In The News

JOINT BASE CAPE COD — Residents and environmental groups are calling on the Massachusetts National Guard to abandon its proposal for an eight-lane machine gun range at Camp Edwards, or to at least slow down the process so the public can get more information and offer further input. The comment period on the Guard’s environmental assessment of the proposed machine gun range and its draft finding of no significant impact ended Sept. 8.

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The Association to Preserve Cape Cod has submitted written comments to the Massachusetts Army National Guard calling for a reevaluation of the plan to construct a machine gun range on the area of Joint Base Cape Cod designated as the Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve.

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BOSTON — The Conservation Law Foundation is once again looking to the federal courts to protect Cape Cod waters from toxic nitrogen pollution. The environmental advocacy organization says it intends to sue the town of Barnstable and Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee for violating the federal Clean Water Act by discharging and adding pollutants into Lewis Bay and Popponesset Bay.

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HYANNIS — Add drought to COVID-19, sharks and a faltering economy on the list of daunting issues affecting Cape Cod this summer. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs declared the Cape to be under Level 1 mild drought conditions last month. A Level 1 drought condition is declared when rainfall has been below normal for between one and two months, river and stream flows decline, fire danger is elevated and gardens begin to wilt.

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With summer well underway, higher temperatures coupled with nutrient overload in kettle ponds and lakes brings the dangerous return of cyanobacteria blooms, also known as blue-green algae. As of Tuesday, Aug. 4, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC) reported 10 of the ponds it monitors as having “high” levels of cyanobacteria and two water sources with “moderate” levels. None of those were on the Outer Cape.

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BARNSTABLE — Fifteen years ago, when Sandra Bolton and her husband bought their three-bedroom Cape overlooking the serene waters of Shubael Pond, their view was like “heaven on Earth,” she said. Few summer days passed when they didn’t take a dip.

But in recent years they began to notice a guacamole-colored scum marring the previously clear waters. Last summer, just as temperatures were increasing and the pond beckoned, local officials banned swimming there after finding toxic algae blooms that can be harmful if ingested, inhaled, or touched.

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It has been a busy season so far for APCC’s Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program.

With pond temperatures rising quickly in the transition from spring to summer, Association to Preserve Cape Cod this week confirmed the emergence of toxic cyanobacteria scums in five ponds across the Cape: Walkers and Cliff ponds in Brewster, Mares and Deep ponds in Falmouth, and Long Pond in Marstons Mills.

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2 ponds in Barnstable closed to swimming as testing continues. Recent testing of approximately 70 of the Cape’s 996 ponds and lakes revealed the presence of toxic bacteria in a handful of them. These cyanobacteria are naturally occurring and produce toxins that can harm dogs and humans. Their proliferation is being aided by global warming and nutrient pollution by septic systems and stormwater runoff. Full Article

In five ponds across the Cape, high concentrations of blue-green algae blooms are raising concerns about dangerous levels of toxins they produce. Blue-green algae blooms, also known as cyanobacteria scums, can make the water of a pond look like pea soup, though usually the growths are natural and harmless parts of ecosystems.  Full Article

While the doors have remained closed, outside, construction of a new garden has been underway at the Cotuit Library. Like all non-essential businesses and institutions, the library has been closed since March; but while everything else in society seems to have slowed down, construction has been able to proceed at pace. Full Article