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Image by Eric Beacom
Welcome to the website of the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation. Our mission is to protect and preserve the natural and historic resources of the 2500 acres of the Fells through public outreach and support.  Contact us at: friends@fells.org  781/662-2340.  It's easy to become a member. We are located at 4 Woodland Road, Stoneham, MA 02180, adjacent to the Spot Pond Visitor Center.  
Please visit the Friends of Fells new blog to share thoughts, ideas, concerns about the Fells Reservation!

Calendar and Newsletter Issues!

  Note: Calendars and Newsletters are available as easy to read Adobe® PDF files; if your computer needs the PDF Reader it is available free here

Spring Newsletter click here

Summer Calendar of events click here

    THE FELLS - A NATURAL TREASURE


Visit www.FoundintheFells.com to help you identify the notable flowers and plants on your next Fells visit.

Rare sighting! Bobcat photographed at edge of Middlesex Fells!

Early in the month of July Medford naturalist and photographer George McLean got one of the surprises of his life when he had the great fortune to photograph a young bobcat adjacent to the Fells Reservation.  As he recounted his story to a Boston Globe reporter quick instincts paid off.
"To the left, I saw a pair of eyes," said McLean, a semiretired 73-year-old who has been photographing wildlife for some 50 years. "I swung around, and click-click-click. It was gone, and I looked down at what I got on the camera. I said, 'God, that's a bobcat.'  MassWildlife's Laura Hajduk told the Globe that it could be that the Fells is providing adequate habitat for the animal to thrive. Bobcats are rarely seen in eastern Massachusetts, she said, and prefer rocky ledges for dens.  Read the story here.
 

Photo: George McLean
 

Summer Events


For Babes in the Woods

hikes & strolls click here  


Fells Hikes and Events


DCR Junior Rangers Program
Mon. to Thurs., June 29 to July 2
9:30am to 11:00am

Leader: DCR Staff
Young people 8 to 12 years old with an interest in nature are invited to spend mornings with Dept. of Conservation and Recreation staff who will assist them with 4 of the 8 required activities. Take-home activities available for those wishing to complete the program. You may come for as few or as many of the projects as you wish. Adults, please plan to spend the first and last ten minutes with the group. Dress for the weather. To pre-register and for information call Lynn Hildenbrand, 617-727-1199 x420, Botume House Visitor Center, 4 Woodland Rd., Stoneham, ½ - mile south of Stone Zoo.
Summer at Long Pond
Wednesday July 8   9:15am - 11:00am
Leader: Boot Boutwell 
Summer has definitely arrived and there are lots of wildflowers in bloom in the Long Pond area.  We will focus on plant identification as well as fun and interesting natural history.  Meet in the Long Pond parking lot, South Border Road, Winchester.  Heavy rain cancels.

Spot Pond Boating
No Child Left Inside Program
Saturday, July 11  10:30am to 11:30am

A FREE Dept. of Conservation and Recreation supervised outside activity for children ages 6-17. Pre-registration is required, call Lynn Hildenbrand at 617-727-1199, ext. 420. Meet at Spot Pond Boating, next to the DCR Botume House Visitor Center, Stoneham.

Southern Fells Hike
Saturday, July 18  10:00am to 12:30pm

Leader: Mike Doucette 
We will hike the southernmost part of the Fells on the Skyline, Reservoir, and Cross Fells Trails. We will end with a visit to Wright’s Tower, which was rebuilt and rededicated last summer. The trails are steep and rocky in places. Wear sturdy footgear and bring food, insect repellent and at least a liter of water. Meet at the Bellevue Pond parking area on South Border Rd. in Medford. Rain cancels. 

DCR Hiking Club
Saturday, July 25  10:00am to 1:00pm
Leader: DCR Staff
Three-hour difficult level hike in the Middlesex Fells, wear boots and bring water. Meet at the DCR Botume House Visitor Center, 4 Woodland Rd., Stoneham, ½-mile south of Stone Zoo. No dogs.

Summer at Virginia Wood
Thursday July 30  9:15am to 11:30am

Leader: Boot Boutwell
Come and enjoy a summer stroll along Spot Pond Brook, where we will look for signs of the season.  We will focus on plant identification as well as fun and interesting natural history.  Meet at the Virginia Wood parking lot at the intersection of Woodland Road and Pond Street.  A moderate hike.  Heavy rain cancels.



GET INVOLVED!
Volunteering, trail maintenance, trail adoption; these are several of the simple and effective ways through which you can help preserve the rich heritage of the Middlesex Fells for yourself and future generations. Visit our submissions page to view photos and stories contributed by friends of the Fells. Current Volunteer Opportunities: we are looking for hike leaders, grant writers, special events assistants, and much much more.The Middlesex Fells are ours to enjoy and protect. Please look at our Get Involved page for more information!



   Virginia Wood          Photos Mike Ryan



Family hike at Bellevue Pond     

“What we wanted in the Fells was a bit of Nature in our midst that we might watch its workings...We wanted our tree covered rocks and cliffs that these might lift themselves up by friendly trunks and swing themselves down by branches...we wanted dark, crowded places, even jungles, that we might press through them and come out upon wild pictures which we had never dreamed were there.”
[Ellen Wright, 1906]
2060 ACRES, DON'T GET LOST!

Purchase a map for your next visit and support the efforts of the Friends of the Fells.
Maps may be purchased.



Comprehensive 1995 – 2007 Middlesex Fells Reservation Bird List

Observers: Dana & Inge Jewell, Friends of the Middlesex Fells and Marj Rines, Menotomy Bird Club here

Image by Eric Beacom

Alert:  Citizens mount legal challenge to restore Fells environmental review

On June 17, 2009, the Friends of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, ten individual citizens, and the Mayors of the cities of Melrose and Medford notified the proponents of the Langwood Commons project, Environmental Secretary Ian Bowles, and DCR Commissioner Richard Sullivan of their intent to file a civil suit to challenge the recent ruling that the Langwood Commons project is not required to complete further environmental review.

The decision by environmental secretary Bowles issued on June 5th  represents a stunning reversal of all prior MEPA rulings requiring that a reduced scale development project must be offered for public review to protect the Fells parkways from excessive traffic impacts and alterations which would destroy their historic features.

The citizens claim that the Department of Conservation and Recreation failed in its obligation to use its legal authority to require the developer to obtain excavation and access permits for traffic generated alterations to the historic parkways.

The Secretary relied upon DCR’s narrow interpretation of state law as justification for his decision to remove MEPA review.  The citizens claim that a proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the developers and DCR is in violation of MEPA regulations which prohibits segmentation of a project in order to evade MEPA review.  Here, the on-site work would be segmented from off-site traffic mitigation. 

By abandoning these requirements, Secretary Bowles and DCR have authorized the developers to begin their project immediately thus rendering meaningless any future MEPA or Massachusetts Historical Commission review of the traffic impacts.
Allowing the project to be fully built before traffic mitigation alterations could be reviewed would be too late to preserve the character-defining features of the parkways.  Massachusetts Historical Commission and MEPA reviews would not have any influence since safe conveyance of the thousands of additional traffic trips from the project would require the historic parkways to be converted to high volume arterial highway-like roads, overwhelming the natural amenities sought by visitors to the eastern Fells for over a century.

The citizens suit will ask the court to determine that such damage to the environment is occurring or is about to occur and, if necessary, to restrain the actions that will cause damage.

The wider implications of the suit point to concern for the future of environmental review in Massachusetts.  Allowing a developer to voluntarily opt out of the state environmental review process simply by declaring that the proposed development is not subject to state permits would set a precedent that will have wide-ranging impact, reducing the state’s authority to protect DCR park land and parkways.  The citizens suit intends to require the Commonwealth to assert its proper oversight role and authority, and not allow developers to decide when projects are, and are not, subject to state environmental review.    

Friends of Fells board chairman David Hoff commented regarding the legal challenge, “It is not acceptable for the developers to evade proper environmental oversight by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, nor for the state to allow evasion of the review process. If the developers would present a project plan that is similar in traffic impact to the previous maximum use of the site with a hospital, and which respects the historic nature of the parkways and the nature of the Fells Reservation, citizens would be supportive of such a plan."
               

 


          Vernal Pool - Whip Hill     Mike Ryan photo

New Friends of Fells          T-shirts now available!

 For details click here



Image by Eric Beacom