How
Can You Help Long Pond?
Find
out Friday, July 26th!
Thanks to a tremendous effort put forth by
Long Pond resident Karen Malkus, people interested in learning the
nuts-and-bolts of personal actions to help our ponds will get a chance to learn
what every citizen can do.
A
large proportion of the phosphorus that poisons our ponds comes from the
watershed – and is largely determined by human activity. To quote the Connecticut manual on lake
management: “The watershed is the
ultimate source of most of the nutrients in the lake, and is the first (and
most cost-effective) line of defense against phosphorus loading.”
The speakers bring a range of expertise to the table
for our benefit. Seth Wilkinson, Brewster Conservation Agent, has
a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College, and an M.A. in
Ecologically Sound Land Use Planning and Design from the Conway School of
Landscape Design. A past Natural
Resource Planner for the Cape Cod Commission, Mr. Wilkinson is a member of NOFA
(Northeast Organic Farmers’ Association) member, and currently serves as Cape
Cod’s representative on the Massachusetts Invasive Plant Evaluation
Subcommittee. He is a Trustee of the
Orleans Conservation Trust and Chair of its Land Management Subcommittee.
Sue Phelan the director of GreenCAPE (the Cape Alliance for Pesticide
Education) will discuss recent studies of pesticide impacts on human health and
the environment. She will provide a
list of the nutrient and pesticide content of fertilizers commonly available on
Cape Cod and will offer tips for landscaping without pesticides. Sue received a degree from the School of
Agriculture (University of Connecticut) in Environmental Horticulture, and has
worked in insect pheromone research and public health microbiology. She has successfully gardened without
pesticides for over 30 years!
Lindsay Strode, owner of Cape Organics™,
has been in business for 17 years, concentrating on native and naturalized landscaping,
bio-engineered erosion control, and organic lawn and plant care. His talk will focus on lawn care other than
the standard prophylactic chemical management of turf. Mr. Strode has a B.A. in sociology with a
minor concentration in life science from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
in North Adams and continuing education through UMass, the Conway School,
Cornell University Cooperative Education and Penn State Cooperative
Extension. He is currently on the
Harwich Conservation Commission, is a past member of the NOFA Board of
Directors, and is a Master Gardener with the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension
Service. He is a regular presenter for
The New England Wildflower Society, NOFA, Waquoit Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve, and the Master Gardener Association.
This meeting is important for the obvious reason
that you will come away armed with the practical knowledge necessary to do your
part to prevent further pond degradation by landscaping in a pond-friendly
manner.
The perhaps not-so-apparent benefits of this are
both political and long-term. We are
seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money to fund the restoration
of Long Pond. We must remember that a
major, long-term source of the phosphorus that pollutes our pond is past and
present land-use practices. To convince
our legislators that we are deserving of this kind of funding, we must be
willing to do our share to prevent future degradation – without changes in
watershed practices, expensive in-pond remediation will be only temporary. And, it is just this kind of thinking and
planning, which takes into account the preservation of the pond for our
children and grandchildren, that is the ultimate solution to Long Pond’s
health.
Our thanks and appreciation to Karen for making this
upcoming event possible!
·
Can’t make the meeting? Or, you
can but your neighbors can’t?
Sign
up to host a “lawn party” – Watershed Association volunteers will bring
highlights of the program to you! We
will provide information packets and offer the loan of a landscaping video.
Look On-Line For More Ways To Save Long Pond
Another person who is making a fantastic
contribution to the effort to keep our pond beautiful and healthy is Larry
Swain, who has taken on the duty of maintaining and improving our
website. Do you want to…
·
Find
out the latest information on grant requests?
·
Join
up? Make a donation?
·
Click
on an email address to immediately write to your legislator and voice your
concerns about the pond or express support for a remediation grant?
Go to: http://www.longpond.org/
Here you will find all of the above and
more. For example, read about the May
2002 Cape Cod Commission grant (under the 319 Nonpoint Source Pollution Grant
Program) currently being considered for remediation of Long Pond. You can also read the letters of support for
this grant that were written by State Representatives Shirley A. Gomes
(Barnstable 4th District) and Thomas N. George (Barnstable 1st
District) and State Senator Robert A. O’Leary.
The website has more useful information, including the Association
mailing address, by-laws, and links to other pertinent websites. Larry has made this site so user-friendly,
you can bookmark it with one click.
Another round of applause, thanks, and
appreciation go to Larry Swain!
Status of In-Pond Remediation Efforts
Two studies have been performed on Long Pond, by the Cape Cod Commission in 1998 and by ENSR, Inc. in 2000. The Town of Brewster and citizen volunteers such as Carroll Johnson have made on-going water sampling efforts. All point to conditions of hypoxia (low oxygen) and high phosphorus, a setting which leads to murky green water, dead fish, and occasional major algae blooms complete with foul odors and floating masses of dead algae. While the ultimate source of the polluting phosphorus is largely the watershed, untold years of phosphorus loading have resulted in high levels of phosphorus that are bound in lake sediment. Under conditions of low oxygen, the pond releases phosphorus from storage in the sediments, and blooms can occur. The algae die, oxygen-consuming bacteria feed on the dead algae, and oxygen levels decrease further. Human land use practices have helped to create conditions that allow this hypoxia-phosphorus release-algae bloom-hypoxia cycle to perpetuate. Thus, most experts and pond-lovers have come to the conclusion that in-lake remediation will be necessary to correct this longstanding and self-generating situation, by permanently removing at least a portion of this in-lake source of phosphorus.
To that end, a 319 grant was submitted jointly by the Cape Cod Commission, the Towns of Brewster and Harwich, and the Long Pond Watershed Assocation for the remediation of Long Pond, and is currently under consideration. We should learn whether or not we will receive funding in late summer.
An exciting new possibility is the
Environmental Bond bill, described next.
Environmental Bond Bill: Possible Source of Funding for Long Pond
The following letter, from Representative Tom George, describes the
amendment Rep. George has sponsored for mediation of Long Pond.
This is to notify you that the Environmental Bond bill passed by the
House yesterday includes
an amendment offered by Rep. George for $200,000 for the 'restoration of Long Pond in Brewster'. This can serve as a fall back, in case you do not receive the grant from DEM,
or as the beginning of the third phase of the restoration program.
Be aware that while the money will be in the House version, the bill
must still go to a House/Senate
conference committee, and is not a sure thing. However, there is an excellent chance of the money
surviving the conference,
and I hope that you will encourage your membership to advocate for it.
Please contact us with any questions.
Very truly yours,
Cynthia E. Stead
Aide to Rep. Tom George
Be sure to contact
the appropriate legislator to voice your support!
Volunteer Pond-Monitoring Continues and Expands
Long Pond Resident Carroll
Johnson has for years monitored the health of Long Pond on a volunteer
basis by taking such measurements as Secchi disk readings (for clarity) and
dissolved oxygen readings. Continuing
in a family tradition, Carroll’s wife Jane Johnson is now serving
as the volunteer coordinator for Brewster’s new citizen-based pond-sampling
program. This is part of a Cape-wide
effort to obtain more information on all our freshwater ponds. Harwich volunteer Frank Sampson and Assistant
Harbormaster Heinz Proft will coordinate Harwich sampling. Carroll Johnson is serving as liaison
between the two towns.
In order to obtain more equipment,
specifically a new DO (dissolved oxygen) meter, Carroll has gathered over
$600.00 in donations (including $100 from the Long Pond Watershed
Association.) The Brewster group is
also seeking an equipment grant under Brewster’s Department of Natural
Resources, and hopes to obtain matching funds through this effort.
The Cape Cod Commission and the
School of Marine Science and Technology, UMASS-Dartmouth; will be coordinating
a late summer “snapshot” sampling through these volunteer groups.
In Conclusion…
The main theme of this newsletter
has been ways for citizens to make a difference for Long Pond. In addition to learning responsible
landscaping and lawn care, we can have a big effect by keeping Long Pond’s
problems “on the radar” for our local and state officials. The best way to accomplish this is by
communicating with them! To assist in
that goal, if you do not have email (and the ability to utilize the website’s easy-to-use
communication links to the pertinent people), you can still benefit from Larry
Swain’s hard work in compiling an up-to-date list of these people. We will conclude our newsletter by
publishing this list – make use of it to make your wishes known, see you on
Friday the 26th, and have a great summer!
Long Live Long Pond!
People to
Contact to Urge Support for the Grant Request and for the Environmental Bond
Bill Amendment for Long Pond
State Legislators
Senate: ROBERT O'LEARY
Room 413-E
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-1570
Fax: (617) 722-1271
State House E-Mail Address: ROleary@senate.state.ma.us
Web site: http://www.state.ma.us/legis/member/rol0.htm
House: THOMAS N.
GEORGE
Room 548
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Telephone: (617) 722-2489 Fax: (617) 722-2584
E-Mail Address: Rep.ThomasGeorge@hou.state.ma.us
Web site: http://www.state.ma.us/legis/member/tng1.htm
SHIRLEY GOMES
State House, Room 548
Boston, MA 02133-1054
Telephone: (617) 722-2803
Fax: (617) 722-2590
Email: Rep.ShirleyGomes@hou.state.ma.us
Web site: http://www.state.ma.us/legis/member/s_g1.htm
District Office:
2 Oracle Square, Route 6A, Orleans, MA 02653
Telephone: (508) 240-2731
Telephone: (800) 715-8480
Fax: (508) 430-5071
Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA)
Bob Durand, Secretary
251 Causeway Street, 9th Floor
Boston Massachusetts 02114
Phone: (617) 626-1000 FAX: (617) 626-1181
DEP Officials: Lauren Liss, Commissioner
Department of Environmental Protection
One Winter Street, 2nd FL
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 292-5856 FAX: (617) 574-6880
Cynthia Giles, Assistant Commissioner
Bureau of Resource Protection
Department of Environmental Protection
One Winter Street, 2nd FL
Boston, MA 02108
Glenn Haas, Division Director
Watershed Management
Department of Environmental Protection
One Winter Street, 2nd FL
Boston, MA 02108
Arthur Screpetis
Department of Environmental Protection
Division of Watershed Management
627 Main Street, 2nd floor
Worcester, MA 01608.
Jane M. Peirce
319 Program Coordinator
Department of Environmental Protection
Central Regional Office
627 Main St.
Worcester, MA 01608
Barnstable County Commissioners
Mailing
Address for All County Commissioners:
Barnstable County Commissioners
Barnstable, MA 02630
|
Mary LeClair, Chair |
508-375-6648 |
|
Lance Lambros, Vice-Chair |
508-375-6648 |
|
Roland J. Dupont, Commissioner |
508-375-6648 |
|
E. Mark Zielinski, County Administrator and Director of
Finance/Treasurer |
508-375-6643 |
|
Margaret T. Downey, Assistant County Administrator |
508-375-6636 |
Harwich Board of Selectmen
Mailing
Address and Telephone for all Harwich Selectmen:
732 Main St.
Harwich, MA 02645
508-430-7513
|
Peter Hughes, Selectman |
Peter Luddy, Selectman |
|
Cyd Zeigler, Selectman |
Donald Howell, Selectman |
|
Sylvia Laffin, Selectman |
|
Brewster Board of Selectmen
Mailing
Address and Telephone for all Brewster Selectmen:
2198 Main Street
Brewster, MA 02631
508-896-3701 X134
|
Peter G. Norton, Chairman |
John C. Mitchell |
|
Steven W. Eldredge |
Robert B. Hirschman |
|
Gregory A. Levasseur |
|