Association to Preserve Cape Cod - this week... |
Coastal plain pondshore. Photo by Sue Machie
|
|
|
|
Looking Back by Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director |
|
|
APCC is proud to debut our 2021 Annual Impact Report. It can be viewed here and will soon be arriving in your mailbox. The report is a source of great pride for me because it beautifully displays and summarizes the extraordinary work done by our exceptional APCC staff. But it’s not just the breadth of the work APCC staff does that impresses me; what really sets APCC apart is the high impact our staff has on the major environmental challenges facing the Cape.
APCC’s ethos is based on a forward-looking long view that informs our policies and initiatives. Every now and then it makes sense to look back to see how you are doing and to assess progress. The production of this report provides an opportunity to look back along with you, our dedicated supporters, to see how well we have honored our commitment to be a tireless advocate for a better Cape Cod environment. I am proud of what we did in 2021.
If you think, as we do, that APCC is on the right track and that you want to see more, I ask you to consider making a gift to our ongoing summer appeal. Member support accounts for almost half of the funds we rely on to do our work. Your support now will keep us in the fight doing the work that needs to be done. Regardless of whether you make a summer gift, I look forward to hearing what you think of our 2021 report. Enjoy your summer reading.
|
The Annual Impact Report on 2021 hits the post office this week! For those of you who can't wait, or are not on our mailing list, here's a link to it on our website or click the photo above to view the pdf. |
|
|
Advocacy means we keep trying!
Thanks to everyone who reached out to the State Legislature last week in support of the drought management bill (S.530). Unfortunately, the bill did not advance before the legislative session ended on Sunday, despite an official drought designation currently impacting Cape Cod and the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts. |
| |
|
Although the bill was reported out of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture with a recommendation by the committee that it should be adopted, the legislation remained stuck in Senate Ways & Means from March until the end of July, the final day of the formal legislative session.
While there is a chance the bill could be acted on during the Legislature’s informal session that extends to the end of the year, under the Legislature’s rules it would need to be adopted without an objection from any legislator. Instead, it is anticipated that the bill will be refiled at the beginning of the next legislative session in 2023. When that happens, APCC and our environmental partners will once again advocate strongly for its successful passage.
APCC wishes to extend our appreciation to the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, which has been the leading champion of the drought management bill, and to the other environmental organizations, legislators and concerned citizens who support a coordinated state management plan for addressing drought conditions when they occur in Massachusetts.
|
BROWN is the new GREEN In times of drought and voluntary or mandatory watering use restrictions, if your lawn is brown, thank you! It tells everyone that you are conserving water. Town water or irrigation well, it's the same water resource that we all depend upon. |
Insect Spotlight ~ Luna Moth, Actias luna |
|
|
Photo credit: Gerald Beetham |
Fifth (last) instar larva (more sertiferous). Photo by Donald W. Hall, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida. |
Cocoon. Photo by Donald W. Hall, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida. |
| Lest you think moths are boring, can you imagine a more charismatic looker than this luna moth?
Like many moths, the luna moth is nocturnal and conducts its life activities at night. Mating occurs after midnight and eggs are subsequently laid the following evening. Unlike other moths, the adult form does not feed and therefore is not a pollinator. Its sole purpose is to produce the year's brood, which occurs sometime between May and July.
Eggs may be laid in groups or singly on its host plants: white birch, sweet gum, sumacs, hickories and walnuts. These are the plants whose leaves the caterpillars eat. So if you want to see luna moths, be certain to have some of these trees in your yard.
After maturing to the fifth instar, the caterpillars will spin papery brown cocoons in the fallen leaves under their host tree where they will overwinter. In that cocoon they will undergo complete metamorphosis , which is a miraculous transformation of cells that reorganize through what is called histolysis. The content of the pupa casings turns to mush. Then "leucocytes in the blood feed on the liquefying tissues and return to the blood the building blocks needed to construct the adult. Special cells (histoblasts)...in the larva start re-organizing that liquefied tissue, grabbing what they need to form the new organs that will operate the new body." (Source.) The moth will emerge in late spring to early summer into the spectacular winged stage of a bright green moth with a wingspan of up to four inches. Sound's like a great reason to leave the leaves!
To most of us, a pupa looks like any other pupa. Just another lesson to never judge a book by its cover and to ignore what we were all taught as kids that these brown sleeping insects are pests! Instead, they should be considered what they are, little packages of miracles. |
Photo by Donald W. Hall, Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida. |
|
|
APCC's Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program ~ pond group volunteers make it work! |
|
|
You'll find an interactive map with pond status and more information about our cyanobacteria monitoring program on our website APCC.org/cyano. |
Sign up for the Cyano Alert to receive an email when a pond is found to have a potentially toxic cyanobacteria bloom or scum, or is otherwise posted by a town with a Recreational Use Restriction (see definitions).
|
Eastham Conservation Foundation, Inc. (ECF) is currently working to purchase a one acre parcel that is embedded in an otherwise pristine upland forest. Watch for a campaign soon asking for contributions to the acquisition! ECF is an all volunteer organization and working with the other Lower Cape land trusts, which are all completely volunteer, to explore ways to collaborate and look to the future. Enjoy this video produced and directed by Chris Szwedo.
|
|
|
APCC is offering a paid internship position that begins in mid-August and ends in mid-November. The typical work schedule is a 37.5-hour work week over 4-5 days M-F. For the job description, click here. |
Our Freshwater Ponds ~ The Jewels of Cape Cod |
Plymouth gentian. Photo by Sue Machie. |
Ecologically Unique and Globally Rare Habitat
~ The Cape’s Coastal Plain Ponds Coastal plain ponds are ecologically unique and a globally rare habitat. We have coastal plain ponds here on Cape Cod, proving once again that we live in a very special place.
The Cape’s freshwater ponds are connected to groundwater, which is recharged by the rain and snow that falls and soaks into the ground. Unlike other parts of the country where streams and rivers fill the ponds and lakes, it is precipitation that replenishes our freshwater on Cape Cod. When we experience less than normal precipitation, the groundwater lowers and so does the level of water in the ponds and vice versa. It is this natural fluctuation of water levels that has created a special habitat niche for a remarkable plant community associated with coastal plain ponds.
The annual highwater level, usually observed in the spring and year-round in some wetter years, inundates the pondshore. This limits the common woody shrubs found around a pond to this elevation as they don’t like to be in standing water on a regular basis. Typical shrubs include high bush blueberry, leatherleaf and willow. Usually by late summer the water level in the pond drops and more of the shoreline is exposed. Like a bathtub ring, a band can be observed on the shoreline and this is where the specialized plant community comes to life.
Some of these plants produce seeds and others will remain rooted, only to become submerged beneath the pond’s water with the winter and spring precipitation. But they will patiently wait, dormant for a year or maybe several years will pass before the next low water opportunity exposes the shoreline. Only then can the seeds germinate and the plants grow and flower.
The plants that are characteristic of this specialized habitat include both commonly found species and globally restricted. Globally restricted means they are found in very few locations worldwide. Coastal plain pondshores are known to have an abundance of state-protected and globally restricted rare plants. An example of this is the Plymouth gentian (Sabatia kennedyana), which is found in significant populations, but only in these limited coastal plain pond shorelines that have not been altered. The Plymouth gentian is commonly found growing with the yellow flat-topped goldenrod (Euthamia tenuifolia), pink tickseed (Coreopsis rosea) and golden pert (Gratiola aurea). Numerous kinds of rushes and sedges, boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and purple gerardia (Agalinis purpurea) are commonly found with the state-listed rare New England boneset (Eupatorium novae-angliae) and the Maryland meadow beauty (Rhexia mariana).
The zonation of the coastal plain pond plant community is often described and is an observable gradation of plant species starting with a pitch pine-oak forest in the upland, followed by a shrub border dominated by highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) and green briar (Smilax rotundifolia). The next area around the pondshore, when exposed with lower water levels, is dominated by the coastal plain flat-topped goldenrod, pondshore rush (Juncus pelocarpus), pink tickseed, golden pert and, hopefully, the Plymouth gentian.
Next, at a slightly lower elevation around the pond in the semi-permanently flooded zone, you will find pipewort (Eriocaulon aquaticum). Easy to miss, the flower is a tiny white ball held above the water on a slender stem. In deeper water, you may see the yellow water-lily (Nuphar variegata) and the white water-lily (Nymphaea odorata). Not every pond has every zone and zones vary in width and species composition from year to year.
The coastal plain pond is also important habitat for numerous animal species, some of which are protected by the state as species of special concern, threatened or rare. The associated fauna includes over 45 species of dragonflies and damselflies, and the painted, musk, spotted, snapping, and federally endangered Plymouth red-bellied turtles. Coastal plain ponds support warm-water fish and freshwater mussels. The smaller ponds can function as vernal pool habitat when fish are absent.
Cape Cod’s coastal plain ponds have been said to be the best examples of these specialized coastal plain pond plant communities in New England. Observing the remnants of these coastal plain pond shorelines in flower is memorable, but could be fleeting as development pressure and human use threaten the vitality of the coastal pond habitat. Heavy human use, such foot traffic, off road vehicles and creation or enhancement of beaches, severely impacts plant growth and can result in total decimation of this fragile irreplaceable ecosystem. It’s been documented that even a few walking trips can create a dead zone where none of these distinctive plants will ever grow again.
Good water quality is important to preserve coastal plain pond habitat. Excess nutrients from fertilizer use, stormwater runoff, septic systems, and even large flocks of overwintering Canada geese (not a natural occurrence) serve to put a pond chemistry off balance and cause accelerated eutrophication. The surplus of nutrients results in excessive growth of algae and encourages other pond vegetation to grow, which can crowd out the special coastal plain pond plants. And because the wells for our drinking water are drawing from the same water table that creates these ponds, excessive drawdown of town wells for water consumption can influence the water levels. An unnatural fluctuation of water levels in the pond may result in upland habitat encroaching further into the pondshore, reducing the area of this specialized habitat. Invasive species, such as the common reed (Phragmites australis), can quickly take over and crowd out the little plants.
One of the most beautiful natural sights to see is a shoreline of one of these ponds in late summer. If you find yourself in the presence of these delicate beautiful plants, take a closer look, but please walk around.
This article, by Kristin Andres, APCC’s Associate Director for Education, appeared in the September 10, 2020 edition of The Cape Cod Chronicle. |
|
|
Pond Stories are a collection of writings and other media from Cape Codders and visitors who love the almost 1,000 local ponds that dot the Cape. We hope this collection of stories awakens your inner environmentalist to think deeper about our human impacts to these unique bodies of water. |
Send us your favorite pond photo, story, poem, video, artwork--we want to share with everyone why the Cape's ponds and lakes are so special! Email your pond connection to [email protected] |
|
|
Water Use Restrictions Posted in Your Town?
How about a rain barrel (or two) to harvest rainwater for your garden! |
|
|
Jim Ardito's rain barrels. |
| APCC Rain Barrel Program
$99 includes delivery to your door via FedEx.
Upcycle Products repurposes food barrels, otherwise destined for the landfill, to make these rain barrels. Choose your color - gray, black, blue, or terracotta. For more information and to order online,
CLICK HERE. For a how-to-use video, check this out from
Brewster Conservation Trust! |
|
|
A Cape Cod Native Plant-finder ~ to help you choose the perfect native plant for your garden location. |
|
|
|
Hyssop-leaved Boneset - Eupatorium hyssopifolium |
|
|
Email [email protected], 482 Main St, Dennis, MA 02638 and we'll send you a CapeCodNativePlants.org decal. |
|
|
Looking for a speaker? Check out APCC's Speakers Bureau. APCC staff speak on a variety of topics and are available by Zoom. If interested, please contact the staff person directly to make arrangements. |
|
|
Are you thinking of going solar? We hope so! In partnership with SUNPOWER BY E2 SOLAR in Dennis, APCC receives $500 for every solar installation when APCC is named as referral. |
|
|
| Thank you to the homeowners who just contracted to install solar panels through E2 Solar. May the sun always shine for you! |
|
|
| Every cup of coffee you drink could be supporting APCC's work and a local Cape Cod business.
But ONLY if it's Coastal Cape Blend from Cape Cod Coffee!
Order online. A portion of the proceeds for every bag of Coastal Cape Blend sold is donated to APCC. It's important to know that Cape Cod Coffee sources beans are Fair Trade & Rainforest Alliance certified,
and grown without the use of pesticides. |
|
|
Expressions Gallery 578 Main Street, Chatham
CLICK HERE |
Cape Cod Businesses ~ Cape Cod photography to enrich the workplace
Ocean to Office. APCC has partnered with EXPRESSIONS, a fine art photography gallery located in Chatham center, to provide Cape businesses the opportunity to beautify their offices with coastal photography while directly supporting protection of our cherished environment. This special offering gives back to APCC. CLICK HERE to learn more. |
|
|
Thank you to our business sponsors |
|
|
Our Contact Information *{{Organization Name}}* *{{Organization Address}}* *{{Organization Phone}}* *{{Organization Website}}*
*{{Unsubscribe}}* |
| |
|
|