We have learned that the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation has shortened the camping season at Massachusetts State Parks!
Currently, only 0.5% of a $41 billion dollar state operating budget supports every Massachusetts environmental agency, Governor Charlie Baker broke his promise of 1% for the environment during his governorship.
This camping season is the shortest season in recent history!
Our mission as working taxpaying CAMPERS OF MASSACHUSETTS is to advocate for increased funding and access to camping at our Massachusetts State Parks. To insure that our parks are open, accessible, adequately staffed and maintained!
Please help us UNLOCK THOSE GATES!
To: The Honorable Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts
We have learned that due to the Massachusetts’s governor’s budget cuts and the lack of keeping access as a priority, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation has shortened the camping season at Massachusetts state parks in 2017!
Especially surprised at the shuttering of the jewels of our camp ground system; Nickerson State Park and Scusset Beach State Reservation, which are packed with campers on the Patriots Day Holiday (marathon weekend) in April and always open on and before the Friday before Patriots Day through the last weekend in October.
Nickerson State Park access for Camping:
Traditional (2016 & prior) camping season:
Apr 17 - Nov 1*
Baker/Polito administration’s camping season (2017):
May 25 - Oct 8
These reductions in service, despite:
- Since 2010 Fees have increased 40%.
- Starting in 2013 - 50 state parks begin charging daily parking fees.
- In 2013 - a bill passed that increased the amount of revenue that the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) could retain.
The state can’t afford to pay a ranger to unlock a gate? When basic services are not the priority, at what point can working taxpaying families also be considered “at risk and underserved”? Denying access to our parks degrade the quality of life for the residents of Massachusetts.
Governor Baker - please reverse this injudicious decision to shorten the camping season in Massachusetts for this year and beyond. These are parks that in better times were manned and open year round!!
Please allow working families to camp as they have for generations. Restore access to camping at our state parks! Unlock those gates!
Thank You
Campers of Massachusetts
