Association to Preserve Cape Cod |
Bells Neck, Harwich. Photo by Sue Machie. |
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| Appreciation Andrew Gottlieb, APCC Executive Director
No heavy messages from me this week, just best wishes for a joyous Thanksgiving for you and your family. There is restorative value in taking a pause and reflecting on all the positives we have and APCC has plenty. APCC has a fantastic staff of hard working and dedicated professionals, a supportive and generous board of directors, and an engaged and dedicated membership. |
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There is plenty left to do this year and even more hard work ahead in 2024, but for now let’s all breathe easy, recharge, and enjoy family and friends on a Thanksgiving day not to be spoiled by the Patriots. |
APCC is proud to announce... We have just earned Four Stars with Charity Navigator and a 2023 Gold Seal with Candid (formerly GuideStar)! |
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Charity Navigator is the world’s largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator, and we earned a Four-Star Rating! This is the highest possible rating on Charity Navigator.
Charity Navigator’s third-party accreditation validates our organization’s operational excellence.
Candid is a nonprofit that provides the most comprehensive data and insights about the social sector. Candid was formed in 2019 when GuideStar and Foundation Center merged. This milestone achievement for APCC couldn’t have happened without YOU and your support. Thank you for being part of our family as contributors, funders, and volunteers. We are grateful. Your trust and support helps us make a difference in our efforts to preserve the Cape's natural resources and inspire an environmental ethic. |
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Freshwater Initiative
Ponds are complex systems with physical, chemical, and biological interactions affected by weather and sediments, stormwater and groundwater flows, and human and wildlife activity. Compiling information to understand, preserve, and improve the health and sustainability of Cape Cod's 890 ponds is a complex task. A team of Cape Cod Commission staff, partners (including APCC), and consultants continue to work on the effort that began last year.
To understand the dynamics at work affecting water quality in ponds, the commission hired a limnologist, a specialist familiar with the biogeochemical interactions in freshwater bodies, the monitoring metrics needed to track these interactions, and potential strategies to address water quality problems. A limnologist helps the team ask the right questions, delve deeply into the potential sources of the issues, and consider solutions to water quality decline. Read more from the Cape Cod Commission.
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Cape Cod Commission receives grant to enhance water quality monitoring with satellite imagery and APCC is a partner. |
The Cape Cod Commission will lead an effort to expand satellite-derived water quality data collection and analysis and enhance existing pond monitoring efforts, funded by a $298,527 Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Priority Research Grant.
Working with project partners at the University of Minnesota, University of Rhode Island (URI) Watershed Watch, and the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the Commission will collect and analyze field data to correlate observations from satellite imagery with measured water quality data. |
Cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, is a low growing, woody, trailing, perennial vine. Its native range extends in temperate climate zones from the East Coast to the Central U.S. and Canada and from Southern Canada in the north to the Appalachians in the south. As we know, the fruit of the cranberry is often harvested in water, especially on commercial farms. However, contrary to popular thought, cranberry vines grow best out of the water and on dry land.
Read more of Homeowners’ Guide to Cranberry Vine Propagation. |
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"Moths are all around us. They share our natural areas and gardens, and sometimes they share our food crops, and even our clothes. Love them or despise them, moths play profoundly important roles in our environment—as pollinators; as food for songbirds, bats, and other wildlife; as part of the clean-up crew that recycles organic waste; and more—and they deserve our conservation attention." - The Xerces Society
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Luna Moth, photo by Gerald Beetham |
Moths generally get a bad rap unless they are real lookers, such as some of the silk moths that include the stunning lime-green Luna moth (photo above) or the large reddish, black, brown and tan cecropia moth. We generally think of the bad actors in the moth world that eat holes in our woolen blankets or plague the pantry, or the non-native spongy moth, formerly called the gypsy moth, that every so many years has decimated our oak trees due to an unchecked population explosion. But guess what? Moths offer a huge array of ecological benefits. Scientists have only recently discovered how incredibly important moths are in pollinating plants in the wild and in managed landscapes. Perhaps because these nocturnal insects have been doing this important pollination work at night! Moths, like butterflies, have very specialized relationships with certain plants that have developed through the millennia that ensures the survival of both species. And in all of their life stages, moths are critical bird food and food for nighttime feeders such as bats.
Above an excerpt from an article in The Cape Cod Chronicle, "Moth Mania" by Kristin Andres, APCC associate director for education. |
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| Keeping land stewardship locally relevant.
Our region is very different than the rest of the Commonwealth. Our sandy soils, coastal setting are a hotspot for biodiversity and globally threatened ecosystems. The typical suburban landscape dominated by non-native species that do not support local fauna and the traditional chemically treated turf lawn contribute to a decline in local food webs and water quality.
"Design with Nature on Cape Cod and the Islands [published in 2022] seeks to reverse this damaging trend by offering landscape professionals, local officials, and homeowners a sustainable approach to landscape design based on the ecoregion’s native plants and plant communities. Presenting detailed discussions of Cape Cod’s natural history, Jack Ahern focuses on the principal plant communities that define its landscape character and that are well adapted to local soils and growing conditions, including climate change. The book also includes strategies for ecological planting design and a portfolio of photographs of active ecologically designed landscapes." - University of Massachusetts Press
Author, Jack Ahern, is professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
APCC's Living Landscape is featured on pages 128 & 129! |
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The Guidelines gives homeowners steps they can take in the design and maintenance of their properties that will support pollinators and birds, manage stormwater, conserve water, and protect the Cape's water quality.
This 40-page booklet is beautifully illustrated by Marcy Ford with content that is easily digestible and supported by numerous resources for additional learning. |
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We've enjoyed creating it and hope it will help you with ideas to help you steward your piece of Cape Cod and maybe foster an environmental ethic in the decisions we all make in our own managed landscapes. Get your copy here—and maybe one for a friend? |
We are partnering with several retail shops to make this publication more widely available: Brewster Book Store, Birdwatchers General Store, Crocker Nurseries, Wellfleet Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, Cape Abilities Farm, Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, the Cape Cod Lavender Farm, Heritage Museums and Gardens, and Sea Howl Bookshop. If you are a retailer and would like to sell this publication at your store, contact Kristin at [email protected]. |
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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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| By popular request...
APCC Caps are 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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A Cape Cod Native Plant-selector ~ to help you choose the perfect native plant for your garden location. |
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| Little Bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium |
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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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