1,500 help beautify state parks, beaches

From left, Becca Cyr, Matt Lenzi, and Kayla Clark pulled out weeds yesterday near the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge. (Yoon S. Byun/Globe Staff)

It made sense to Becca Cyr that she should do her part to clean up the Esplanade yesterday. After all, her Somerville apartment has no backyard. So the 24-year-old, like most city dwellers, will get her dose of green this summer at public parks and beaches.

"It's nice to be outside, and to get in the dirt," she said, while raking up leaves along the Esplanade with eight other volunteers, then dumping the extra foliage into huge brown bags. "We don't have [our own] yards to tend to."

The volunteers were taking part in the state's second annual Park Serve Day.

Its aim was to ready green spaces for summer and to strengthen the bond between residents and their nearby parks, said Lisa Capone, spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The department cosponsored the event, along with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and Governor Deval Patrick.

Park Serve Day projects took place in 57 parks and beaches statewide, Capone said.

Along the Charles River in Boston, volunteers helped the Esplanade Association plant day lilies in the triangle of grass beneath the Arthur Fiedler Footbridge.

Richard Scott, district manager for the Charles River region of the conservation department, said without help from volunteers, he could never get around to every project.

Volunteers take care of about 70 percent of the Esplanade's maintenance work each year, said Jen Roy, the volunteer coordinator.

"People turning out really do feel their parks and beaches are important," Capone said. "It's a Saturday in May, when people could be doing a number of things probably in their own homes."

Instead, Capone said, about 1,500 volunteers built picnic tables, planted trees and flowers, installed boardwalks, and picked up trash from the city to the Cape. That was 13 percent higher than the 1,330 who volunteered last year.

One hundred volunteers at October Mountain State Forest, including conservation commissioner Rick Sullivan and singer-songwriter James Taylor, laid down mulch and tidied up camping spots.

At Scusset Beach in Cape Cod, about 50 volunteers helped environmental Secretary of Affairs Ian Bowles - and his 2-year-old daughter, Margaret - install a picnic area by the fishing pier.

"Governor Patrick was interested in getting citizens connected with their local parks, to really take ownership of them," Capone said. "You're spending an hour or a couple of hours out there so they're ready for summer, and for always."