A private company has proposed building 276 housing units right next to the portion of the Blue Hills called Fowl Meadow on Brush Hill Road in Milton.  The five-story buildings are proposed on what the state calls an “Area of Critical Environmental Concern.”  We call this forested land ‘critical’ because the plants and animals of Fowl Meadow’s wetland depend on this area for food and habitat.  Plus the higher land filters the water the runs down to the wetlands and Neponset River.  When the existing forest is bulldozed to create 276 housing units and forested land is leveled to create [...]

Posted April, 2012

The Friends of the Blue Hills is working to help protect you and your family from a growing problem that faces our community: more and more people are getting sick with Lyme disease. Through our Healthy Forests; Healthy People campaign we are helping raise awareness in children and adults about what they can do to protect themselves from Lyme disease and how our own health is linked to the health of the forests. If we keep our forests healthy, we keep ourselves healthy. Learn more about about how to prevent Lyme disease.

A canopy tour proposal has been approved by the Quincy City Council.  This approval starts a process with the City of Quincy and the Department of Conservation and Recreation to review the proposal and evaluate the environmental impacts and its affect on current users, including rock climbers.  The FBH Board voted against the proposal as presented to the Quincy City Council because it does not evaluate the environmental impacts and its affect on current users, including rock climbers.  See the Board letter explaining its position.

In 2003 the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority began developing plans to convert the eastern half of the Blue Hills Reservoir into two 10 million gallon buried drinking water storage tanks.  The reservoir, built in the 1950’s had been inactive as a public drinking water source since 1981, but served as a protected wetlands area in the reservation along scenic Chickatawbut Road.  The 16 acre reservoir was home to at least five species of native fish, and served as a vital wetlands ecosystem in the Blue Hills Reservation.

Friends of the Blue Hills, with the help of local legislators and citizens, [...]

As part of our continuing efforts to keep our members informed and our political leaders responsive, Friends of the Blue Hills held a forum for candidates running in 2010 for the position of State Senate.  About 100 Blue Hills advocates attended the forum to meet candidates, Canton Selectman Bob Burr (R) and Senator Brian A. Joyce (D) and hear how they have supported the Blue Hills and open space in our communities.

Posted July, 2012

In 2011, Friends of the Blue Hills collaborated with the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to make sure all park visitors and people who care about the park could participate in setting priorities for maintenance, repair and improvements to the Blue Hills.  The Friends of the Blue Hills HIlls organized over 100 people to attend a working group session to develop recommendations for the DCR’s Resource Management Plan.  We later worked with the DCR to incorporate these recommendations into the final Resource Management Plan, which acts as the agency’s guide outlining [...]

Updated March, 2010

Posted April 2002 ; Updated January 2010

Posted October, 2002 ; Updated January, 2010

Updated April, 2009