Our Blog
Balancing Recreational Use with Environmental Concerns: Canopy Tour in the Quarries
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...
Urge Your State Rep. to Pass the Bottle Bill Amendment
Tell your State Representative to Urge Speaker DeLeo to Keep the Bottle Bill Update Amendment! On July 19, the State Senate passed the Bottle Bill Update. It was introduced as an amendment by Sen. Bob Hedlund (R-Hull), a longtime supporter of the bill. After 14 years,...
FBH Board Votes to oppose Quincy Quarries Canopy Tour proposal
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...
What You Didn’t Know about the Newly Renovated Barn at Brookwood Farm
Interview with Steven O'Shaughnessy on the Brookwood Farm Barn Steven O'Shaughnessy is head of the Carpentry Preservation Department at North Bennett Street School (NBSS).  Students and faculty at NBSS restored and rebuilt the Brookwood Farm’s historic 1791 barn. How...
Volunteer Spotlight: Steve Campbell
Name: Steve Campbell Town: Jamaica Plain Volunteer activities: Trail maintenance FBH member since: 2012 Favorite Hike: Skyline trail Funniest thing that happened in the Blue Hills:Â When my chow chow was scared to climb up an incline and I had to carry her uphill....
Thank You Trail Maintenance Volunteers
About two dozen volunteers helped cut brush and dig four water bars on the trails in this morning's heat. Many thanks to the trail leaders and volunteers! For photos, check our FaceBook page.
Houghton’s Pond Bath House Ribbon-cutting Ceremony
DCR invites us all to the 'ribbon cutting' for the great new bath house at Houghton's Pond. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Houghton’s Pond Bath House Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Monday, July 9, 2012 9:30 A.M.  DCR’s Houghton’s Pond Recreation Area 848 Hillside Street,...
Blue Hills Resource Management Plan
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...
Action Alert: Save the Mass Endangered Species Act
We pass this action alert on from the Environmental League of Massachusetts. Please call or email your state representative and senator today. The Massachusetts Legislature is considering revisions to the state Endangered Species Act (MESA) which would result in an...
Legislative Leadership Kills Updated Bottle Bill
The Environmental League of Massachusetts reports that the proposal to update the Bottle Bill to include non-carbonated beverages was effectively killed last Thursday. The legislature's Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (TUE) voted 10 to 7 to place...
Send an Email to Help Clean Up the Park
We've all seen trash in the the Reservation. Here's a way to help clean it up. Each year, 1 billion bottles end up as litter or trash that we could recycle if we expanded the Bottle Bill to include bottled water, sports drinks, iced teas and other beverages. That's...
Sundays in the Park Begins June 17
Beginning June 17th you can hike, bike and enjoy the view on part of Chickatawbut Road every Sunday without worrying about traffic. The Department of Conservation and Recreation will close Chickatawbut Road between Route 28 in Milton and Willard Street in Quincy to...
Zip Line Proposed for Quincy Quarries
The Quincy City Council and the Quincy Mayor’s office issued a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) for recreational uses at the Quincy Quarries. The 31-page RFP can be read here. In the past few days, articles have appeared in the Quincy Patriot Ledger and the Boston...
Protecting Wetlands: Blue Hills Reservoir
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...
Demonstrating to Candidates that their Constituents Care about the Blue Hills
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...
Music Helps Remove the Weeds
Musicians Dale Freeman and Chris Forkey helped spirits sour at the Friends of the Blue Hills’ Green Up the Blue Hills at Ponkapoag Pond last Sunday. Almost 60 people of all ages donned gloves and pulled the invasive weed garlic mustard while listening to music. ...
Volunteer Spotlight: Les Tyrala
Town: Quincy Volunteer activities: Two separate geology walks for the FBH at Great Blue Hill and the Quincy Quarries. Additionally, I have been leading geology walks for other organizations here in eastern Massachusetts for many years....
Live Music, Crafts and… Greening Up the Blue Hills
Do you want to enjoy the outdoors, live music and crafts – and help keep the forests healthy? Join the Friends of The Blue Hills and the Appalachian Mountain Club on May 20, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm for Green-Up the Blue Hills Day. Together, we’ll help protect the local...
Dry Feet at Ponkapoag
This year, you can check out Ponkapoag boardwalk without even getting your feet wet. Thanks to dry weather and the work the DCR has done to rebuild the boardwalk through the bog, you can enjoy the wonders of the unique plants and animals in this part of the park --...
Mass Public Health and Lyme Disease
Last week, Friends of the Blue Hills leaders met with Drs Katie Brown and Alfred DeMaria from the Mass Department of Public Health to discuss the raising rate of Lyme disease in our communities. Doctor DeMaria confirmed an increase in Lyme disease statewide and both...
Car Free to the Blue Hills
Janie Katz joined us last Saturday to help remove the invasive weed, garlic mustard, from where it is threatening native species at Ponkapoag Pond. Like many Greater Boston residents, Janie loves to bring her family from Cambridge to enjoy the Blue Hills. Janie,...
Volunteer Spotlight: Bob Walcott
Name: Robert C Walcott Town: Easton (45 years) Volunteer activities: After 20 years of hiking and enjoying the Blue Hills, I finally became a member of the Friends of Blue Hills 4 years ago.  In 2008, when the Friends of the Blue Hills launched the Adopt-A-Trail...
Green Up the Blue Hills
Green Up The Blue Hills Sunday, May 20, 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm Ponkapoag AMC Cabins Join the Friends of the Blue Hills and the Appalachian Mountain Club for a spring festival of stewardship and fun. Enjoy jazz music, face painting, crafts and weeding games. You’ll explore...
Why is the Incidence of Lyme Disease Increasing?
One reason for the dramatic increase in Lyme disease is that we’ve created ideal habitat for deer; forests like the Blue Hills are crisscrossed with roads and spotted with houses, creating ‘edge habitat’ where deer thrive. Unfortunately, we’ve also removed many of...