The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) has announced that, beginning this Spring, off-leash recreation will be allowed in a designated area at Sheepfold in the Middlesex Fells. The announcement was made after the DCR completed the Middlesex Fells Reservation Trails Planning process late last year.

DCR Acting Commissioner, Jack Murray, wrote in a letter to users and supporters of the Middlesex Fells dated January 4, 2011,

We are revising some rules so that they make better sense to users and are more enforceable. . . . As a result, I am announcing that we will be allowing off-leash dogs only in a designated area at the sheepfold, and better enforcing the leash laws elsewhere beginning in the spring.

The Somerville Dog Owners Group strongly encourages the DCR to consult with users who enjoy off-leash recreation at Sheepfold on the implementation of a designated area for off-leash recreation. This kind of government-citizen collaboration has been highly successful in the establishment of our off-leash recreational areas in Somerville.

At the same time, it should be observed that it is only a subset of the people who enjoy off-leash recreation at the Fells that in fact uses the ten-acre open meadow that is sheepfold. A lot of people let their dogs off leash on the 100+ miles of trails of the 2,575-acre Reservation and don't use sheepfold at all.

It would be a mistake, therefore, to assume that, because there is an off-leash area at sheepfold, there will be no off-leash dogs on the trails.

Assuming that the designated area for off-leash recreation is adequate and well-implemented, it is possible to make the following predictions:

1. Among people who use sheepfold and do not use the trails, compliance with the new policy allowing off-leash recreation only at a designated area sheepfold will be close to 100%.
2. Among people who use both sheepfold and the trails, compliance with the new policy will be less than 100%.
3. Among people who use the trails and do not use sheepfold, compliance will be 0%.

Throughout the Fells Trail Planning process the DCR has treated dog owners as a monolithic group of park users. Advocates for off-leash recreation who have participated in the process have tried to help the DCR to understand at the most basic level that off-leash recreation on the trails and off-leash recreation at sheepfold are two distinct recreational activities. We will continue to work for legal options for off-leash recreation on the trails during the public process for Middlesex Fells Reservation Resource Management Plan (RMP), which begins with a public meeting on Wednesday evening, January 26 postponed to Monday evening, January 31, 6:30 - 8:30 pm, McGlynn School Auditorium, Medford.