Middlesex Fells Reservation : Help Make Sure The Friends of the Fells Are Evicted!

Help Make Sure The Friends of the Fells Are Evicted!

May 10th, 2009

As I reported last month, the Friends of the Fells are being evicted out of their current office space. For years, the DCR has provided this space to the fof free of charge. In a normal situation where a friends group looks out for the interest of the park and all of it's users, this would be a nice gesture. But the fof is an extremely biased organization. They periodically send reports to the DCR suggesting that mountain biking should be completely banned from the Fells. They block mountain bikers from doing trail maintenance, and then they perform their own token trail work that often times leaves the trails worse off than they were before - but their work makes the trails worse to bike on, which seems to be their primary goal.

The Friends of the Fells have encouraged their members to write letters to the state, to make the DCR reverse it's decision and let the fof stay in their free office space. As a tax payer, I find it extremely offensive that my tax dollars are used to attempt to BAN ME from this great urban park.

I encourage everyone to write your own letter to the state, in support of the DCR's original decision to EVICT the Friends of the Fells out of their free office space. Tell them it is unfair to use taxpayer dollars to support the Friends of the Fells. Tell them the Friends of the Fells are extremely biased and shouldn't be allowed to influence DCR policy making in the Fells. The Friends of the Fells are not looking out for all of the users of the park, or the park's purpose as recreational use land. Tell them you want the Friends of the Fells OUT of their free office space.

Direct your letters (and/or phone calls) to:

Governor Deval Patrick: constituent.services@state.ma.us (617) 725 - 4005
Environment Secretary Ian Bowles: ian.bowles@state.ma.us (617) 626 - 1000
DCR Commissioner Richard Sullivan: rick.sullivan@state.ma.us (617) 626 - 1250
Representative Paul Donato: rep.pauldonato@hou.state.ma.us (617) 722 - 2960
Representative Katherine Clark: rep.katherineclark@hou.state.ma (617) 722 - 2220
Representative Jason Lewis: rep.jasonlewis@hou.state.ma.us (617) 722 - 2060
Representative Carl Sciortino: rep.carlsciortino@hou.state.ma.us (617) 722 - 2400
Representative Chris Fallon: rep.christopherfallon@hou.state.ma.us (617) 722 - 2430
Senator Richard Tisei: richard.tisei@state.ma.us (617) 722 - 1206
Senator Patricia Jehlen: patricia.jehlen@state.ma.us (617) 722 - 1578

For years, the voice of the fof is the only voice the state has heard. It's time for bikers and other trail users to step up to the plate and be heard.