State throws beach party

LYNN – Lynn and Nahant beach enthusiasts are pleased with the state’s announcement that it is creating 64 new jobs related to beach management and maintenance while purchasing $1 million in mechanized equipment to ensure the plan’s success.Wendy Fox, spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), said a total $3.4 million was appropriated by the Legislature – $2.4 million to fund the jobs at the state’s 40 coastal and inland beaches, and $1 million to buy the cleaning equipment for the ocean beaches in metropolitan Boston.The new staff positions, recommended by the Legislature’s Metropolitan Beaches Commission in its report earlier this year, are meant to increase the cleanliness, safety, and programming at the beaches, Fox said.Several of the 64 positions will be coordinators, each of whom will oversee a cluster of ocean beaches. Coordinators will supervise the work of beach staff members and serve as a personal, single point of contact for the community, Friends groups, and others organizations, Fox said.Other new jobs include laborers, maintenance equipment operators and mechanics, coastal ecologists, visitor services supervisors, recreation facilities repairers, beach program managers, horticulturalists, and rangers.Rep. Steve Walsh, a Lynn Democrat who often works with the Friends group overseeing beaches in Lynn and Nahant, said the funding is the first major financial commitment the state has made to its beaches in nearly 60 years.”When the beaches got lumped in with other state agencies, there was concern that they might get overlooked. But this clearly shows the DCR is focused on some of our prized natural resources,” said Walsh. “The beaches in Lynn and Nahant are such a great asset that people don’t even go away for the summer. We’re blessed in Lynn to have both the beaches and the Woods.”State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, co-chairman of the Beaches Commission, said the new staff positions and equipment are critical, important additions to the state’s beaches, both inland and oceanfront. “The residents of Massachusetts deserve the very best facilities we can provide, and this new infusion of money, manpower, and machines will help us achieve that goal,” she said.DCR Commissioner Richard K. Sullivan Jr. said the new hires and those current employees eligible for promotion “will become ambassadors and serve as the face of the agency. They will help support our mission of enhancing the experience of everyone who visits DCR properties.”The Legislature created the special 18-member Beaches Commission in 2005 to assess the state’s urban beaches from Nahant to Hull.Robert Tucker, president of the Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beach, said the organization hopes one of the beach managers will be assigned to these stretches of sand. “When the commissioner met with us back in August and went to Lynn Beach, we told him on of our priorities was to have a beach manager, somebody designated as the person to go to,” he said.Tucker said a beach manager is important to the group, especially in the spring, when nuisance algae must be removed from some area before it can grow and fester in the sun. “The problem of reoccurring algae is something we have to deal with early in the season. We’re hoping that the DCR will get some equipment that can be used for that.”According to Tucker, the beach sand at the base of Nahant Street along Lynn Shore Drive is particularly soft, which causes heavy equipment to sink. “That’s why the beach isn’t as clean in that area,” he said, adding that a specialized mechanized rake might get the job done, he said.Last spring, DCR implemented maintenance schedules for each metropolitan Boston property, which were posted on the agency’s Web site. Information included how often restrooms would be cleaned, grass cut, and beach sand sifted.To help maintain its beaches, DCR will purchase two tractor beach sanitizors; 20 Big Belly solar-powered trash compactors; several pick-up trucks, 5-ton truc