During warm weather , the rivers, lakes, and ponds offer a wide variety of active and passive recreational activities, which the M.D.C. encourages. With the onset of the winter season, however, these scenic bodies of water can become dangerous. As the rivers, lakes, and ponds throughout the park system begin to freeze over, people are drawn to them. Skaters and cross-country skiers head out onto the smooth surfaces as soon as it becomes cold.
People often try to walk across the ice and let their dogs run about on the frozen surface.
Unfortunately, this is not always a safe thing to do and such actions sometimes lead to tragedy. Ice, which may look safe on the surface for all to use, frequently is not. In the Metropolitan Boston area we seldom experience the prolonged, sub-freezing temperatures which are needed to form thick, solid ice. Because of these inherent dangers, the M.D.C. has adopted the following policies with regard to skating and related recreational activities. The M.D.C. operates twenty-two public artificial skating rinks, which provide safe skating opportunities throughout the Metropolitan area.