Once you learn to identify the black locust by its deeply furrowed, interlacing bark, you’ll start to see it everywhere on the Outer Cape — where there’s one, there are […]
Environment
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 16 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
CLEAN WATER
Wellfleet’s Wastewater Plan Is on Track to Meet State Deadline
A larger downtown sewer district and treatment at Maurice’s should improve nitrogen mitigation
WELLFLEET — Town officials are working to finalize a targeted watershed management plan aimed at reducing the nitrogen load in the harbor and bringing Wellfleet into compliance with state and […]
MORNING FLIGHT
Birding in Good Company
On joining Truro’s Christmas Bird Count
Birders will use just about any excuse to fit a little more bird-watching in. So, we add a few days of sunup-to-sundown birding in the freezing cold to an already […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 9 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
HIGH HIGH
Eastham Bylaw Linking House Size to Uplands Isn’t Clear
What’s safe from flooding at high tides? It depends.
EASTHAM — Town meeting voters approved a bylaw change last spring that linked the allowed size of a proposed house to the size of contiguous uplands on the property rather […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Jan. 2 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
RISING TIDES
Another Coastal Flood Hits Provincetown’s East End
Seawater intrusions were smaller and less damaging than last year’s flood
PROVINCETOWN — The unnamed winter storm that dumped heavy rain on the East Coast on Monday, killing two people in Massachusetts and one each in New York, Pennsylvania, and South […]
CONSUMER POWER
In Solar Market, Be Picky About Your Installer
Local companies with good references can make a difference in outcomes
EASTHAM — It’s been a pretty good decade or so for solar installations on the Outer Cape: 1,253 systems were installed on houses in the four outermost towns between 2014 […]
MORNING FLIGHT
Counting Alcids at Race Point
A sunrise-to-sunset day at the best seabird-watching spot on the East Coast
PROVINCETOWN — If you ask out-of-town birders what they know about Cape Cod, they’re likely to name Race Point. That’s because there’s a whole group of pelagic birds — those […]
PRETTY SEEDY
Goldenrod Shows Some Backbone
A handsome line of seaside goldenrod in seed marks the height of the tidal zone at the mouth of the Herring River in Wellfleet, where the first leg of the […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Dec. 19 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
PARTY HARDY
Winterberry Celebrates December Her Own Way
A festive specimen of winterberry holly marks the season, in this case from the ditch between Shore Road and Route 6 in North Truro. While its spiky evergreen cousins are […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Dec. 12 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
COLD-STUNNED
More Sea Turtles in the Bay Means More Strandings
Climate change and weird winds complicate the Cape’s annual rescue effort
WELLFLEET — A few weeks ago, Heidi Clemmer was walking her dog on Corn Hill Beach in Truro when she noticed a sea turtle lying in the sand. Clemmer, a […]