The DCR held a Public Meeting and Trail Planning Workshop for the Middlesex Fells on Monday evening, February 8, at the McGlynn School Auditorium in Medford. The presentation slides are available online from the DCR.

The one big joke in the DCR's formal presentation was that, according to a survey they conducted in October-November 2009, 31% of all users of the Middlesex Fells are dogs (slide 18).

While this is amusing, it is not data that allows us to understand park usership. "Dogs" is not a category of park users, because dogs don't go to the park by themselves. Walkers, Joggers, Bikers, and Others can be broken down into e.g. Walkers with Dogs and Wakers without Dogs.

Are the 31% of users listed as Dogs in fact people accompanied by dogs? Are people with dogs also counted among the groups comprising the other 69% users? Were people with dogs counted twice, as if you get double credit as a park user if you do something with a dog? The chart is confusing, and this information must be clarified in future materials for the Plan.

The other thing that especially struck me at the meeting was that, in the reports from the small groups, it was repeatedly said that people want an off-leash area, "but it doesn't have to be at Sheepfold." Even the person who reported back from my group used this language, despite the fact that I was the one person in that group who spoke about off-leash recreation and I specifically said that I wanted to be able to have my dog off-leash at Sheepfold and on the trails without breaking the law.

Another dog owner who attended the meeting had the same experience. "Jay" wrote to the FellsDOG discussion group:

The group reporter from our group a GBNEMBA [New England Mountain Bike Association, Greater Boston Chapter] member and dog owner did not even mention Sheepfold during his report, (I brought it up multiple times).

Approximately one hundred fifty people were at the meeting, including members of the New England Mountain Bike Association and the Friends of the Middlesex Fells. Representatives from the Arlington Dog Owners Group, the Fells Dog Owner Group, the Melrose Dog Society and the Somerville Dog Owners Group also attended the meeting.