Association to Preserve Cape Cod |
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| Lights Out by Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director |
With the modest and fairly typical nor’easter last week, many of us spent part of the day without utility power. Power outages were widely distributed across the region. Unless you were elderly, ill or reliant on home medical equipment, the outages were brief enough to amount to an inconvenient reminder of the sorry state of our power grid. |
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The lights go out on Cape Cod a lot and it does not seem to take much to cause an outage. If this most recent modest storm had the effect that it did, just imagine what the inevitable hurricane will do. Is it too much to ask that we are served by a power grid where the loss of power is the exception versus the expectation? Beyond our collective comfort, our economy relies on reliable power. Any hope that we have to electrify our homes and vehicles to lower carbon emissions is dependent on a much more robust grid and greater adoption of distributed generation (home solar panels paired with battery storage) than what we have now.
Not only does the grid need to become stronger, but it also needs to be less dumb. A grid that relies on the customer to notify the utility that the power is out, and that’s us people, is one severely in need of upgrading. With power and internet down, how well did your cell phone perform at the height of the storm? Not well, I suspect. With limited connectivity, how exactly are we all supposed to be in touch with Eversource to let them know we are cut off?
In a world where agreement on issues big and small is increasingly hard to come by, I am prepared to go out on a limb with the proposition that we all want our electricity on during storm events. Major investment in our electric delivery grid will be required to make this transformation. It is not just cable landings for offshore wind that will require new electricity infrastructure. Simple electric grid reliability necessitates new substations and enhanced transmission facilities, which include more buried lines. Of course these new facilities can and should be designed to minimize risk to the groundwater. In fact, many of the existing components of the energy delivery system are a greater daily risk to our water resources than the new stations that would support a more modern, reliable, and smarter grid.
How many more times will we collectively tolerate shivering in the dark before we get serious about building a more ecologically friendly and robust energy delivery system here on Cape Cod? |
2024 Winter-Spring Speaker Series Hosted by The 300 Committee Land Trust Thursday, February 29, 7:00 p.m. at the Cultural Center, Falmouth Museums on the Green
Cyanobacteria are an ancient group of photosynthetic microorganisms commonly found in freshwater systems on Cape Cod and worldwide. Under certain conditions, they can multiply rapidly and form harmful cyanobacteria blooms (HCBs). HCBs have increased because of nutrient enrichment and rising water temperatures due to warming resulting from climate change. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), certain common cyanobacteria can produce harmful toxins known as cyanotoxins. Julie Hambrook Berkman, Ph.D., project director, Pond and Cyanobacteria Monitoring Programs at the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), will tell the story of how APCC’s cyanobacteria pond monitoring program came to be, and how it has evolved along with the science as she shares the latest data for Cape Cod ponds.
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Saturday, March 9th
8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Tilden Arts Center, Cape Cod Community College
The annual Cape Cod Natural History Conference, now in its 27th year, will be hosted in-person once again at the Cape Cod Community College Tilden Arts Center! This conference will feature a series of presentations from area researchers from environmental organizations across Cape Cod, speaking on a diversity of timely natural history topics. Registration is required.
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APCC's restoration ecologist, Jordan Mora, will be giving a presentation about two projects where runneling and ditch remediation could be used to help reverse the effects of accelerated sea level rise on marshes that have been altered with agricultural and mosquito ditches.
One project is with Mass Audubon, where APCC conducted pre-restoration monitoring in the Barnstable Great Marsh and a runneling and ditch remediation plan has already been designed.
And at Chase Garden Creek in Dennis, with funding from the Lavori Sterling Foundation, APCC's Ecosystem Restoration Program staff analyzed the health of the salt marsh using aerial imagery and field-based methods. While no restoration has been designed for this location yet, runneling and ditch remediation are being considered as options to help improve coastal resiliency at Chase Garden Creek.
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April Wobst is APCC's restoration manager of our Ecosystem Restoration Program (formerly known as the Restoration Coordination Center). April has been with APCC since 2015. Starting as our lone restoration ecologist, she has managed this program, growing our team to three, and soon to be four, staff members. |
Since she started with APCC, April has worked on salt marsh, stormwater, former cranberry bog, and fish passage restoration projects all over the Cape. April is responsible for providing technical, planning, permitting, outreach, and management support to communities interested in completing restoration projects. She has helped APCC develop a strong network of town officials, funding agencies, private consultants, and other experts in the field of environmental restoration on Cape Cod.
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One of April’s most significant projects, which kicked off her tenure with APCC, was the Three Bays Stormwater Project in Barnstable. This six-year, two million dollar project, funded by EPA Southeast New England Program and Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, completed assessment and prioritization across the watershed and included construction at top priority sites. Upon completion in 2022, a total of nine green stormwater infrastructure systems were installed to prevent excess pollutants like nitrogen and bacteria from draining into the bays. April secured funding and worked closely with the town of Barnstable, Horsley Witten Group, and multiple local community partners to plan and implement the project. This project helped to lay the framework for our ongoing stormwater management projects to address runoff at priority public boat ramps and, working with the town of Yarmouth, to plan, design and install stormwater systems at priority sites.
When she is not at work, April enjoys spending time with her family: husband Greg and children, Liam and Zoe. Together, they like to explore, garden, go on hikes, draw and do crafts. |
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Now accepting applications for these positions: |
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| Eco-landscape Audit Program Manager - April through November
APCC is seeking a qualified individual who is passionate about native plants and ecological landscapes to be the team leader of APCC’s Eco-landscape Audit Program. It will be the second year for the program designed to offer ecological landscape consultations for homeowners. The program team will consist of one or two summer interns and the manager will be the team leader. Read more...
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| Ecological Land Care Intern(s) - May through August
The ecological land care summer intern will be part of a team with APCC’s Eco-Audit Program that conducts property assessments for homeowners who want to know more about how they can make their properties nature friendly. Intern will also help with maintaining the native landscape at APCC’s headquarters, and other related projects. Read more...
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| Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program Intern(s) |
APCC is seeking interns to help monitor cyanobacteria in Cape Cod’s freshwater ponds as part of APCC’s Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program. Candidate must be at least 18 years of age, have a high school diploma and one to three years of relevant field experience (e.g., limnology, biology, ecology, chemistry, and/or other science related to aquatic systems). Position starts mid-May. Read more...
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| Restoration Intern - June through September
As part of APCC's efforts to restore retired cranberry bogs, remove fish passage barriers, remediate stormwater runoff, improve water quality, and enhance salt marsh integrity, the restoration intern will assist with site assessment, monitor various aquatic habitats, assist with training volunteers in monitoring and survey protocols, and assist with education and outreach programming. Read more...
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| Restoration Coordinator - Full-time, year-round position
Responsibilities include managing restoration projects; managing and developing project and consultant engineer scope of work and budgets; working effectively with multiple partners and constituents to plan, initiate, manage and complete multi-year restoration projects, and assisting with seasonal field survey work as needed. Read more...
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The 2023 State of the Waters: Cape Cod report content can be viewed on this dedicated website: CapeCodWaters.org |
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Guidelines for Cape-friendly Landscapes - an APCC publication |
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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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Thank you for this important book! Hopefully everyone of us with a yard will read it and put it to use! - Vicky Titcomb of Titcomb Bookshop |
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?
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We are grateful for the several retail shops that are partnering with us 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, Titcomb's Bookshop, and Sea Howl Bookshop, Soares Flower Garden Nursery.
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. Please get on the map to show your support of pollinators on Cape Cod!
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| 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 plants for your garden. |
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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 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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APCC is rated four stars by Charity Navigator and 2023 Platinum by Candid (formerly Guidestar). |
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