual Take Me Fishin' family event. Bring the whole family down to Myles Standish State Forest’s Fearing Pond for a fun day of fishing contests and nature activities. Fishing poles and bait will be provided, but feel free to bring your own. A Massachusetts fishing license is not required.

For more Massachusetts Outdoor Events, visit The Great Outdoors interactive Google Calendar.

Weekly outdoor events

Reginald Zimmerman

Assistant Press Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)

View Reginald's Bio

Join biologists and foresters from MassWildlife this Thursday, September 15, for a Wildlife Habitat Site Walk at the Frances A. Crane Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Falmouth from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Site walks provide an opportunity for interested conservation-minded citizens and landowners to observe habitat management operations that benefit different kinds of wildlife in special need of conservation.

Do you know places along your daily drive where you can expect to see a turtle crossing? Or spot turkeys and deer at the roadside? The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has created a new innovative program, Linking Landscapes for Wildlife, to involve citizens in both protecting wildlife and making transportation safer for everyone. On September 15, join the Nashua River Watershed Program in Groton to learn about this program from MassWildlife's Dave Paulson and Mass Department of Transportation's Tim Dexter.

On Sunday, September 18, head down to the New England Bantam Club's Annual Fall Bird & Small Animal Swap & Sell from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fairgrounds at Lancaster, Rt. 117 in Lancaster. Everybody is welcome to buy or sell chickens, bantams, ducks, geese, pigeons, pheasants, rabbits, and other stuff they raise, plus hatching eggs, cages, supplies, whatever! No advance registration - just show up with your stock! Rain or shine the event costs $5 to set up for members and $8 for non-members.

On Saturday, September 17, the Department of Conservation and Recreation is teaming up with REI, the Access Fund, and the AMC's Boston Chapter Mountaineering Committee for this year’s Adopt-A-Crag event on the South Shore. From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. volunteers will gather at the Quincy Quarries to clean up quarries just in time for the fall rock climbing season.

If plants are your fancy and you’re looking for something T-accessible, DCR is hosting the program Plants of Belle Isle Marsh on Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon. Great for both teenagers and adults, this workshop will focus on identifying and learning fun facts about plants in the field.

Also taking place that Saturday afternoon, DCR Rangers will lead a tour of the Charles River Dam, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Come and learn about the structure and pumping facility that keeps Boston and Cambridge above water. Groups will meet at Paul Revere Park flagpoles located below the Charlestown Bridge in Boston.

For more Massachusetts Outdoor Events, visit The Great Outdoors interactive Google Calendar.

COASTSWEEP 2011: Help keep our beaches clean!

Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

View Secretary Sullivan's Bio

This September, I invite you to join thousands of volunteers across the state who will participate in COASTSWEEP 2011 – a beach cleanup event that happens throughout September and October. In the past five years, more than 13,000 COASTSWEEP volunteers have removed over 6,500 bags of trash from Massachusetts beaches and riverbanks. As part of the International Coastal Cleanup organized by The Ocean Conservancy in Washington, D.C., COASTSWEEP aims to collect trash and other marine debris, such as food wrappers, pieces of fishing net, truck tires, milk crates or beverage cans, and cigarette butts, from beaches, riverfronts, and lakeshores across the state. All the debris collected will be recorded onto data cards that will expand understanding of types of materials that pollute beaches in Massachusetts and all over the world. This year, COASTSWEEP  will celebrate its 24th anniversary.

Marine debris not only affects recreational activities for families across the Commonwealth, but it also injures or kills thousands of marine animals each year. Fish, birds, and other wildlife swallow particles found on the beach, while turtles and marine mammals can become entangled in fishing nets offshore.

The hard work and dedication of thousands of COASTSWEEP volunteers help ensure that our beaches are the best they can be. Each of nearly 100 local cleanups across the state is led by a coordinator who identifies important sites in need of debris removal and organizes potential volunteers. 

For a list of beach cleanup scheduled in your area, check out http://www.coastsweep.umb.edu/2011cleanups.html

For tips on how to keep Massachusetts’ shores clean year round, visit http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/international-coastal-cleanup-11.html

I hope you’ll join this worthwhile effort to get our beaches, lakeshores, and riverfronts in ship shape!

Bringing clams back to Thompson’s Island

Mary Griffin

Commissioner, Department of Fish and Game (DFG)

View Commissioner Griffin's Bio

Recently, I spent the day with local conservationists and volunteers getting a little muddy digging trenches and planting about 54,000 baby clams in the mud flats around Boston’s Thompson Island. This restoration effort to plant clams in Boston Harbor was hosted by the Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), the City of Boston and Mayor Thomas Menino, and the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center. 

These groups have collaborated on this softshell clam propagation project designed to educate participants on the historic and current role shellfish play in the economy and ecology of Boston Harbor while enhancing the existing softshell clam resource on Boston’s intertidal flats.

Softshell clam enhancement involves distributing juvenile clams, known as “seed,” across the intertidal mudflats. We dug trenches to secure one edge of each net, folded the nets back, and raked the mud to remove any crabs that would eat the clam seed. Then we covered the clam seed with nets, which will stay in place until they further mature for a few months. My group had good teamwork, with some digging trenches, and others raking the mudflats and removing crabs and large rocks. Out there with our hands in the mud, it was a unique way to experience the Boston Harbor Islands. 

Softshell clams, or “steamers,” are harvested from Boston Harbor year-round. Softshell clam populations have declined in Boston Harbor in recent years, leading to a larger initiative that involves six Boston Harbor municipalities: Boston, Hingham, Hull, Quincy, Weymouth and Winthrop, community volunteers, and commercial shellfishers. Since 2006, over five million clams have been seeded at over 28 sites in the harbor. The seeding at Thompson Island was the first site in Boston. 

Many enthusiastic volunteers from Thompson Island Outward Bound’s Green Corps, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, UMass Boston’s Green Harbor Project, Salem State University and interested members of the public assisted in this effort. The project is also supported by the National Park Service and UMass Boston, attracting and educating visitors to the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreational Area. DMF Director Paul Diodati and DMF Shellfish Biologist Jeff Kennedy and their staff did a great job leading the state’s efforts.  

Next year, we hope to work with the City of Boston and other partners to expand the effort to other Boston flats. We’ll be looking for volunteers to help us again. It’s a terrific way to get outside, learn about shellfish, visit some of our beautiful Boston Harbor beaches and contribute to both the ecology and shellfishery in Boston Harbor.

Happy Earth Day!

Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

View Secretary Sullivan's Bio

Today, as we celebrate the 41st anniversary of the first Earth Day, it is a time for us to honor the natural world and acknowledge the strides we have made in water, land, air and energy conservation since 1970, while remaining mindful of the challenges we still face.

The Patrick-Murray Administration has taken significant steps in meeting those challenges.

Since taking office, Governor Patrick has launched the largest land conservation initiative in our Commonwealth’s history – investing in 75,000 acres of open space and parks over the last four years. The administration has created the Ocean Management Plan, which has been adopted as a federal model by the Obama White House, and has strengthened environmental protection for two-thirds of the state’s waters while designating areas suitable for renewable energy development.

On the clean energy side, Massachusetts has the most ambitious energy efficiency program in the country and was named the leading state in clean energy on the East Coast in an independent ranking. Boasting 53 officially-designated “Green” Communities,” Massachusetts has a clean energy agenda that is leading to an almost 25-fold increase in solar power compared to when the Governor took office in 2007. By the end of this year, we expect 90 megawatts of wind power will be installed or in the construction pipeline – an amazing increase from just 3.1 megawatts in 2007.

Meanwhile, energy efficiency related employment has doubled since 2007, and the number of companies involved in solar energy installation has quadrupled. Overall employment in the Massachusetts clean energy sector has climbed 67 percent in the past four years.

To celebrate all of this progress and jump-start more, starting today and going into May, residents can participate in a variety of Earth Day-themed activities that unite and benefit our communities and state as a whole. From festivities to concerts to town cleanups, there are an abundance of opportunities to learn about the environment and celebrate what makes Massachusetts a great state.

I hope you’ll consider taking part at many of the Earth Day events happening statewide. To find an event happening in your community go to http://www.mass.gov/dep/public/earthday.htm

Weekly outdoor events

Kate Samp

Multimedia intern, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)

View Kate's Bio

This Friday come out to the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Breakheart Reservation for a family movie and some hot cocoa.

Get outside and help to keep our parks and beaches clean by joining in DCR’s annual Park Serve Day. DCR is hosting events across the state this Saturday. Make sure you sign up here to help get our parks in shape for summer.

Check out more Massachusetts Outdoor Events on The Great Outdoors interactive Google Calendar.

Accessible winter activities

Marcy Marchello

Universal Access Program Coordinator, Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)

View Marcy's Bio

DCR’s Universal Access Program (UAP) has put together a Winter 2011 schedule with many wonderful adaptive recreation opportunities for people with disabilities and their families and friends to enjoy indoors and out this season.

The activities are held on weekends and some week days in January, February, and March. They include accessible cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, kick sledding, snowmobiling, and ice skating at DCR parks and facilities. For persons with disabilities, free use of accessible equipment such as sit skis and kick sleds, as well as staff assistance, is available. In spring and summer, UAP offers cycling, kayaking, canoeing, rowing, sailing, hiking, horseback riding, letterboxing, bird watching, interpretive programs and more. Skilled instructors and volunteers provide equipment, instruction, and support.

Indoor skating programs will take place at four primary rinks: Cronin Rink in Revere, Asiaf Rink in Brockton, Buffone Rink in Worcester, and the Fitzpatrick Rink in Holyoke. There will also be a special outdoor skating program at the Kelly Rink in Jamaica Plain on Tuesday, February 15, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. In addition, many rinks statewide have seated ice skating sleds for independent use during public skating.

For accessible outdoor winter recreation, visit the Weston Ski Track for adaptive cross-country skiing on most Sundays in February. In western Massachusetts, Wendell State Forest and Mt. Tom State Reservation will host adaptive programs on alternating Saturdays, with activities including ice skating, kicksledding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobile rides. Catch it all at the Winter Festival at Dunn Park in Gardner on Saturday, February 5, from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.!

For more information on any of these programs and more, contact Gigi at 617-626-1294 or Marcy at 413-545-5758 or 413-577-2200 (TTY) or visit DCR’s Universal Access Program website for more informaiton. Also, ask about volunteer opportunities. Preregistration is required.

See you other there on the snow and ice!