Association to Preserve Cape Cod - this week... |
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| Voice Your Support for the EPA’s Report on the Machine Gun Range
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined that the multipurpose machine gun range proposed by the Massachusetts Army National Guard on the Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve would create “a significant public health hazard” due to potential contamination of the region’s drinking water supply. If the draft determination is finalized, federal funding to construct the project will not be allowed. The public comment period ends on June 26. A final decision will be issued by the EPA at the end of the comment period.
The public comment period gives us the opportunity to let the EPA know that concerned Cape Cod citizens and visitors support its draft determination—that the machine gun range poses too much of a risk to our drinking water supply and should be prohibited from being constructed.
CLICK HERE for a sample message and talking points. |
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We are ready if you are! Want to learn about ways you can make your landscape more Cape-friendly? Our team will come visit with you at your property and help you identify steps you can take to conserve water, protect water quality, support pollinators and birds, reduce your carbon footprint. A written report will provide you with more details and resources for more information about your interests. For more information CLICK HERE.
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John and Lindy Boiney, Eastham |
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Purchased by the town of Orleans in 2011, this 14.2-acre parcel had a history of agricultural activity. The town has worked to restore agricultural activity on this site, and today, the property is host to active agricultural fields. This diverse property also includes two isolated wetlands and abuts Boat Meadow Marsh, aka Jeremiah's Gutter. Last week on a beautiful day, a few of us from APCC staff enjoyed a tour of Putnam Farm from local advocate for the property and Orleans citizen, Rick Francolini.
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VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR POND MONITORING PROGRAM |
Want to contribute to the study of Cape Cod's freshwater ponds, learn more about our ponds, and have some fun? We are seeking volunteers to accompany APCC staff in a canoe and assist with the data collection.
Minimum time commitment is a full morning: A volunteer shift is 7:30 a.m. to ~ 12:30 p.m. Sampling days are Monday through Thursday. Once per month. Sign up for one time or more!
Physical ability. Volunteer must be comfortable being on the water and have the physical ability to get in and out of a canoe, to paddle to deepest point of pond, and to safely pivot in their seat to assist with the sampling and recording information on a field data sheet.
Pond monitoring will be conducted by APCC staff at the deepest point in the pond. Staff will use a canoe, and with the help of volunteers will measure depth, Secchi disk depth, water quality parameters using a sonde, and collection of water samples for lab analyses of nutrients, chlorophyll, and alkalinity. Lab analyses will be done by the Center for Coastal Studies, a state-certified laboratory contracted by APCC. If you are interested in learning more, please SIGN UP HERE. |
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Time for a break and a photo! Staff took a few minutes to gather out front of the office on a beautiful day last week for a quick photo. |
Front row, left to right: Caitlin, Matthew, Ben, Karen, and Julie. Back row left to right: Lillie, Hailey, Luke, Nick, Sophia, and JT. |
Old Ladies Against Garbage (OLAUG) - seeking participants! | |
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Now in its sixth year of removing litter from ponds, the Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage hope to double the size of their organization! With their present single team of six swimmers and three kayaks, the group of women can scout and clean only about a dozen ponds each summer. Two teams work could go on from Wellfleet to Falmouth at twice the rate!
To expand, OLAUG is holding tryouts for swimmers and paddlers on Saturday, June 24 in the Falmouth area. Women over 64 who are good swimmers, comfortable in ponds, and skilled in using mask and snorkel are invited to apply. The swim test is a half mile. More importantly is feeling at home for 60- 90 minutes in the water. |
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Women who are skilled enough in kayaking not to hit swimmers as they pop to the surface in unexpected places like cormorants, are also. welcomed. The balls, cans, tires, chairs, dog toys, squirt guns, caps and fishing lures that are brought off the bottom are loaded into the kayaks.
For further information please email [email protected] |
The Jewels of Cape Cod ~ Our Freshwater Ponds |
Snapping turtles. Photo by Susan Baur |
Can a snapping turtle love you? by Susan Baur
One of the dozens of snapping turtle stories I have heard involved two hatchlings that were found on a raw November afternoon far from any water. The young boy who found them stuck one in each pocket and headed home. There he convinced his mother that their only chance of survival was to be cared for over the winter. The mother looked at the scaly little reptiles, each the size of a fifty-cent piece, as they scrabbled across her kitchen counter. With their rough, black shells, sharp beaks, and long, knobby tails, they were... well, sort of adorable.
So from November to April the two snappers lived in a plastic kiddy pool in the kitchen. They sat on rocks and paddled in the water eating lettuce, turtle food, and mealy worms as the family went about its business around them. The hatchlings quickly learned when it was meal time and learned which of the voices they heard brought the greens and which changed the water. April came and the family sadly said good-bye to the snappers. The two had doubled in size over the winter, and now they scrambled down a bank into a cranberry bog. That, it seemed, was the end of the story. But two years later, the mother walked around this same cranberry bog with a friend. Deep in conversation, they paid no attention to the flooded bog until they spotted two dark heads moving toward them so fast that each left a little V-shaped wake behind it. Attracted by a familiar voice, the turtles made a beeline for the shore.
It is easy to say that the snappers associated the mother’s voice with food and that food was the only thing on their mind. However, I have swum for twenty years with turtles and have learned they are also driven by curiosity and even by a reptilian version of affection.
Snapping turtles are notoriously curious. They feel the need to check out every boat and swimmer who enters their pond. Some will shadow my passage as I move through their territory. If I swim with them long enough and become familiar, they will stretch their necks out toward me, flex their jaws in an alarming chewing motion which actually draws water in through their noses and allows them to smell me. I have been told they will even bump whatever it is they are examining, much as a dog sniffs another dog or a lamp post. I have not stuck around long enough to find out.
Musk and painted turtles play with me once I become a familiar fixture in their pond. One slides down my arm as if it was a slide. Others give me a poke when I pay too much attention to another turtle. Based on what I know of turtles, I think those snapper hatchlings were driven by curiosity and possibly affection as well as hunger when they heard a familiar voice. Nature is a lot more interested in us than we realize. They remember our good deeds. They respond to our interest in them. They want to be looked at and admired. Every being in nature is an individual, ready to interact in its way. |
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 [email protected] |
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.
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From the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative... |
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An important natural resource assessment report on what's at stake - "Hanging in the Balance"
The preservation of open space on Cape Cod isn't over yet! There are known mapped areas of critical habitat and valuable natural resources that need protection and should not be lost to development.
Click on the photo below to reach the Hanging in the Balance story map. 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. Click here for the full report (pdf).
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| 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. |
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APCC's 3rd Annual Native Perennial Plant Sale |
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Sponsored by BlueFlax Design, LLC |
| The plants are growing... Mark your calendars! We will make the online sales live Tuesday, June 6th at 8 a.m. Look for a button on our website homepage.
As in the past two years, orders are taken online, APCC staff person will contact you to confirm we can fill your order, arrange for payment and to schedule a pickup day and time.
Be thinking about where you have room for more native plants, and where lawn can be reduced and planting beds expanded!
The list is below - start doing your research! Native perennials for Cape Cod Gardens: CapeCodNativePlants.org. All are native, but some are native to regions south and west, but will do well here in the managed landscape. To learn more about the nativity of each, go to GoBotany.NativePlantTrust.org.
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Plants that will be available at the sale: Pyncanthemum flexuosum; Penstemon digitalis; Sympyhotrichum cordifolium; Solidago caesia; Eupatorium perfoliatum; Helinium autumnale; Veronicastrum virginicum; Rudbeckia laciniata; Tiarella cordifolia; Zizea aurea; Eupatorium hyssopifolium; Echinacea purpurea; Sporobolus heterolepis; Eragrostis spectabilis; Hibiscus moscheutos; Asclepias incarnata; Prunella vulgaris; Pycnanthemum muticum; Pycnanthemum tenuifolium; Sympyhotrichum laeve; Monarda punctata; Geranium maculatum; Chelone glabra; Monarda fistulosa; Aquilegia canadensis; Baptisia tinctoria
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A Cape Cod Native Plant-selector ~ to help you choose the perfect native plant for your garden location. |
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Eastern Prickly Pear, Opuntia humifusa |
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News from the Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod -
The National Organization of Pollinator Pathway has named Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod one of the top 15 pathways in the country. This wonderful designation is a reflection of the hard work and enthusiasm of all of the PPCC members and individuals who are making a difference with their properties. Congratulations to all!
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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!
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| Rain Barrels for Cape Cod
Order online from Upcycle Products $99 each
includes FedEx shipping to your door APCC receives a portion of the proceeds.
For more information, click here. |
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| APCC Enewsletters. Our weekly newsletters are archived on our website and easily shared.
You can find past newsletters and share with your friends to sign up for future enewsletters HERE. |
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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.
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| Thank you to the homeowners who just contracted to install solar panels through E2 Solar. May the sun always shine for you! |
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Expressions Gallery, 578 Main Street, Chatham
CLICK HERE |
Expressions Gallery donates 20 percent of its profits to APCC's work. |
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Thank you to our business sponsors |
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