Sign the petition for legal options for off-leash recreation at the Sheepfold and on the trails of the Middlesex Fells Reservation.

Legal options for off-leash recreation at Middlesex Fells Reservation are needed sooner rather than later!

The petition sponsored by the Middlesex Fells Dog Owner Group (FellsDOG) could also help salvage the Middlesex Fells Trails System Plan.

The public process for the Middlesex Fells Trails System Plan has been ongoing since September 2009. Hundreds of people have already participated in the planning process by writing letters to the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and/or by attending a public meeting and workshop in February 2010. Environmental groups, led by the Friends of the Fells, are now asking the DCR to ignore the input volunteered by Massachusetts residents, voters and taxpayers and to suspend the Middlesex Fells Trails System Plan.

It is true that dog owners were not happy with a preliminary draft of the Plan which did not address our comments, but dog-owner groups including the Arlington Dog Owners Group (A-DOG), FellsDOG, the Melrose Dog Society (MDS) and the Somerville Dog Owners Group (som|dog), have been communicating with representatives of the DCR and are confident that, when it is eventually released to the public, the Plan will include legal options for off-leash recreation. After all, in its own survey, the DCR found that the largest user group at the Fells is dogs! Thirty-one percent (31%) of users they counted were dogs; the next largest group, human walkers and hikers, accounted for only twenty-eight percent (28%) of Fells users.

To suggest suspending the trail planning process now is a demonstration of disrespect toward the families who enjoy the Middlesex Fells Reservation together with our dogs.

The Greater Boston Chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association supports the Middlesex Fells Trails System Plan and is encouraging people to contact the DCR Commissioner, Rick Sullivan, and ask him to move forward with the Plan. Mountain bikers account for sixteen percent (16%) of all Fells users, according to the DCR.