Our History
We’re Building a Community of Park Supporters
Every person in the Commonwealth deserves adequately staffed, clean, safe, universally accessible, and well-maintained parks that provide recreational opportunities for all.
Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation, South Deerfield
Massachusetts now ranks near last in the nation in public spending on parks.
Massachusetts parks, many designed by visionary pioneers and supported by the Commonwealth’s taxpayers, have been badly underfunded with harmful consequences. Over the last 15 years, the agency that manages state parks—the Department of Conservation & Recreation or DCR—saw a 50 percent reduction in its budget, forcing massive staff cuts while deferred maintenance soared to more than $1.0 billion.
Also, during that time, a loosely organized conservation alliance became fragmented and ineffective at winning public and political support for our parks. The pandemic exacerbated this problem while exponentially increasing use of public lands. While we have many community and regional advocates working to improve or expand our public lands, we must work together towards a cohesive statewide message—a need that several state legislative allies pointed out during the FY2023 budget process.
Over the last four years, Massachusetts Conservation Voters (MCV) has successfully begun changing the park support ground game.
Our successes include defeating a bill to add 80 acres of Leominster State Forest to a landfill and removing paid parking kiosks from Revere Beach, the nation’s first free public beach. In addition, we ended the reliance on park fees for the day-to-day operations of our state parks, known as retained revenue. The Massachusetts Legislature replaced that anticipated but never guaranteed revenue with general revenue tax dollars. MCV also secured a $10 million increase in the DCR operations account, the most significant investment in state parks in recent memory. We were also a key advocate for passing the Public Lands Preservation Act, landmark legislation 20 years in the making that codifies the state policy on converting public land protected by Article 97 of the state Constitution for any other use.
Because of these efforts, MCV is now viewed inside and outside of state government as the go-to NGO on public park issues. To build upon that political capital, in October of 2022, MCV convened a Parks Summit. The summit produced an Open Letter setting out four major goals to move our parks into the 21st Century. The letter, signed by more than 50 organizations, was delivered to the Healey-Driscoll administration, the Legislature, and the media. The media coverage included news stories, an op-ed piece, and an editorial that appeared in the Salem Evening News, the Gloucester Daily Times, and the Lawrence Eagle Tribune.
Pilgrim Memorial State Park, Plymouth
Our promise
Mass Parks For All will take on many of MCV’s responsibilities with a strong core of the existing Board of Directors and its current executive director. Through education, thought leadership, dedicated matching funds, and sustained advocacy, MPA will further our mission of transforming the current state park system into one that is safe, accessible, and well-maintained for all to enjoy.
