Association to Preserve Cape Cod - this week...

View of Great Beach Hill, Wellfleet. Photo by Sue Machie

Welcome to our newest staff members!

Sophia Feuerhake

Sophia has been monitoring the water quality of Cape Cod kettle ponds for the past two years and has a deep admiration for these rich and dynamic ecosystems.

She is excited to join APCC as senior water quality analyst to collect monthly water quality data of 50 kettle ponds throughout Cape Cod, which will help to inform pond management, restoration and protection actions. Sophia says she is looking forward to meeting many of you out on the ponds!

John-Tyler Percy

John-Tyler ("JT") is a geosciences undergrad student and APCC's pond monitoring technician. Working with Sophia, he is responsible for collecting water quality data in accordance with standardized procedures in the QAPP for APCC's new pond monitoring program, part of the Cape Cod Commission's Freshwater Initiative.

APCC is still accepting applications for two seasonal positions.

For more information on these position openings,

CLICK HERE.

Spring on Cape Cod!

Above photo by Sue Machie

Herring and Elvers ~ two keystone species essential to ecosystem health

The river herring of the Northeast U.S. include the alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and the blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis). Herring are anadromous fish, which means they spend their adult life in the ocean and spawn in freshwater.

In the ocean, herring also fill an important niche. They are a food source for larger fish like striped bass and bluefish, dolphins and whales, and numerous other sea creatures. They are called a keystone species, which is a species whose health and well-being reflects the overall state of the coastal ecosystem and can also be an indicator of water quality problems.

As adults, river herring live in marine waters most of the year. They arrive at the Cape as early as mid-March, swimming through estuaries to where the freshwater meets the salt. There is some speculation that they return to the freshwater pond in which they were born and it is here they will spawn the next generation.

This is a harrowing trek as they swim the gauntlet of predators that over the millennia have cued into their arrival. The herring arrive when the gulls, osprey and herons are seeking nourishment for themselves and food for their young. Terrestrial predators include racoons and river otters. River herring are a crucial link in the food chain.

In general, spawning is initiated for alewives when the water temperature reaches 51 F (10.6 C). Alewives generally spawn in ponds. During spawning, the eggs settle and stick to gravel, stones, logs, or other objects. Unlike Pacific salmon that die after spawning, herring typically survive and move back to the ocean after spawning. Toward the end of summer and early fall, the young fish will head out of the ponds, down the streams and into the estuaries when they are about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches long and will eventually move to the open ocean to live their adult life.

Below photos by Gerald Beetham

In the clear water of springtime you may see young American eel (Anguilla rostrata). The eel is a fish, and it has a catadromous life cycle; that is, it spawns in the ocean and migrates to fresh water to grow to adult size. As adult eels mature, they leave the brackish/freshwater growing areas in the fall and migrate to the Sargasso Sea and spawn during the late winter. The Sargasso Sea is a large area of the western North Atlantic located east of the Bahamas and south of Bermuda.

After spawning, the adult eels die. The eggs hatch after several days and develop into a larval stage (leptocephalus), which is shaped like a willow leaf. The larvae drift in the ocean for several months and then enter the Gulf Stream current to be carried north toward the North American continent. As they approach the continental shelf, the larvae transform into miniature transparent eels called "glass eels."

As glass eels leave the open ocean to enter estuaries and ascend rivers they are known as elvers. This migration occurs in late winter, early spring, and throughout the summer months. Some elvers may remain in brackish waters while others move up streams far inland. Eels may stay in growing areas from 8-25 years before migrating back to sea to spawn! (Source.)

For more information about these species and to see videos, click here.

Video Share!

Enjoy this underwater video by Chris Seufert of herring at Stony Brook in Brewster (filmed eight years ago).

APCC Merch

By popular request...

APCC Caps are now available for purchase!

$25

includes shipping & handling

Click here for more information

and to order.

This is one great way to show your support for APCC's work.

APRIL is Earth Day Month!

Brewster Ponds Coalition hosts

Cape-Friendly Landscapes

~ Design and maintenance, mindful of nature

Tuesday, April 25th

3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Brewster Ladies' Library

APCC's associate director for education, Kristin Andres, will discuss our landscapes and gardens, and how they play an important role in the health of the Cape’s environment. For more information, CLICK HERE.

Please Join Us for an APCC Film Event

Thursday, May 11th at 7 p.m.

The Erie Situation

at the Cape Cinema, Dennis with panel discussion to follow the showing

Tickets $15 through Cape Cinema

Proceeds support APCC

Hanging in the Balance ~

A New APCC Report

Hanging in the Balance: An Urgent Call for Protecting Cape Cod’s Natural Resources is a report by APCC that provides a comprehensive analysis of key natural resources on Cape Cod. The report examines past and present impacts to natural resources, current threats, case studies, and recommended actions that promote protection, preservation and restoration of the region’s most important resource areas.

^{Click here for the report pdf.}

It's Storytime!

Click on the photo below to reach the Hanging in the Balance story map. Don't know what a story map is? It's a format that allows images, both still shots, maps, and video to be linked together in one smooth transition accompanied by text. Once you click the photo, you will be at the story map. Then simply scroll down through the images and text that tell the story.

The Jewels of Cape Cod ~ Our Freshwater Ponds

A pond in Catuamet. Photo by Emily L Ferguson

Pond Stories is a collection of writings and other media from Cape Codders and visitors who love the 890 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 kandres@apcc.org

Have a favorite pond? Want to connect with others who are active in protecting their ponds? Join the Cape Cod Ponds Network. For more information about past meetings of the Pond Network and to sign up (scroll down the page), click here.

Just a Teaser -

We will hold our third annual native plant sale in early June. More information to come in May.

In the meantime, be thinking about where you have room for more native plants, and where lawn can be reduced and planting beds expanded.

Click here for some garden examples and scroll down the page.

The Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod is a group of organizations promoting native plants and pollinator-friendly land care practices to create a boat load of safe oases for our native bees, butterflies and a whole host of other pollinators that are crucial to the health of our ecosystems. Join us! It's easy. There are no fees. You just need to pledge to ADD native plants, SUBTRACT a little lawn, AVOID yard chemicals, especially pesticides, and LEAVE the leaves. And, help us spread the word. If you wish, please get on the map to show your support of pollinators!