Trailside Museum feeling effects of budget cuts

By Canton Citizen

In response to cuts in the Massachusetts state budget by Governor Charlie Baker, Mass Audubon has found it necessary to reduce services and personnel at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton. Effective the weekend of February 18-19, free education programs will no longer be offered and the restroom in the north parking lot will be closed. One full-time staff position as well as part-time staff hours have been cut.

The reductions come in the wake of losing $500,000 in state funding — more than 60 percent of Trailside’s annual operating budget.

Mass Audubon operates the popular museum situated on Route 138 on behalf of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The building and facilities are part of the 7,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation, owned by DCR.

According to Mass Audubon, the museum cuts, while unfortunate, have been made as strategically as possible in order to increase capacity for other popular programs and visitor experiences at Trailside, including those that allow the museum to generate additional operating income.

Mass Audubon has taken these steps because of its longstanding commitment to Trailside and to the thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds who visit each year to connect with nature. Trailside also serves as the visitor center to the Blue Hills, the state’s largest swath of protected land in a suburban/urban setting.

Mass Audubon has indicated that it will continue to work with the legislature, DCR, and the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs leadership in an attempt to restore this year’s funding, and it will make every effort to ensure that Trailside funding is included in the final state budget for FY18.

Mass Audubon also urges all members and supporters to contact their legislators and encourage them to ask that operating support for Trailside be restored.

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