page_title: Commonwealth Connections
section_title: Regional recommendations
hierarchical_section_title: Commonwealth Connections / Priorities / Regional recommendations
caption_attribution_description: English: Talus slope on Bare Mountain, Hoyoke Range, Massachusetts. Metacomet-Monadnock Trail. Photo by Paul Gagnon, 1989. For Holyoke Range
context_page_description: Commonwealth Connections is a greenway and conservation initiative co-developed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the National Park Service, and over fifty trail and land conservation agencies and non-profit organizations. Begun in 1999, the initiative was designed to create "a coordinated greenway and trail network that will help conserve important resources, provide recreation and alternative transportation opportunities close to where people live, and connect communities throughout Massachusetts."
  The initiative is loosely based on the grassroots success of the Appalachian Trail and on Frederick Law Olmsted's Emerald Necklace vision of an interconnected greenway linking metropolitan Boston parkland; it includes the development of new trails, maintenance and rehabilitation of existing trails, environmental and experiential education, land conservation, and support for research, stewardship, and regional conservation planning.
context_section_description: The Commonwealth Commons plan divides the state into five regions, Berkshires, Connecticut River Valley, Central Massachusetts, Southeast Massachusetts, Metropolitan Boston, and Northeast Massachusetts.
  The Berkshires region includes the Berkshire mountains, from the eastern limit of those mountains to the western boundary of the state. Suggested recommendations and projects for this section include securing protection for the area's major long distance trails (the Appalachian Trail, the Taconic Trails, and the Mahican-Mohawk Trail); creating greenway links between the Taconic Trails and Appalachian Trail; creating new greenway corridors that would link open space parcels within the Berkshires; promoting, protecting, and creating a Housatonic River greenway; creating a bikeway that would run from Connecticut to Vermont and include the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail; and creating and protecting a greenway along the federally designated wild and scenic Westfield River.
  The Connecticut River Valley region includes an area from the eastern front of the Berkshires east to western Worcester County. Initiatives in this area would include the protection of the sub-ranges of the Metacomet Ridge; the linking of the trails on the Metacomet Ridge to the Connecticut River; protection of the Connecticut River and its tributaries including the Deerfield, Westfield, and Millers rivers; creating east-west rail trail greenways through the region using the Norwottuck Rail Trail, Northampton Bike Path, Manhan Rail Trail, and the Amherst Bikeway, as well as new trails; developing greenways that would link together areas notable for their biodiversity, natural features, and recreational opportunities; securing and protecting existing long distance trail corridors through the region, including the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, Robert Frost Trail, Pocumtuck Ridge Trail, and Mahican-Mohawk Trail; and creating a loop trail through the outlying areas of the Quabbin Reservoir watershed.
  Central Massachusetts includes most of Worcester County east to the outlying suburbs of Boston between I-495 and Massachusetts Route 128. Recommendations for this region would include securing and protecting the Midstate Trail; the development and support of rail and canal trails such as the Mass Central Rail Trail, East Coast Greenway, Nashua River Rail Trail, and Blackstone River Bikeway; protecting water quality, natural resources and recreational opportunities along major riverways in central Massachusetts such as the Blackstone River, Sudbury River, Nashua River, Squannacook River, Nissitissit River, and others.
  Southeast Massachusetts includes the part of the state south of suburban Boston and extending east and south through Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Initiatives would include the creation of "River Greenways" along the major rivers within this region; the creation an east-west greenway through this area by linking major state parks and other protected open space; the protection and extension of existing greenways such as the Bay Circuit Trail and the Cape Cod Rail Trail; and the creation of a collaborative regional clearing-house of trail and conservation data to more effectively facilitate cooperative efforts between agencies and non-profits.
  The Metropolitan Boston region includes Boston and its suburbs west toward Massachusetts Route 128. The goals of Commonwealth Connections in this region include protecting water quality, natural resources, and recreational opportunities along major riverways such as the Charles River, Concord River, Mystic River, and Neponset River; the creation of a network of interconnecting bicycle paths and trails through Boston and its suburbs; the completion of the Bay Circuit Trail; permanent protection for the Warner Trail and the creation of a link it to from Boston's Blue Hills Reservation; and support for the creation of a Boston Harborwalk and an East Boston Greenway.
  Northeast Massachusetts includes the region north of the Boston suburbs and east of Worcester County. Initiatives in this region wou
caption: The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail passing along talus slope
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