## Facts

- Mount Greylock State Reservation was created and acquired through legislative action and public efforts aimed at preserving Mount Greylock in its natural, forested condition for public benefit.
- The Greylock Reservation Commission managed the reservation under statutes reflecting conservation and public-park purposes.
- The legislature created the Mount Greylock Tramway Authority to construct and operate an aerial tramway on Mount Greylock.
- In 1960, the Commission leased about 4,000 acres of reservation land to the Authority.
- In 1964, the Authority entered a management agreement with a private ski-resort operator to develop and operate a tramway-and-ski-resort project on the leased land.
- The project contemplated a tramway, extensive chairlifts, and substantial ski trails requiring significant tree removal, with operational and budgetary control effectively placed in the private operator and profits shared with public entities.
- Five Berkshire County citizens and taxpayers sued seeking mandamus and declaratory relief to invalidate the lease and management agreement and to stop the project.
- The Superior Court dismissed the petition (adopting an auditor’s findings), and the petitioners appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the Commission had statutory authority, consistent with the reservation’s purposes, to lease a large portion of the reservation to facilitate extensive tramway-and-ski-resort development.
2. Whether the Authority’s enabling legislation permitted an arrangement that effectively created and privately controlled a large ski resort on reservation land.
3. Whether substantially changing the use and character of public park/conservation land required explicit legislative authorization beyond general management or leasing powers.
4. Whether the statutory/contractual financing and operational structure raised Massachusetts constitutional concerns regarding creation of impermissible state debt.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the Superior Court.
- The court held the 1960 lease and the 1964 management agreement invalid as beyond the statutory authority governing the reservation and the Authority.
- The petition for declaratory and mandamus relief was sustained, effectively halting the project as structured.

## Legal Principles

- Public park and conservation lands must be managed consistently with the purposes set by the legislature; broad administrative powers are construed in light of those purposes.
- An agency may not substantially divert park or conservation land to an inconsistent, large-scale commercial or resort use without clear and unmistakable legislative authorization.
- A public authority’s powers are limited to its statutory mandate; a grant to build and operate a tramway does not, without clear authorization, include converting large areas of protected reservation land into a privately controlled ski resort.
- Arrangements that shift substantial operational and budgetary control of public lands and facilities to a private profit-seeking entity can evidence an impermissible departure from authorized public uses.
- In evaluating authority statutes, courts may consider whether the statute’s overall effect would create an unconstitutional state debt, though the absence of statutory authorization can independently require invalidation.

## Conclusion

The court invalidated the lease and private management arrangement because the planned tramway-and-ski-resort development would materially change the character and use of protected reservation lands, and such a conversion could not be justified without explicit legislative authorization.


Gould v. Greylock Reservation Comm’n, 350 Mass. 410, 215 N.E.2d 114 (Mass. 1966)