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The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is "To protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all." [1] The agency is the largest landowner in Massachusetts. [2]
The Department of Conservation and Recreation was formed in 2003 under Governor Mitt Romney, when the former Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and Department of Environmental Management (DEM) were merged to form the DCR. The DCR is under the general management of the Commissioner of the DCR. The general administration divisions; Human Resources Division, the Financial Division, and External and Legislative Affairs, report directly to the Commissioner.[ citation needed ] DCR is responsible for the stewardship of its lands, from general maintenance—such as emptying trash barrels, cutting grass, and making building improvements—to landscape-level management.
DCR also provides services beyond its boundaries, for example, Bureau of Forest Fire Control is available to aid and assist local cities and towns during natural disasters as well as periods of high fire danger, while its Bureau of Forestry administers forest management on both state and private lands. [3] It also manages its land through the help of partners, including road repairs occasionally implemented by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation at the request of DCR. Police protection has been provided by the Massachusetts Environmental Police and the Massachusetts State Police after the MDC's police department was merged into the State Police in 1992. The DCR also maintains its own Bureau of Ranger Services which provides for public safety, search & rescue, and enforces violations on DCR owned and managed property. In addition to partnering with state agencies, DCR coordinates with local and national volunteer organizations, such as the Mystic River Watershed Association, Friends of the Middlesex Fells, Appalachian Mountain Club, and local student organizations.
The Division of State Parks is responsible for the maintenance and management of over 310,000 acres (1,250 km2) of state-owned forests and parks. These areas are designated as either Woodlands, Parklands, or Reserves, and are managed to maintain specific land-use characteristics. [4] From the agency's beginning in 2003 until 2012, DCR land management was organized into three divisions: State Parks and Recreation, Urban Parks and Recreation, and Water Supply Protection. In 2012, State Parks and Urban Parks were unified into one division. [5]
As of 2009, within the greater Boston area there are urban wilds, historic sites, and other naturally aesthetic or significant environmental properties. The origins of the collective environments in this part of the division date back to the creation of the Metropolitan Park Commission in 1893, forming the first such regional system in the United States. [6] (see Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston for history). Lands outside of the greater Boston area includes some 29 campgrounds, over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of trails, 87 beaches, 37 swimming, wading, and spray pools, 62 playgrounds, 55 ballfields, 145 miles (233 km) of paved bike and rail trails and once private homes and estates that are now a part of the DCR's Historic Curatorship Program.[ citation needed ]
The Division of Water Supply Protection manages 150,000 acres (610 km2) of watershed lands and is responsible for the protection of the drinking water supply for approximately 2.5 million residents of Massachusetts, primarily in Greater Boston. This division monitors lakes and ponds, well drillers, and rainfall throughout the Commonwealth. [7]
Protected water supply areas include Quabbin Reservoir, Ware River Watershed, Wachusett Reservoir and Sudbury Reservoir.
The Bureau of Engineering provides professional engineering, design, and construction management services in support of DCR properties. In addition to providing engineering services for over 450,000 acres (1,800 km2) of parks, forests, watersheds, beaches, 340 dams, and numerous recreational facilities, the Bureau of Engineering also manages over 525 lane miles of parkways and nearly 300 bridges and tunnels notable for their landmark stature and importance in the Commonwealth's transportation system.[ citation needed ] The Bureau of Engineering managed and/or operated a number of bridges across the Commonwealth prior to November 2009. All non-pedestrian bridges were transferred to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on November 1, 2009 as part of a transportation reform law. [8] [9] Originally, a certain number of bridges listed in the act creating MassDOT were to be transferred after December 31, 2014 when ongoing construction was completed. However, a Memorandum of Agreement between DCR and MassDOT instead transferred these bridges in 2009 along with all other DCR vehicular bridges. [8]
The Bureau of Engineering manages and/or operates a number of parkways across the Commonwealth, including:
The Bureau of Engineering owns and manages and/or operates a number of dams and flood control facilities across the Commonwealth, including:
Middlesex Fells Reservation, often referred to simply as the Fells, is a public recreation area covering more than 2,200 acres (890 ha) in Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester, Massachusetts, United States. The state park surrounds two inactive reservoirs, Spot Pond and the Fells Reservoir, and the three active reservoirs that are part of the water supply system for the town of Winchester. Spot Pond and the Fells Reservoir are part of the Wachusett water system, one of six primary water systems that feed metropolitan Boston's waterworks. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.
Memorial Drive, colloquially referred to as Mem Drive, is a 3.9-mile (6.3 km) parkway along the north bank of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Breakheart Reservation is a public recreation area covering 652 acres (264 ha) in the towns of Saugus and Wakefield, Massachusetts. The reservation features a hardwood forest, two freshwater lakes, a winding stretch of the Saugus River, and scenic views of Boston and rural New England from rocky hilltops. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Charles River Reservation is a 17-mile-long (27 km) urban preserve and public recreation area located along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, Cambridge, Watertown, and Newton, Massachusetts. The reservation is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Hopkinton State Park is a Massachusetts state park located in the towns of Hopkinton and Ashland and managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The park was created after the Hopkinton Reservoir was removed from service as a water source for the Greater Boston area. In 2010, it was named as one of the 1,000 places to visit by the Great Places in Massachusetts Commission.
The Stony Brook Reservation Parkways are a group of historic parkways in Boston and Dedham, Massachusetts. They provide access to and within the Stony Brook Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. The roadways and the park are administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, a successor to the Metropolitan District Commission, which oversaw their construction. The roads consist of the Dedham, Enneking, and Turtle Pond Parkways and West Boundary Road. Two roads within the park, Smithfield Road and Reservation Road, are listed as non-contributing properties. The park roads were built between 1894 and 1956, and were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Winthrop Shore Drive is a historic parkway in Winthrop, Massachusetts. The mile-long parkway runs through the Winthrop Beach Reservation, and is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The parkway is one of a series of ocean parkways that make up a network of parkways connecting major open spaces in the Greater Boston area. Both the parkway and reservation were designed in the mid-1890s by Charles Eliot for the Metropolitan Parks Commission, a predecessor to the DCR. Land was acquired for the parkway in 1899, and construction was largely completed in 1900.
Fresh Pond Parkway is a historic park and parkway on the western end of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston. The parkway was built in 1899 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The Fells Connector Parkways are a group of historic parkways in the cities of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts, suburbs north of the city of Boston. The three parkways, The Fellsway, Fellsway West, and Fellsway East serve to provide access from the lower portion of the Mystic River Reservation to the Middlesex Fells Reservation. The latter two parkways continue northward, providing access to the interior of the Fells and providing a further connection to Lynn Fells Parkway. Significant portions of these parkways south of the Fells, which were among the first connecting parkways designed to be part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston by Charles Eliot, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Charles River Reservation Parkways are parkways that run along either side of the Charles River in eastern Massachusetts. The roads are contained within the Charles River Reservation and the Upper Charles River Reservation, and fall within a number of communities in the greater Boston metropolitan area. The Charles River parks extend from the Charles River Dam, where the Charles empties into Boston Harbor, to Riverdale Park in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Most of the roadways within the parks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a unit, although Storrow Drive and Memorial Drive are listed as part of the Charles River Basin Historic District.
The Middlesex Fells Reservoirs Historic District is a historic district roughly bounded by Pond St., Woodland Rd., I-93, and MA 28 in Stoneham and Medford, Massachusetts. It encompasses a portion of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The principal features of the district are three reservoirs and their associated gate houses and pumping stations, which were developed by the Metropolitan District Commission starting in the late 19th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Spencer State Forest is a Massachusetts state forest and recreation reserve located in the town of Spencer, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. The 92 mile (148 km) Midstate Trail passes through the state forest. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts also conducts logging in some parts of the property.
Hammond Pond Parkway is a historic parkway in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The road, built in 1932, extends 2 miles (3.2 km) from Hobart Road in Newton to Horace James Circle in Brookline, where it joins the West Roxbury Parkway. It was designed by Charles Eliot and the Olmsted Brothers to provide a parkway setting that provided access from Brookline, Newton, and the western portions of Boston to the southern parks of the Emerald Necklace. The parkway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Watertown Branch Railroad was a branch loop of the Fitchburg Railroad that was meant to serve the town of Watertown and the City of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, as an independent short line railroad; it also serviced the Watertown Arsenal. The line has been formally abandoned and portions have been converted into a rail trail, the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway. A section from School Street to Arlington Street in Watertown was completed first. A small portion in Waltham has been converted into a park called Chemistry Station Park after the railroad station once located there. Construction of an extension to Fresh Pond Reservation in Cambridge began in the summer of 2018 and was completed in June 2022.
The Mystic River Reservation is a publicly owned nature preserve with recreational features located along the Mystic River in the towns of Winchester, Arlington, Medford, Somerville, Everett, and Chelsea in eastern Massachusetts. The reserve is part of the nearly 76-square-mile (200 km2) Mystic River watershed. It is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston is a system of reservations, parks, parkways and roads under the control of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) in and around Boston that has been in existence for over a century. The title is used by the DCR to describe the areas collectively: "As a whole, the Metropolitan Park System is currently eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places", as outlined on the department's website. The DCR maintains a separate Urban Parks and Recreation division to oversee the system, one of five such divisions within the department—DCR's Bureau of State Parks and Recreation manages the remainder of Massachusetts state parks. Direct design and maintenance functions for the parkways and roads within the system are provided by the DCR Bureau of Engineering.
The Upper Charles River Reservation is a Massachusetts state park encompassing portions of the banks of the Charles River between the Watertown Dam in Watertown and Riverdale Park in Dedham and the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. It includes land in the communities of Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Weston, Wellesley, Needham, Dedham, and Boston. Some of the Charles River Reservation Parkways also fall within the park boundaries. The Charles River Bike Path follows the river through much of the reservation.
Lynn Shore Drive is an historic oceanfront parkway in Lynn, Massachusetts, United States. Composed of a two-lane road, parkland, a seaside pedestrian esplanade, and a seawall, Lynn Shore Drive runs for approximately one mile (1.6 km) along Lynn's Atlantic Ocean coastline, following the upland boundary of the adjoining Lynn Shore Reservation, and connecting Nahant with Swampscott.
