The Nauset Fellowship Unitarian Universalist in Eastham is hosting a Zoom discussion with the Cape Cod National Seashore’s new deputy superintendent, Lesley Reynolds, on Sunday, Aug. 9, at 10 a.m. Register at the Chapel in the Pines Facebook page or by emailing [email protected].
Cape Cod National Seashore
SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 3
Shaping Local Knowledge and Activism
Collaboration is the key to conducting and applying research in the Seashore
This is the third and final article in a series on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at risk.
WELLFLEET — Residents of Gull Pond have a close relationship with Cape Cod National Seashore scientists, and not just because they’re neighbors.
currents
This Week in Eastham
Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely.
Monday, July 13
- Select Board, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 14
- Conservation Commission, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, July 15
- Planning Board, 5 p.m.
Thursday, July 16
- Dog Owners Association, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of June 27, the number of confirmed cases in Eastham was 10. The number of cases has remained at 10 since June 4.
Special Election
The select board voted at its June 29 meeting to approve a special election to be held after annual town meeting on Oct. 6 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The town budget will be voted on and all petitions submitted for May town meeting will be carried over without having to resubmit. The warrant will open up again on July 13 for two weeks in order for any new petitions to be submitted. New petitions will need 200 signatures.
School Committee and Anti-Racism
The Nauset Regional School Committee will meet via Zoom on Thursday, July 9 at 6 p.m. The agenda includes a discussion of the Mass. Association of School Committees (MASC) Covid-19 and anti-racism suggested resolutions.
The MASC is encouraging all Massachusetts school districts to consider the resolutions locally and forward them to Gov. Baker and state representatives for implementation, according to a statement on its website.
The resolution related to Covid-19 includes a request “that the state must guarantee every school district full reimbursement for whatever Covid-19 expenses are required to follow state mandates.”
The resolution related to anti-racism requests that “every district will incorporate into their curriculum the history of racial oppression and works by black authors and works from diverse perspectives.”
It also includes a request that “all the school districts in the Commonwealth must guarantee that racist practices are eradicated, and diversity, equity and inclusion is embedded and practiced for our students, families, faculty and staff.”
Housing Plan Resumes
The project to construct a 20-unit apartment development consisting of four single-story townhouse buildings along Route 6 will come before the planning board again for site plan approval on Wednesday, July 15.
Tim Klink of Coastal Companies is proposing the construction, which also includes a swimming pool, at 4615 and 4655 State Highway.
After working out a plan with neighbors of the property, Klink will not use Wiley Lane as an outlet for the condominium project but instead has developed an access point from the state highway with a turnaround for fire vehicles.
Bridge on Bridge Road?
An open span bridge was the alternative roadway design that received the most attention during a virtual public forum on June 24 on Eastham’s low-lying roadways. The project team, which includes Conservation Agent Shana Brogan, Town Planner Paul Lagg, DPW Director Silvio Genao, and Adam Finkle of Woods Hole Group (WHG), is wasting no time in trying to vet possible design alternatives for the four roadways determined as being most susceptible to flooding in the coming decades.
Alternatives presented by Finkle included an embankment blanketed with “100 percent biodegradable erosion control matting” planted with coastal grasses and shrubs. The embankment would be made of earthen material that’s placed and compacted for the purpose of raising the grade of the roadway. All approaches will eventually involve elevating the roads, though just how much will be determined later in the process.
The bridge proposal would be most appropriate for Bridge Road, Finkle said, where it could improve tidal flow and result in ancillary benefits to the large salt marsh in the area. But it would need longer design and construction lead times and improvements would be costly.
Area resident James Arnold said that because Boat Meadow marsh was cut off by construction of Bridge Road it fills regularly. “My concern,” he said, is that “water is going to continue to rise and undercut the shorelines all the way around the entire marsh. If we don’t open this marsh up and allow for the natural flow of the water through the entire marsh by building a raised, expanded bridge along Bridge Road, then we’re really just wasting money and pushing out the problem a little further down the road.”
Though action is needed on all four roads, Bridge Road and Samoset Road have been prioritized based on feedback from the public.
Finkle said the team submitted an application to the state coastal zone management office (CZM) to fund a next phase of this project to include stakeholder engagement, modeling of proposed plans, and draft engineering design plans for sections of Bridge Road and Samoset Road.
If the grant is awarded, that work will begin in September. —Ryan Fitzgerald
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Seashore Beat
What’s the most fun part of starting a newspaper? Thinking about what to put in it. We knew from the start that our home territory was the Outer Cape, four towns with much in common but also unique histories, landscapes, and characters. That’s a lot of beats to cover.
It was also clear from the beginning that there was a fifth beat, as important as the other four: the Cape Cod National Seashore. Our towns are shaped by it, and we all profit hugely from the preservation of its wildness and the work of its stewards. We knew we needed a writer to cover the Seashore with knowledge of and appreciation for its environmental and scientific significance, its history and politics, its human and nonhuman inhabitants, and its immense beauty.
How lucky we have been to have Sophie Ruehr take on that work. She started writing about this place for the Banner during summer breaks from her science studies at Yale, then spent a year researching climate change on the Pacific island of Vanuatu. She returned just as we were launching the Independent, and she has been a central part of our team since the start. Now Sophie is leaving again, for doctoral work in geoscience at the University of California Berkeley.
This week’s issue offers the final installment of her three-part series on science in the Seashore, how budget cuts threaten its remarkable record of long-term research (May 7) and have already gutted its unusual educational programs (June 4), and, this week, how we all benefit from the powerful collaborations that Seashore scientists have created with local residents.
There’s no easy answer to the challenge of preserving science in our Seashore. Yet we are reminded that we still have power — to advocate, and to vote.
Sophie isn’t just a scientist. On Vanuatu, she learned Bislama, the local creole, and did climate research by taking oral histories. She understands that listening to people and retelling their stories is crucial. As she leaves us, we know that she will help make a better world, and we will try to live up to her example.
currents
This Week in Eastham
Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely.
Wednesday, July 8
- Finance Committee, 5 p.m.
Thursday, July 9
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 4 p.m.
- Tee-Time Development Committee Community Development Workgroup, 5 p.m.
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of June 27, the number of active cases in Eastham was 10. The number of cases has remained at 10 since June 4.
Teardown Draws Seashore’s Interest
A plan to raze three residential dwellings and a garage at 885 Doane Road Rear and build one new house and an accessory guest house and garage is on hold as owners Jeffrey and Mary McAleney, town officials, and the Cape Cod National Seashore try to come to agreement on the site’s square footage and its development potential.
Last month, the planning board continued its site plan review of the project until its meeting on Aug. 19.
On May 13, Seashore Supt. Brian Carlstrom told the town of “serious concerns … due to the scale of the proposal and its noncompliance with zoning parameters for the Seashore District.” Carlstrom wrote that current square-footage numbers used in the application are not consistent with the Seashore’s 1959 information, the basis for the determination.
“We urge that the Planning Board request that the applicant downsize the project because we believe it is possible to propose a project that is more consistent with Eastham’s zoning bylaws,” Carlstrom wrote. “If this project proceeds to obtain the Board’s approval, moving forward with the project would subject the property to revocation of the Certificate of Suspension of Condemnation.”
The certificate Carlstrom referred to was created in 1961, when the U.S. secretary of the interior issued standards for approval of town zoning bylaws related to properties in the Seashore. Those bylaws, according to the Park Service, “would result in the suspension of the secretary’s authority to acquire by condemnation ‘improved’ properties located within Cape Cod National Seashore.” —Ed Maroney
Rivers Is New Chair
Jamie Rivers will now serve as the chair of the select board after the board voted to reorganize. Aimée Eckman will serve as vice chair and the board’s new member, Art Autorino, will serve as clerk.
BOH Approves Steele Rd. Septic
The board of health approved Stephen and Mimi Henning’s plan to add a sunroom to their small house on Steele Road. The Hennings first appeared before the board on May 28, when the board asked for improvements to the septic system, to protect groundwater in the area.
“Even with all the improvements in Title 5, we continue to see deterioration of our groundwater and estuaries, so we have been looking to do the best we can on these small properties,” board of health chair Joanna Buffington said at the May 28 meeting. She said the original plan looked reasonable but “there’s an opportunity to upgrade the septic system for better nitrogen control, especially with that close groundwater distance.”
Health Agent Jane Crowley said the bottom of the leach field on the plan showed 48 inches to observed groundwater.
So, the Hennings returned on June 25, represented by Jason Ellis, with an updated plan. Ellis said the redesign of the septic system will use the existing 1,000-gallon septic tank and add a new pump chamber. The leach field has been updated to maintain five-foot separation to the groundwater level in the area and the residence will also be hooking up to town water in an effort to eliminate the well system for the property.
The board agreed with the changes and voted unanimously to approve the project.
Revising the FY21 Budget
The town’s new finance director, Rich Bienvenue, gave an update on the proposed fiscal 2021 budget to the select board on June 29.
Bienvenue said the town is expecting a 10-percent decrease in state receipts and a 25-percent decrease in local receipts. That local receipt decline would amount to about $1 million.
Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said the town will be reducing hours in certain departments as well as making a reduction in DPW contract services. The town still has about $1 million in unused cash and nearly $700,000 in its stabilization fund, Bienvenue said.
“We’re in a good position, all things considered,” he said.
Beebe said the elimination of the council on aging day program and summer recreation program have cut costs, although, she said, “Those are clearly programs we are going to want to replace.”
The finance committee will review and approve the FY21 budget before it comes back to the select board for a full review.
The board will also have to draft and approve warrant articles for fall town meeting, as well as draft and approve ballot questions for the family support package and police department radios, which are articles that require an override.
Committee Updates
The select board voted to reappoint Tricia Ford to the cable TV licenses renewal advisory committee; Janis Nogas, William Salem, and Patricia Unish to the council on aging board of directors; Charles McVinney to the cultural council; and Ed Cassarella to the recreation commission and to the community preservation committee as the recreation commission representative.
The board also voted to accept Judith Parmelee’s resignation from the Eastham 400 Committee. —Ryan Fitzgerald
currents
This Week in Eastham
Meetings Ahead
Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely.
Thursday, June 11
- Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m.
Saturday, June 13
- Library Board of Trustees, 9 a.m.
Monday, June 15
- Elementary School Committee, 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 17
- Planning Board, 5 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Upgrade for Seashore Septic
A design bid invitation is out for improvements to the septic system that services the Salt Pond Visitor Center at the Cape Cod National Seashore, the town’s director of health and environment reported.
“This is a milestone,” Jane Crowley told the board of health last month. “We’ve been working with them and hoping for that.”
The upgrade will provide “secondary and almost tertiary treatment,” she said, “really improving the effluent discharge before it gets into the groundwater. They hope to have the project in construction phase in the fall.”
Meanwhile, plans to address stormwater runoff from a Route 6 outfall and an area behind the elementary school are moving forward to the 10-percent design phase, with plans for a public meeting in the next few months.
“We’re looking at green infrastructure for both systems,” Crowley said. “We hope to implement this within the calendar year.”
Revenue Report Is Positive
During the pandemic, town employees “have been working the whole time,” Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe told the select board last month. “They’ve been doing inspections, handing out permits, doing everything you’d normally do, except for a couple of items.”
The result was an “excellent” revenue report for April, said Beebe, who also thanked “everyone for paying taxes. Tax revenues are where they should be.”
And Speaking of Revenue…
It’s time to secure a beach sticker. Go to eastham-ma.gov/home/news/beach-sticker-information-2020 for details and forms.
Don’t look for beach floats in the water this month. The popular platforms could be back later this summer if social distancing seems to be working.
Taps Tribute
The annual Memorial Day march of Eastham Elementary School fifth graders to Evergreen Cemetery couldn’t happen this year, but that didn’t stop class members Daniel Handville and Mason Smith from playing “Taps” on the Windmill Green under the direction of music teacher Chuck Hollander-Essig. Their tribute can be viewed on the town’s Facebook page. —Ed Maroney
Kindness, Recognized
Eastham resident and Nauset Regional High School sophomore Wyatt Falk received an award from Sharing Kindness. This local nonprofit raises suicide awareness and provides grief support especially for youth. It was founded in honor of Jeremy Walters, 16, of Orleans, who died by suicide in 2016 while a student at Nauset.
This year, Sharing Kindness recognizes students who have been observed throughout the year performing acts of kindness, generosity, and support to others, without seeking attention for their actions, according to Lisa Goodrich of Sharing Kindness. Each student so recognized receives $500.
Falk was nominated by his teacher, Addison Weeks, who wrote: “Wyatt has an upbeat and enthusiastic personality. His eagerness to work with any of his peers is heartwarming to witness.”
Hundreds Have Voted Already
Town Clerk Cindy Nicholson told the select board on June 8 that the town has sent out more than 4,000 applications and more than 850 ballots for the June 23 town election. At that point 272 ballots had been returned.
Early voting is being encouraged so that fewer people will come to town hall on June 23 to vote in person from noon to 6 p.m. On Monday, Nicholson told the select board that there will be sneeze guards and facial shields between ballot boxes. The town will reduce staffing on Election Day and have masks and hand sanitizer available outside the building.
When voters arrive, Nicholson said, they’ll be shown how to enter the building. She’s considering allowing a maximum of six at a time inside.
Also Monday, the board set Sept. 21 as the date for the annual town meeting and welcomed Rich Bienvenue, the new finance director and assistant town administrator.
They’ll Serve Again
The select board reappointed a number of committee members on June 8, including Carolyn McPherson to the affordable housing trust; Joanna Buffington, Denise Kopasz, and Dave Hobbs to the board of assessors; Sylvia Sullivan to the board of cemetery commissioners; Adele Blong to the board of health, Beverly Hobbs and Kopasz to the cable television license renewal advisory committee; and Karen Strauss and Charles Wagner to the conservation commission.
Also, Richard Ramon and Lucile Cashin to the council on aging board of directors; Brian LaValley to the cultural council; Thomas Gardner to the finance committee; Henry Lind and Janet Benjamins to the forest advisory committee; Kate Berg, Dilys Smith, and Felice Coral to the human services advisory committee; Frances Lewis and Buffington to the open space committee; and Robert Bruns to the zoning board of appeals. —Ryan Fitzgerald
SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 2
Education Is ‘on Pause’ at Seashore
With budgets squeezed, retiring scientists and educators are not being replaced
This is the second in a series of articles on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at risk.
A decades-long educational program at the Cape Cod National Seashore has been suspended, and not just because of the pandemic. Seashore education specialist Barbara Dougan, who ran the program since its inception in 1992, retired in January and has not been replaced.
Dougan estimates that the Seashore’s Parks as Classrooms program reached hundreds of students each year from kindergarten through 12th grade. She worked with 30 to 50 teachers a year from schools across the Outer Cape and beyond.
The program’s “end goal is teaching kids to value science in guiding decision-making,” Dougan told the Independent. “They feel they understand their surroundings, which builds confidence. Then they become environmental stewards and work to protect it.”
Dougan collaborated with Seashore scientists, including Steve Smith and Mark Adams, to develop programs that connected with research being conducted in the park. Students collected and analyzed their own data while learning how to ask scientific questions.
The Seashore provided “perfect outdoor living classrooms,” Dougan said. In third grade, students visited vernal pools in Eastham to study environmental change. Fifth-graders performed water quality testing at ponds in the Province Lands.
But Dougan, who worked full-time on the program, is gone.
“The person they hired to do education — it’s only a collateral duty,” Dougan said. “How that’s going to work out, I don’t know.”
Seashore Supt. Brian Carlstrom confirmed that the program has been “put on pause” since Dougan’s departure. The Seashore hired two new supervisory interpretative rangers, who “are going to look at the education program, and see what we’ll be evolving that into,” Carlstrom said. But the new rangers’ start has been delayed by the pandemic.
Having interpretative rangers is not the same as education, Dougan said. Parks as Classrooms tailored its field trips to meld with each classroom’s curriculum, and Dougan said building teachers’ trust often took years. Dougan’s programs lasted three to five hours in the field and included classroom visits before and after. Unlike Dougan’s efforts, interpretative programs are shorter and provide “more general information,” she said. “They’re not engaged in data collection or making observations.”
It’s Not Only Education
Dougan is not alone in seeing years of effort discontinued. Bob Cook, a wildlife ecologist, started working at the Seashore in 1998 and retired in 2016. He has not been replaced.
Cook’s research focused on vernal ponds in the Seashore, where he studied amphibians such as the spotted salamander and wood frog. By tracking species’ distribution and abundance, Cook documented changes in their habitats over time. Now that he’s gone, monitoring of those species has ended.
Maria Burks served as the superintendent of the Seashore from 1995 to 2004. During her tenure, “science was on an upswing,” she said. The National Park Service (NPS) initiated the Natural Resource Challenge in 1999, which led to a base increase of more than $1.2 million annually for science and education at the Seashore, Cook said. Scientists were hired to conduct inventory and monitoring programs.
Such programs are essential in documenting environmental change. As the Independent reported on May 7, it takes many years of data to show a trend. Decades of kettle pond monitoring showed the effects of the Clean Air Act and climate change. Without consistent monitoring, changes can go unseen.
Since the early 2000s, the Seashore’s budget has remained flat while fixed costs have risen — “an effective cut,” Carlstrom said.
With tight budgets, Burks said, science is often the first to go. “Research projects are funded through soft money,” she said. “If they go, a building doesn’t lose its roof, and an employee isn’t fired.” Since salaries make up a large portion of fixed operating costs, one way to save money is through attrition.
Carlstrom said he has little say in how the Seashore’s budget is divided between science and other priorities, such as infrastructure. That’s up to the NPS or Dept. of Interior.
This table shows how National Seashore resource allocation since 2018. According to the National Park fiscal year 2021 budget justification, park budgets are being cut or remaining flat nationwide.
Division |
Fiscal Year | ||
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
Administration | $ 840,000 | $ 830,000 | $ 1,040,000 |
Facility Management | $ 1,500,000 | $ 1,700,000 | $ 1,810,000 |
Interpretation and Cultural Resources | $ 1,200,000 | $ 1,060,000 | $ 1,000,000 |
Visitor and Resource Protection | $ 1,400,000 | $ 1,490,000 | $ 1,500,000 |
Natural Resources | $ 1,110,000 | $ 1,020,000 | $ 1,200,000 |
Management and Safety | $ 1,320,000 | $ 1,530,000 | $ 1,310,000 |
TOTAL | $ 7,370,000 | $ 7,630,000 | $ 7,860,000 |
At the same time, funding nationally for the NPS police, who, as the budget states, “participate in securing the Southern border” and other “areas with greater propensity for drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and terrorist movement,” will increase, as will spending on recreation access for visitors.
National Picture Bleak
The loss of expertise at the Seashore is reflected nationwide. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, national parks experienced a 16-percent increase in visits over the past decade and a 14-percent reduction in staffing.
“I feel like right now science in particular is on the run,” said Burks, who is a member of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, an advocacy organization.
Under the Trump administration, scientists face obstacles in getting permission to conduct research in the parks. They avoid terms like “climate change” or “sea level rise” in research proposals, Burks said. Those who do use those terms find their projects flagged and delayed until the Dept. of Interior weighs in.
Park Science, a quarterly publication that for 20 years focused on research in national parks, has not published an issue since 2018, Burks said.
“To lose all this, at a time when we desperately need science,” Burks said, “deeply concerns me.”
WILDLIFE
Coyote Shot at Herring Cove Beach
Rangers respond after a woman is bitten and a dog is killed
PROVINCETOWN — Memorial Day weekend may have been quiet for some, but Herring Cove Beach was the scene of almost daily drama caused by at least one aggressive coyote, which was shot and killed Monday evening by Cape Cod National Seashore rangers.
Rangers had posted signs at the entrance to the beach on May 15 asking visitors not to feed coyotes.
What the sign did not say was that the Seashore was getting complaints that at least one coyote was brazenly following dogs and humans and could not be easily scared off.
These complaints got more serious in the days that followed, leading to a dog injured on May 21, a woman bitten or nipped on May 23, and a dog killed in front of its owners on May 25.
Later that same night, a Seashore ranger shot the coyote that killed the dog. The rangers believe it was the same animal, because they had been using a paintball gun to “haze” or deter aggressive animals and this one had the telltale paintball markings, said Seashore Supt. Brian Carlstrom. There may be other aggressive coyotes at Herring Cove, he added.
Coyotes had begun to congregate there in March, he said.
Carlstrom called the shooting of the coyote the sad result of feeding wild animals, something that has been an ongoing problem at this beach, as well as at Beech Forest, where people feed songbirds and geese. Within the last two months, a visitor was cited for feeding a fox at Province Lands Visitor Center, he noted.
But at Herring Cove, in particular, people have left out dog food and fish heads to feed the animals, Carlstrom said. Since Herring Cove is a popular place to let one’s dog run off leash — despite rarely enforced leash laws within the Seashore — this created a deadly situation that came to a head last weekend.
On Thursday, May 21, Karen Cappotto of Provincetown had just taken her miniature schnauzer, Pearl, off her leash at the end of the new parking lot at Herring Cove when a coyote ran out of the dunes and grabbed her in its jaws, Cappotto said. The coyote didn’t get a good hold, however, so when Pearl fell out of its mouth, Cappotto lunged to save her.
Cappotto said she grabbed her dog and fell on the sand, at which point, the coyote approached both of them. A friend who was there with her threw rocks and other objects at the coyote to finally get it to go away.
“I cannot go to the beach anymore,” Cappotto said. “I’m terrified.”
A veterinarian at Herring Cove Animal Hospital treated Pearl for five puncture wounds, and she is recovering, Cappotto said.
On the morning of May 23, a woman was bitten or nipped on the ankle while she was reading at Herring Cove Beach, Carlstrom said.
That evening, a visitor, Art Rawling, heard a woman screaming and running up the beach toward the Far Land concession stand in the south parking lot. A coyote was chasing her 10 feet behind, and stopped its pursuit only when Rawling and a friend approached.
“She was really scared and screaming for help,” Rawling said.
On Monday, May 25, Denise Michel of Provincetown and a friend were at Herring Cove around 4:30 p.m. and saw a ranger with a paintball gun.
Two hours later, around 6:30 p.m., a young couple was tossing a ball with their small dog near the so-called “boy beach” by the south parking lot when a coyote suddenly ran out of the dunes, grabbed the dog in its mouth, and ran back into the dunes, said Dana Demers of Provincetown who was walking nearby at the time.
“We couldn’t catch the coyote — the sand was too soft,” Demers said. “It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Demers said when he last saw the dog, which he estimated to be about 16 pounds, it was limp in the coyote’s mouth, and the owner was screaming and crying. The police arrived quickly to take a report, he added.
“The coyote was huge, really big,” Demers said. “I feel bad for the coyote. Now it will be killed and her pups will be left alone. It’s just sad. I saw all these people at the beach with their dogs, and I wanted to say, ‘Don’t bring your dogs here!’ ”
Carlstrom said he does not know if the coyote was a mother with pups.
Though the Seashore’s mission is to protect wildlife and nature, when an animal repeatedly acts aggressively towards humans, “We will kill it,” Carlstrom said.
But the larger problem is humans feeding the coyotes.
“The story is, really, stop feeding wild animals,” said Provincetown Police Chief Jim Golden.
There is a documented history of people feeding animals at Herring Cove Beach. In 2013, park rangers issued a citation to someone for feeding coyotes at Herring Cove. At that time, as many as five coyotes were begging among the parked cars in the evenings.
The coyote at Herring Cove, or possibly more than one coyote, is exhibiting all the classic behaviors of an animal that has become “habituated” through feeding by humans.
“It has lost its fear,” Carlstrom said.
In a press release, Carlstrom noted, “Unfortunately, scenes like this play out frequently in national parks. People don’t understand the implications of approaching or feeding wildlife, often leading to tragic consequences for the public and the animals.”
DISTANCE
Wellfleet’s Beaches May Be Plenty Big
But officials want to reduce parking anyway
WELLFLEET — Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday, without providing evidence, that social distancing at beaches means blankets must be 12 feet apart — at least during phase one of the state’s reopening. Wellfleet will take it a step further, reducing beach parking capacity by 25 percent.
Baker’s latest advisory gave towns the authority to make final decisions on beaches. Wellfleet Beach Administrator Suzanne Grout Thomas came up with the parking restriction as a way of testing the density experience on the beach early in the season.
State Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro) has said that coronavirus regulations should be the same throughout the Cape to minimize visitors’ confusion and frustration.
“Region-wide consistency is very important,” Cyr told reopening planners on Monday. “Going it alone really concerns me.”
Officials worry that overly restrictive rules in one town will lead to overcrowding in others.
The ocean beaches that Wellfleet administers — Lecount Hollow, White Crest, Cahoon Hollow, and Newcomb Hollow — have an average of about 53,000 square feet within the lifeguard watch zone boundaries at mid-tide, Thomas told the Independent.
A reporter’s rough calculation indicates that space should be adequate, at least at Lecount, White Crest, and Cahoon, with Newcomb Hollow the beach most likely to push the limits on the 12-foot separation rule.
If the average beach blanket group take up an eight-by-eight-foot square, with 12 feet of distance between them and the next, each group would need about 400 square feet. That means that at mid-tide the lifeguard zone should accommodate a rule-abiding crowd of about 133 blanket groups.
That is close to the number of parking spots at each beach. Lecount Hollow has 136 spots; the White Crest front parking lot has 138 (not including the day-pass parking lot that the select board has already closed for this year); and Cahoon Hollow has 80 spaces. If each car is counted as a proxy for a blanket group, there would be virtually no need to limit spaces.
Newcomb Hollow, though, has 184 spaces, so if a car is a proxy for a blanket group, then at full capacity, the number of blanket groups might outstrip the lifeguarded space.
Indoors Vs. Outdoors
The reason for the governor’s 12-foot distancing rule at the beach is unclear. Studies show that social distancing outdoors is not nearly as crucial in preventing infection as it is indoors.
According to preliminary research on Covid-19 infection rates, the dangers of contracting the virus at the beach might not warrant the 12-foot rule. A study of 318 Covid-19 outbreak pockets in China found that transmission occurred outdoors in only one of them.
A similar study conducted in Japan concluded that outdoor transmission was 18.7 times less likely than indoor transmission.
Neither of these studies has been peer-reviewed and therefore cannot be used to influence decisions made by lawmakers.
A recent study on transmission of Covid-19 by Dr. Lydia Bourouiba of M.I.T., which has been used to support the six-foot separation standard, mentioned that transmission is much less likely outdoors due to increased air circulation.
Bourouiba’s work suggests that the six-foot rule might not be needed outdoors, let alone the 12-foot separation proposed by Baker.
But Grout Thomas said she was most concerned about entry areas where people may pass close to one another even when the beaches are not crowded.
The National Park Service, which operates six beaches in the Cape Cod National Seashore, has not decided what regulations to enforce on its beaches this summer.
“We are looking at ways to adaptively recover and enhance access,” said Seashore Supt. Brian Carlstrom. “We hope to have our plan outlined by the end of the week.”
SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 1
Seashore’s Scientists Search for the Way Forward
Budget cuts could undermine research efforts
This is the first in a series of articles on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at risk.
ENVIRONMENT
Science Research Is Cut to the Essentials
Outer Cape naturalists’ fieldwork is postponed, leaving holes in data sets
With the ongoing pandemic, scientific research has been interrupted across Cape Cod.
Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary has placed five staff members on partial furlough due to funding freezes, according to director Melissa Lowe. Visiting researchers have postponed or canceled fieldwork, and the sanctuary has suspended all volunteer efforts. With fewer staff and volunteers, data collection has been disrupted.
NATIONAL SEASHORE
Ups and Downs of Managing Change at the Seashore
Delaney seeks help in reauthorizing ‘sunsetted’ advisory board
EASTHAM — It will cost you more to park at a Cape Cod National Seashore beach this summer, and less — in fact, nothing — to participate in ranger-led programs.
“The fee increase [from $20 to $25 for vehicles] has been in the works for three years,” Supt. Brian Carlstrom said Tuesday. “It’s being rolled out across the National Park Service.”
The superintendent said the Seashore reviewed the programs it was offering and found that, for many programs, “it was more efficient not to charge anything. It costs more money to collect the fees; we really weren’t bringing in a net benefit to the park.”
Carlstrom said the Seashore’s budget has been “pretty consistent, in the high $7 million range, over a long period of time.” While that translates to “decreasing buying power” over time, he said there are no plans for overall staff cutbacks.
“We’re changing positions to meet the highest priority needs,” he said. “We’re trying to manage the park as best we possibly can with the fiscal resources we are allocated, all the while providing access to the public while protecting the natural and cultural resources.”
The superintendent was contacted after Art Autorino, a Seashore volunteer and member of the Eastham Finance Committee, raised concerns at a joint meeting of the committee and the select board on March 9. In a phone interview, Rich Delaney, the last chair of the “sunsetted” Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission, said his board would likely have had discussions with administrators about the changes and been helpful in gauging public reaction. The commission’s federal authorization expired in 2018 and has not been renewed.
“Ordinarily, the superintendent would have briefed us on what they’re required to do,” Delaney said. “This is a sad illustration of how much we are missing this forum. I know they have to deal with some budget issues this year, but I don’t know the details.”
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved reauthorization through 2029, and senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren filed a similar bill (S.508) in their chamber last month. There’s been a hearing by the subcommittee on national parks and a vote by that body is imminent, according to Delaney. “I’m trying to round up some select board support, and town managers to encourage the committee to pass the legislation,” he said. “Senator Markey is working very hard to push it through on that level, but we need voices from the community — elected officials, users of the park — to all say we need this legislation so the commission can get back in action.”
The superintendent said he has “no expectation whatsover” that the changes will affect tourism adversely. “We’re still going to be offering programs,” he said. “We’re utilizing the knowledge we have to continue to provide programs. We’re doing a lot of things to improve our facilities.”
Carlstrom added, “Probably the biggest is the Highland Light tower being closed for renovation. We’re reestablishing ventilation in it and putting a new coating on it so the masonry can breathe, and new glass.” Ground-level facilities will remain open.
The Coast Guard building in Eastham will get a new roof, new siding, a refurbished fire escape, and windows. Accessibility will be improved at the Province Lands Visitor Center and there’ll be a new walkway out to the Old Harbor Lifesaving Station in Provincetown. The Atlantic White Cedar Swamp connecting trail in Wellfleet should be fixed up by July 4.
“There’s a lot of good work happening at the Seashore,” Carlstrom said.
Markey’s legislative aide Claire Richer is in charge of forwarding public comment to the Senate subcommittee. The senator’s office address is 255 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 and the phone number is 202-224-2742.
RESTORATION
Support, and a Few Doubts, at Herring River Hearing
Long-planned Cape Cod Commission review is underway
WELLFLEET — Speakers lined up at microphones at the Council on Aging Monday to support the Herring River Project, which over 20 years could repair 570 acres of a salt marsh that was diked in 1909 for mosquito control and other purposes.
The project, the largest salt-marsh restoration in the state, has been discussed for decades and is now at the beginning of a two-year permitting process. But Monday night was a landmark moment — the first review of the project by the Cape Cod Commission (CCC) as a development of regional impact — and more than 100 people showed up.
“This is a river we have tried to kill for a hundred years,” said Gordon Peabody, an early proponent of the restoration. “We’ve forced it to breathe through a straw. It may only be a whisper at first, but it’s important to give it its voice back.”
At least a dozen representatives from various local, county, and statewide organizations spoke about the benefits expected from opening up the Chequessett Neck Road dike slowly to allow tidal water to flow in and out of the riverbed. The project will affect mostly Wellfleet and a small portion of Truro.
Those in support included state Rep. Sarah Peake, state Sen. Julian Cyr, the Chequessett Yacht & Country Club, the Wellfleet Historical Society & Museum, the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod, the Wellfleet Open Space Committee, Wellfleet Conservation Commission, Massachusetts Audubon Society, and Supt. Gabrielle Sakolsky of the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project.
Sakolsky said her agency has been involved in other salt marsh restorations and she is confident that they rarely lead to an increase in mosquitos. That is because the predator fish that feed on mosquito larvae will no longer be blocked from swimming up the river to eat the larvae, said Project Manager Carole Ridley.
The CCC staff wrote a 24-page report on the project. Its conclusion stated, “Probable project benefits … include water quality improvements, protecting and enhancing harvestable shellfish resources, enhancing opportunities for recreation and tourism, combating climate change through carbon storage in a restored salt marsh, invasive plant/Phragmites management, and re-establishing natural control of nuisance mosquitoes.”
Cape Cod marshes have been filled, diked, and restricted all over the peninsula. Mark Robinson, of the Compact for Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, said he found 16 tidal restrictions along Truro’s Pamet River, including dikes, culverts, and roadways, “collectively creating an incredibly impaired system,” Robinson said.
Rarely is there a chance to reverse the damage, said John Idman, the commission’s chief regulatory officer. That chance exists with the Herring River because 95 percent of the estuary is in the Cape Cod National Seashore, he added, though restoration must be balanced with care to prevent property damage. He said his staff felt “comforted” by the adaptive management strategies, which means the Seashore staff will open the tidal gates gradually and curtail the flow if there are unforeseen problems.
It was these unforeseen consequences that troubled several speakers Monday, including Paul Faxon of Chequessett Knolls Drive. His well is a few feet from the high-water mark in phase one of the restoration. (Phase one comprises 570 acres. Phase two would require further permitting.)
Faxon said he would like some conditions imposed on the project in case of unforeseen impacts to property owners, such as salt intrusion into his well.
Martin Nieski, of Old Chequessett Neck Road, listed various scenarios involving the rising river by his home, including making his property unusable because it will be designated as a wetland. Ridley said none of those scenarios would happen in phase one.
Dr. Ronald Gabel said the 2005 Sesuit Creek restoration in Dennis resulted in ugly swaths of eroded mudflats without new growth of saltwater plants.
Stephen Spear, a neighbor of Sesuit Creek and a member of the Herring River Technical Committee, said other areas of the creek have recolonized with saltwater species. But he admitted the Sesuit project did not all work as planned. “We’ve learned a lot since 2005,” he said.
The next review by the CCC is on Thursday, April 2, at 4:30 p.m. in the East Wing Conference Room of the Barnstable County Complex, in the old jailhouse.
CIVICS
Conservation Work Lags With Volunteer Shortage
Travel, conflicts, and controversy combine to make recruiting difficult
WELLFLEET — The conservation commission has struggled in recent months to do its work with fewer than a full complement of seven members. According to interviews with several current commissioners, with some being out of town for extended periods and some members having to recuse themselves because of potential conflicts it has been difficult to assemble a quorum. The commission needs four people in order to meet. And decisions require a majority of four.
Commissioners Barbara Brennessel and John Portnoy have both taken long out-of-town trips this winter. Commissioner Michael Fisher and former Commissioner Lauren McKean have had to recuse themselves from some cases, Fisher because he is on the board of the Wellfleet Conservation Trust and McKean because she works for the Cape Cod National Seashore; both organizations control properties that have been subjects of commission action.
“If someone has to recuse because of a conflict, we can’t move projects forward or deny them,” said Brennessel. “That has happened on a number of occasions.”
The conservation commission’s inability to maintain a full roster has a variety of causes.
McKean’s conflicts were so extensive that she ultimately had to resign from the group, according to her colleague John Cumbler. Trudy Vermehren, who served on the commission while running her own landscaping business, stepped down in June 2018 after opening a cafe in town, the Fox and Crow. The work load of being on the commission while running a restaurant was just too much, she said.
This winter, with the cafe business at a slower pace, Vermehren agreed to accept a two-month appointment to the commission to help it plow through a backlog of cases.
She named another reason why recruiting new members is hard.
“It’s a controversial board to be on,” Vermehren said. “You get a lot of pushback from people. Not everybody understands the reason the conservation commission is even there. It’s a difficult position to be in when you have to argue for the environment versus the market value of a home. As Americans, we have property rights. If you own property, people think you can do whatever you want with it.”
“A lot of people don’t like what we say,” Cumbler said. “You have to be willing to have people really dislike you. It doesn’t bother me at all.”
Barbara Brennessel pointed out that younger townspeople may be reluctant to serve on the commission because of the need for both evening meetings and daytime site visits. “It’s hard if you have a job and family to go to site visits in the daytime,” she said. “We might want to think about doing site visits on the weekend.”
Cumbler noted that questions of conflict and recusal would likely arise when permitting for the Herring River Restoration Project comes before the group.
“There are lots of issues,” he said. “Two members of the commission are on the Friends of Herring River board, one is a consultant to the project, I’m technically an abutter to phase two of the project, and the Conservation Trust is an abutter. Only one person is not in some way involved.”
Last year’s annual town meeting approved a charter revision adding two alternate members to the conservation commission to help avoid these problems. But no alternates have been appointed.
“There are no alternate members on these boards,” wrote administrative clerk Jeanne Maclaughlan in an email, “because there are no volunteers.”
EASTHAM 400
1620 Events to Focus on First Encounter With Nauset
Replica of Pilgrims’ shallop will visit Rock Harbor
EASTHAM — History will be docking at Rock Harbor this summer. Tying up next to the Coast Guard boat that rescued 32 sailors from the Pendleton shipwreck in 1952 will be a craft similar to the one that brought men from the Mayflower’s anchorage in Provincetown Harbor in 1620 to Eastham for their first live encounter with the indigenous Nauset people.
“We’ll have some ceremonies and possibly some trips out into the bay” in the replica vessel, the shallop Elizabeth Tilley, select board member Peter Dibble said at the Feb. 24 meeting of the Eastham 400 Commemoration Committee. Built in 2000 by Peter Arenstam, the boat will be towed from Plymouth to Provincetown early in July for festivities there before being towed or sailed to Rock Harbor for a stay of several days.
At last week’s meeting, Dibble displayed Richard C. Ellington’s scale model of the shallop, built to mark the 400th anniversary of the Dec. 8, 1620, event at modern-day First Encounter Beach. “It’s perfect,” Dibble said.
In another event planned by the committee, historian Ian Saxine, whose book The Story of the “First Encounter” at Nauset has sold out its first edition and is being reprinted, will speak at Nauset Regional High School on March 27.
“We’re trying to find as many points of interaction as possible, so teachers are able to address things while bringing in another layer of authenticity,” NRHS Principal Christopher Ellsasser said. “We’re trying to weave together this opportunity with the learning that’s already happening.”
Visitors to the Cape Cod National Seashore can do their learning while sitting on the sand at First Encounter Beach from Memorial Day weekend through the summer. The “109 nights,” as committee vice chair Tom Ryan described the program, will commence with the ringing of a bell 15 minutes before sunset and continue with a daily 10-minute presentation of “some fragment of our history” and a reading from Saxine’s book, plus a preview of coming events.
On the nine Sundays of July and August, a “sunset series” will offer interactive programs around an electronic “campfire” at the beach. “Campfires are not bonfires,” Ryan said. “This is an electronic device approved by the fire department [that sits] like a bowl in the sand.”
Also in the works is a tour of Cove Burying Ground, where three Mayflower passengers are interred. It’s hoped that high school students could be involved in all three programs.
The committee voted to request $25,000 from town meeting in May: $12,000 for two part-time coordinators for the beach events, $6,000 for the cost of bringing the shallop to Rock Harbor and housing its crew, $4,000 for reprinting Saxine’s book, $2,000 for printing signs and beach sticker insignias, and $1,000 for rack cards.
At the meeting, the committee reviewed other groups’ marking of the 400th anniversary. The Eastham Historical Society, which will open the First Peoples exhibit at its 1869 Schoolhouse Museum on May 1, has been working with an archaeologist to catalog its collection and is planning an extensive speaker series. The Cape Cod National Seashore will have three new outdoor exhibits: on Wampanoag use of salt marshes, on the Pilgrims’ search for water, and on the signing of the Mayflower Compact. The Federated Church of Orleans, which traces its history back to the congregational society founded in Eastham in the 1640s, will hold an open house during December. Eleven boxes of historical records from the church have been digitized and are available through the archives of the Eastham Public Library, which is planning a roster of special events.
Ryan said that the Wellfleet Historical Society “has focused on their Native American collection and discovered they have representative items from all 10,000 years of documented habitation of Nauset. They’re doing a special exhibit all summer.” Over in Orleans, he said, the historical society “will focus on the seven [settler] families that came here. The focus isn’t how they related to Native Americans, or their faith structure — it’s their clothing and habitation.”
The Cape Cod Genealogy Society will hold a free event at the Eastham library and the Chapel in the Pines next door on March 29 from 11:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. There will be talks on Mayflower descendants, Native American genealogy, and researching female ancestors, as well as 20-minute genealogical consultations for those interested in possible links to the Mayflower.
For further details on 400th anniversary events, go to easthamthefirstencounter.org.