Association to Preserve Cape Cod Seeks Volunteers for Salt Marsh Monitoring Program

“Plant Surveying Workshop in Brewster”
GateHouse News Service, July 2, 2008

GateHouse News Service reports that the Association to Preserve Cape Cod is seeking volunteers for the sixth year of its salt marsh monitoring program. Volunteers will learn about salt marshes and monitor birds, fish, plants, and salinity at six sites from Sandwich to Orleans. Data “will be used to support state and regional programs that evaluate salt marsh conditions, identify restoration opportunities and assess restoration success.”

A training workshop on plant surveying is scheduled for July 15, 2008, at Stony Brook in Brewster. For more information, please check the Association to Preserve Cape Cod’s webpage about salt marsh monitoring.

Friends of Pleasant Bay to Hold Annual Meeting in Harwich on July 17th

The 22nd Annual Meeting of the Friends of Pleasant Bay will be held on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at the Wequassett Inn on Route 28 in East Harwich. Keynote speaker Ted Keon, Director of the Coastal Resources Department in Chatham, will speak about recent barrier beach breaches and the formation of the new Chatham Inlet. The meeting is open to the public free of charge.

Wetland Concerns Slow Orleans Restaurant Project Near Rotary

“Wetland Worries Slow Orleans Commercial Project”
Cape Cod Times, July 2, 2008
By Susan Milton

Susan Milton reports that the Orleans Conservation Commission’s concerns about surrounding wetlands have slowed a proposed 3-acre restaurant redevelopment project near the rotary in Orleans and Eastham. The Ninety Nine Restaurant chain, which planned to build on open space, has pulled out of the project.

Town of Orleans, Open Space Committee: 2007 Annual Report

Here’s the Orleans Open Space Committee’s 2007 Annual Report, as it appears in the Orleans Annual Town Report for the Year 2007:

"Open Space Committee -- Approximately 6.45 acres of open space were protected permanently in 2007, through the Town’s purchase of additional holdings from the Sparrow family of South Orleans. The new parcel is located on Namequoit Road, across from John Kenrick Woods, which was acquired from the Sparrow family several years ago. It provides frontage on Arey’s Pond and the Namequoit River and completes a significant wildlife corridor extending from the watershed to the Peck property on the north side of the Namequoit River. This acquisition was the first proposed by the committee since the end of the Land Bank in 2005. Funding for the $1,275,000 purchase came from a grant from the State in the amount of $500,000, mitigation funds from Barnstable County from the development of Skaket Corners in the amount of $540,000 and $235,000 from a debt exclusion vote approved by the voters.

The Committee continued to work closely with the Orleans Conservation Trust and was able to preserve an additional 5.75 acres of land through the placement of Conservation Restrictions on four separate parcels.

Thus, through public and private actions an additional 12.2 acres of land in Orleans were permanently protected.

Comprehensive Plan Implementation -- The Orleans Comprehensive Plan charges the Committee with the primary task of helping to preserve 400 or more acres “using Land Bank and (Town) budget appropriated funding, plus private funding.” Since the formulation of that objective, over 230 acres have been protected or 58% of the 20-year goal.

Major efforts by the Orleans Conservation Trust and the Friends of Pleasant Bay through private fund raising for land purchases and through assistance to landowners to preserve land with Conservation Restrictions made a significant addition to the earlier Land Bank efforts. Completing the remaining 42 per cent of the 400-acre goal is very important but will be considerably more difficult now that the Land Bank funding has been terminated. It is clear that additional conservation restrictions, private donations, joint public/private efforts and zoning changes will play an increased role in achieving the 400 acre objective of the Plan."

For more information about open space in Orleans, please read the town's Conservation, Recreation and Open Space Plan (2006, 110 pages, 10.8 MB).

Deadline for Mass Division of Conservation Services Grant Round is July 15th

Originally announced back in April, the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services (DCS) is conducting its Fiscal Year 2009 grant round for the state LAND (Local Acquisition for Natural Diversity) and PARC (Parkland Acquisition and Renovation for Communities) Grant Programs and for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program. Municipalities are eligible to apply and the deadline for submitting a grant application is July 15, 2008.

Even if your community is not involved in applying for one of the grants, the 24-page PowerPoint presentation and three-page Q&A from DCS’s grants workshop of May 21, 2008, are worth reading.

Also, we note that recent DCS conservation and recreation grants include:

•  Town of Barnstable, FY 2006 Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.5 million conservation project to protect 13 acres at the Archibald Property

•  Town of Barnstable, Urban Self-Help FY 2007 Design/Early Construction grant of $48,600 and Urban Self-Help FY 2008 Construction grant of $451,400 toward a $1 million renovation project of Bismore Park

•  Town of Barnstable, FY 2008 PARC Urban Self-Help Grant Award of $294,300 toward a $545,000 acquisition of 0.3 acres on Pleasant St. for a park

•  Town of Brewster, FY 2008 LAND Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.2 million conservation project to protect 10 acres at Stony Brook

•  Town of Dennis, FY 2005 Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.3 million conservation project to protect 28 acres of the Sears Property at Crowe’s Pasture

•  Town of Dennis, FY 2006 Self-Help Grant Award of $243,000 toward a $450,000 conservation project to protect 4.5 acres of the Welch Property at Crowe’s Pasture

•  Town of Dennis, Urban Self-Help FY 2006 Design/Early Construction grant of $500,000 toward a $3.2 million recreation project at Bass River Park

•  Town of Dennis, FY 2007 Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.2 million conservation project to protect 6 acres at Paddock Farm

•  Town of Dennis, FY 2008 PARC Urban Self-Help Grant Award of $261,464 toward a $502,815 project at Seaview Playland Park

•  Town of Harwich, FY 2005 Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.6 million conservation project to protect 14 acres of the Marini Property

•  Town of Orleans, FY 2006 Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.8 million conservation project to protect 8 acres of the Peck Property at Areys Pond

•  Town of Orleans, FY 2008 LAND Self-Help Grant Award of $500,000 toward a $1.25 million conservation project to protect 6.5 acres of the Sparrow Property

•  Town of Provincetown, FY 2007 Self-Help Grant Award of $177,060 toward a $340,500 conservation project to protect 2 acres at Jimmy’s Pond

•  Town of Wellfleet, FY 2005 Self-Help Grant Award of $94,600 toward a $182,000 conservation project to protect 2 acres at the East End Conservation Property

•  Town of Wellfleet, FY 2005 Self-Help Grant Award of $196,000 toward a $377,000 conservation project to protect 6 acres at Fox Island Marsh

•  Town of Wellfleet, FY 2006 Self-Help Grant Award of $351,000 toward a $650,000 conservation project to protect 4.5 acres at Whale Bone Point

•  Town of Yarmouth, FY 2008 LAND Self-Help Grant Award of $250,000 toward a $500,000 conservation project to protect 3 acres at Dennis Pond

Municipal Open Space and Recreation Plans

A lengthy document governed by the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services (DCS), a municipal Open Space and Recreation Plan is “a blueprint for how to obtain the benefits of development without losing valued environmental assets.”

A plan encompasses, among other points, a community history, environmental inventory and analysis, inventory of conservation and recreation lands, and five-year action plan. The inventory of lands is particularly valuable as it identifies land and conservation restrictions held by public, private, and nonprofit parties. A valid Open Space and Recreation Plan is a requirement for participating in DCS grant programs such as LAND, PARC, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund program.

•  Barnstable 2005 Open Space and Recreation Plan
    (8.9 MB, 395 pages)

•  Orleans 2006 Conservation, Recreation and Open Space Plan
    (10.8 MB, 110 pages)

•  Provincetown 2007 Open Space and Recreation Plan
    (6.5 MB, 255 pages)

•  Sandwich 1999/2005 Open Space and Recreation Plan
    (539 KB, 95 pages)

•  Wellfleet 2005 Open Space and Recreation Plan
    (1.8 MB, 143 pages)

•  Yarmouth 2007 Draft Open Space and Recreation Plan
    (2.3 MB, 99 pages)

For information about the status of plans of other communities, see a list or view a Map of Communities with an Approved Open Space and Recreation Plan (2008).

For details about how plans are constructed and what content they contain, read DCS's Open Space and Recreation Plan Requirements (2008) and its Open Space and Recreation Planner’s Workbook (2008).

Orleans Approves Purchase of Sparrow Property; Conservation Trust to Clean Trails

The Cape Codder reports that voters approved ballot Question 8 at the Orleans annual town election of May 20, 2008: “Despite being indefinitely postponed at town meeting to continue negotiations with the land owners, an open space purchase of the Sparrow property in South Orleans passed, even though there was no dollar figure on the ballot.”

Here’s the text of Question 8 as it appeared on the ballot: “Shall the Town of Orleans be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition 2½, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bond issued in order to fund the purchase of all or a portion of the land located at 353 South Orleans Road (Route 28), Orleans, MA consisting of approximately 6.55 acres, shown on the Orleans Assessor’s Map 68 as Parcel 8-1, including all expenses incidental and related thereto?”

Speaking of open space in Orleans, the Orleans Conservation Trust is holding a trail work day at the Icehouse and Rueben’s ponds trails this Friday, May 23, 2008. According to the announcement in The Cape Codder, “These properties, donated to Orleans Conservation Trust by the Hopkins, Moore, Wilbur, Garner-Martin families and others, protect 21.85 acres that wrap around Rueben’s Pond and through the pine-oak woodlands to the west end of Icehouse Pond and connect to Tonset Road by a series of loop trails. The Orleans Conservation Trust also owns a one-acre parcel between Icehouse Pond and Brick Hill Road."

Addendum on Sparrow Property, May 25, 2008:

The aforementioned 6.5-acre Sparrow Property has frontage on Arey's Pond and a tidal river, and is within the Pleasant Bay Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs awarded the Town of Orleans a $500,000 Self-Help grant in November 2007 to help fund the purchase of the parcel. The project has received technical assistance from The Cape Cod Compact of Conservation Trusts.

According to the article “Grants Secure Several Open Space Purchases on Cape,” Cape Cod Times, November 9, 2007, “Orleans received a $500,000 grant to partially reimburse the town's plans to pay $1.27 million for the 6.5-acre Sparrow property on Arey's Pond and Namequoit Road within the Pleasant Bay Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The town is contributing $235,000, and $540,000 is coming from money set aside by the Cape Cod Commission for open space to offset the impact of the Shaw's Market renovation at Skaket Corners in Orleans.”

Fields Pond Foundation: Recent Grants

Established in 1993 and based in Waltham, Mass., the Fields Pond Foundation provides “financial assistance to nature and land conservation organizations that are community-based and that serve to increase environmental awareness by involving local residents in conservation issues.”

Over the past several years, the Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $100,000 to a number of private conservation organizations to assist in land acquisitions on the Cape, including:

•  Barnstable Land Trust, $8,000 in 2006, toward acquisition of 23-acre forest parcel at Cordwood Road, linking Almy Atlantic White Cedar Swamp and Eagle Pond in Cotuit

•  Barnstable Land Trust, $4,000 in 2004, toward Hot Bottom Road Pathway project

•  Barnstable Land Trust, $7,000 in 2004, toward acquisition of Bone Hill Farm, a gateway parcel to Mass Audubon’s Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary

•  Brewster Conservation Trust, $5,000 in 2006, toward protection of pitch pine and mixed oak waterfront parcel on Pine Pond

•  Friends of Pleasant Bay, $10,000 in 2006, toward protection of Eelman’s Point, providing public access to Pleasant Bay in Orleans

•  Harwich Conservation Trust, $3,000 in 2006, toward construction of new trail for William & Barbara Land Hacker Wildlife Sanctuary

•  Harwich Conservation Trust, $10,000 in 2003, toward acquisition of 42-acre parcel on shoreline of Monomoy River at Pleasant Bay

•  Massachusetts Audubon Society, $12,000 in 2003, toward acquisition of six acres to Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellfleet

•  The Nature Conservancy, $12,000 in 2005, toward acquisition of five parcels at Sandy Neck

•  The Nature Conservancy, $7,000 in 2002, toward acquisition of Furman Tract on Sandy Neck in Barnstable

•  The Nature Conservancy, $12,000 in 2001, toward acquisition of 18 acres at Sandy Neck in East Sandwich

•  Orenda Wildlife Trust, $6,000 in 2001, toward Dawson acquisition on Cape Cod

•  Orenda Wildlife Trust, $3,000 in 2001, toward Mercy Lowe acquisition in Mashpee

•  Orleans Conservation Trust, $8,000 in 2004, toward acquisition of Brooks Property, a seven-acre parcel connecting two freshwater ponds

•  The 300 Committee, $8,000 in 2007, toward acquisition and protection of River Bend Farm on Coonamesett River in Falmouth

•  The 300 Committee, $6,000 in 2005, toward acquisition of 8-acre parcel on Quashnet River in Falmouth

•  The 300 Committee, $7,000 in 2003, toward acquisition of Toner Parcel in Falmouth

•  Truro Conservation Trust, $10,000 in 2005, toward acquisition and protection of Poor Hill, overlooking Pamet Harbor

•  Wellfleet Conservation Trust, $7,000 in 2005, toward acquisition of Whale Bone Point, a gateway to waterfront conservation lands

All information taken directly from the Foundation’s Form 990-PF’s.

2007 Town Annual Reports

Several towns have posted their 2007 Annual Reports on the Internet. While reading these reports isn't as enjoyable as reading a Robert Finch essay, it's a great way to learn about the accomplishments of municipal conservation, land acquisition, open space, and community preservation committees.

Reports for the following towns are available in pdf format. Note that some of the files are quite large and can take a while to download.

•  Barnstable (44 MB, 236 pages)

•  Bourne (11.7 MB, 368 pages)

•  Chatham (15.1 MB, 274 pages)

•  Dennis (4.4 MB, 467 pages)

•  Falmouth (2.5 MB, 216 pages)

•  Orleans (1.8 MB, 187 pages)

•  Provincetown (668 KB, 229 pages)

•  Sandwich (2.1 MB, 160 pages)

•  West Tisbury (5.3 MB, 194 pages)

Pleasant Bay Resource Management Plan Update

The Pleasant Bay Resource Management Alliance (Towns of Chatham, Harwich, Brewster and Orleans) has released the final version of the 2008 Update to The Pleasant Bay Resource Management Plan.

At more than 100 pages, the plan is worth reading. Among the interesting tidbits is Table 8, which details “Shorefront Parcels on Pleasant Bay (By Ownership)”:

•  Municipal, 384.46 acres (13%)
•  Federal (CNNS), 910.33 acres (30%)
•  Private Conservation Trust, 505.90 acres (17%)
•  Private – Undeveloped, 275.53 acres (9%)
•  Private – Developed, 945.55 acres, (31%)