Our Blog
Friends Find 40 Photo Scavenger Hunt
Celebrate 40 years of protecting the Blue Hills with a chance to win a $250 gift certificate and by exploring the Blue Hills! How well do you know the Blue Hills? Here’s your opportunity to really explore this fantastic natural treasure...
The Blue Hills Holiday Shopping List
Holiday shopping can be hard, but this list makes it easy. Microspikes— ice is slippery and can be a nuisance, especially in the harsh New England winters (and late falls.. and early springs). Microspikes (or nanospikes) provide extra traction and can comfortably slip...
Six Tips for Surviving & Thriving While Winter Hiking
Winter hiking can be intimidating. When temperatures get colder, days get shorter, and the snow falls, it can be hard to get motivated to get hiking and visit nature. One way to reduce this stress is to make sure that you are prepared and equipped for the elements....
#OptOutside Hike for Black Friday
#OptOutside Hike for Black Friday Friday November 23, 11:00 am Meet at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum north parking lot The Friends of the Blue Hills has joined up with REI’s #OptOutside campaign on Black Friday Hike series to encourage people to enjoy the outdoors...
Clues to the rock-solid businesses of history
On A-Live, join Director Judy Lehrer Jacobs and Al Bina on a small tour through time, uncovering the industrious history of the quarrying business in the Blue Hills. Learn about the transition that rock made from raw material into ready-to-build solid rock, to be...
The Blue Hills as a Trail Runners’ Playground
When we are born, we first learn to sit up. Then eventually we move about on all fours, crawling from spot to spot. Next we practice standing and taking our first steps, learning to walk and falling occasionally, but always getting back up. Then we master walking,...
Blue Hills A-Live, a historic weather observatory
Imagine having continuous, homogeneous weather data from over 100 years. What trends and changes could we notice? What amazing storms would we be able to track? What innovations in weather measurement and data analysis would we witness? The Blue Hills Observatory has...
Blue Hills A-Live, discovering trees with Laura Beebe
Trees play an important role in our ecosystems. They provide shelter and food for many species, they dull noise from industry and traffic, and they convert carbon dioxide to oxygen! Learn in this episode of Blue Hills A-Live how trees act as important buffers in the...
DCR Approves 2018 Deer Management Plan for Blue Hills State Reservation
The following is the press release from the Department of Conservation. For more information about the management plan visit the DCR website. DCR Approves 2018 Deer Management Plan for Blue Hills State Reservation BOSTON – The Department of Conservation and...
Disappearing trees in the Blue Hills and around
Although it may seem like there are a lot of trees (especially in the Blue Hills!), we're actually losing trees... and as Laura Beebe describes, that is a problem that is rather difficult to solve. Learn about the important and surprising roles that trees play-- from...
A Runner’s Playground
We all love a good day on the trails hiking, but have you ever thought about picking up the pace and going for a run on the trails? On Blue Hills A-Live, trail runner Tess Harvey tells us why the Blue Hills are great for trail running, the benefits of taking your run...
What’s bugging them? Discover threats to insects!
The Blue Hills are alive in many ways. We hear birds sing, see animal prints in the mud, and smell the beautiful flowers (and sneeze from their pollen). There is also so much life crawling in the grass or flying around us--I'm talking about the insects! Bugs are an...
The changing ecology at Quincy Quarries
Rick Kesseli is back to talk about how human development can change the flora and fauna in an area. At Quincy Quarries, mankind has been changing the land for the past 200 years. Learn about the types of native and non-native species that reside there now and...
Hidden History at Lyon’s Turning Mill
Did you know that the northeastern-most part of the Blue Hills helped fuel a booming business that provided granite to many historic monuments and buildings? Just next door to the Blue Hills lies the amazing remains of the Lyon's Turning Mill. Explore the historic...
Rock climbing at Quincy Quarries
Check out this week's Blue Hills A-Live to learn about rock climbing in Quincy Quarries in the Blue Hills. Doug Martland from Eastern Mountain Sports tells us how to get started, identify good routes, and how to get climbing in Quincy Quarries!
Discovering what lies on top of the Blue Hills
In this week, on Blue Hills A-Live, we learn from Rick Kesseli about the plant life that survives on top of these Blue Hills. Next time you climb Great Blue, Buck, or Chickatawbut hill, be sure to not only take in the vast views but to observe the life right at your...
Carnivorous Plants in the Blue Hills
Let Emmi be your guide to these unusual, carnivorous Blue Hills plants on this week's Blue Hills A-Live!
Blue Hills A-Live: Meadow Habitat
There are some habitats that are filled with interesting species that rely on humans to be maintained. Learn about the species of birds and plants that exist in the meadow at Brookwood farm, how it is being maintained, what threatens these species, and more on Blue...
Blue Hills A-Live: Rick Kesseli and adaptations
How do plants survive the seasonal changes in New England? Learn about how various plant life in the Blue Hills, from ferns along the forest floor to towers oaks and maples have adapted to survive harsh winters and make the most of sun and water in the spring and...
3 Ways To Protect Vernal Pool Species
You may have seen small pools of water that appear from spring to fall and tend to disappear in the winter. These are vernal pools and there are quite a few in the Blue Hills. Reservation. Vernal pools play an important role as a home and breeding ground for many...
What will happen to Broderick Stable?
Broderick Stable was built in 1899 and was the first structure in the Blue Hills Reservation on this flank of Blue Hill. After significant investment, it's future is uncertain. Find out why - and as a bonus, meet Sargent Mike! https://youtu.be/SZgGmJFa1U8
How Beacon Hill Helps or Hurts the Blue Hills
The survival of the Blue Hills -- and all our state parks -- depends on resources and support from our legislature. Watch Senator Walter Timilty to learn the latest news from Beacon Hill and how legislation will affect the Blue Hills. https://youtu.be/mGZTqK74el0
What can Thoreau tell us about climate change in the Blue Hills?
Henry David Thoreau, famous for his publications such as Walden and Civil Disobedience, was also a man very much invested in the study of biology. Not only did he collect various samples for the Boston Society of Natural History (such as bird eggs and nests), but he...
Fruit Center Marketplace Helps Blue Hills on Earth Day
In celebration of Earth Day, the Fruit Center Marketplace will donate $2 for every customer who uses a reusable grocery bag in the store on Sunday, April 22. All proceeds of the promotion will go to the Friends of the Blue Hills to help maintain 125 miles of trails...