Association to Preserve Cape Cod

Above photo by Sue Machie

What I'm Thinking...

Looking to Spring

by Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director

While it finally feels like winter, my mind has gone to spring, but not just because spring brings with it longer days. On Cape Cod, spring is also the heart of the town political season. The seeds for what we want to see from our towns need to be planted now in order to bear fruit.

The deadline for spring town meeting articles is fast approaching. If you want your town to invest in open space, fund water quality improvements, provide conservation protection to municipally-owned land, improve stormwater management, or otherwise commit to making environmental improvement—now is the time to get warrant articles submitted, so they can be voted on in the spring.

Nomination papers will also soon become available for people wanting to run for local office in spring 2025 elections. People matter, and who is elected to town select boards matters a whole lot. It is not too early to find environmentally conscious candidates to run for open seats, and to contest those seats where incumbents have not prioritized environmental stewardship.

The time is now for the citizens of Cape Cod to lay the foundation for the environmental improvement we all hope to see locally in 2025. As I have said in the past, progress locally relies on people like you who are reading this column to act. Rather than wishing someone else will do something, take on the task you see as undone as your own.

APCC's Ecosystem Restoration Program

Above: The Mashpee River as it runs through the Mashpee River Reservation, a property of The Trustees of Reservations.

Community-Driven Restoration on the Mashpee River

APCC has recently been awarded a $2.58 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to restore fish habitat and passage along the Mashpee River. This funding, combined with additional funding from the town of Mashpee, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Cape Cod Water Resources Restoration Project, and private foundations, will support a comprehensive restoration effort.

APCC's Ecosystem Restoration Program will work closely with the town of Mashpee, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WBNERR), NOAA, NRCS, the Cape Cod Conservation District, and other local and regional partners to implement this project. The long-term goal is to restore habitat and improve fish passage along the entire five-mile length of the Mashpee River, from its source at Mashpee-Wakeby Pond to Popponesset Bay.

The Mashpee River, an integral part of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's ancestral homeland, is home to one of Cape Cod's largest river herring runs and supports a native brook trout population. The project will focus on three key areas: coordinating with the town of Mashpee and NRCS to improve fish passage in the upper river, restoring a natural wetland from an abandoned cranberry bog near Washburn Pond, and conducting a comprehensive hydrological assessment.

A cornerstone of this project will be active community engagement and capacity building. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe will play an indispensable role throughout the restoration process, providing expertise in tribal knowledge, traditional ecological knowledge, and cultural perspectives. Tribal staff will actively participate in restoration planning, project management, and monitoring, ensuring that tribal interests and priorities are fully integrated into every stage of the project.

Furthermore, a comprehensive community visioning process will be facilitated by WBNERR, providing a platform for both tribal and non-tribal community members to actively participate in the restoration process. This inclusive approach will ensure that the restoration priorities reflect the diverse needs and values of the entire community, fostering a shared sense of ownership and stewardship for the Mashpee River.

This project represents a significant step towards preserving the health and vitality of the Mashpee River. By working closely with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the town of Mashpee, and other partners, we can ensure that this restoration effort honors the cultural and ecological significance of this river. - Andrew Gottlieb, APCC executive director

For more information, please visit our project webpage.

Bud ID – Black Oak

by Erin Camire, Ecolandscape Program Coordinator

Welcome to the new year everyone, and while it’s a bit late, if you’re still looking for a new year’s resolution, learning bud identification is a great option!

Today we’re finally diving into individual species identification, starting with the ever-majestic black oak (Quercus velutina). The format of this identification guide will go through all the bud features we’ve covered so far, (branch arrangement, bud scales, bud coatings, bud placement, and leaf scars) and discuss how each applies to our species of the week. The order of these articles has been intentional, so that now walking through them all is extremely similar to my personal method for keying out any buds that I come across, which I hope will leave you all with an educated and organized guide. This will be the first of two parts on this species, so without further ado, let’s dive into branch arrangement.

When I approach any twig for identification the very first thing I do is check to see if the twigs are opposite. Remember that there are far less species with opposite branch arrangements, narrowing your search significantly. Unfortunately, in this case, the twigs of black oak are alternate, meaning the buds are placed like stepping-stones up the stem. While an alternate arrangement doesn’t eliminate too many species, we can still cross off a few, such as all maples, dogwoods, viburnums, and all ash trees, all members of the Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family, and horse chestnut. But with our branching pattern identified, we can move on to bud scales.

Now we can look at the buds themselves. What you will notice right away is that they are large, with a light tannish color, and feature lots of small, fuzzy hairs, but we’ll get into that later. For now, be on the lookout for the scale pattern, which will be either imbricate, valvate, single-scaled, or naked. As you look closely, you will begin to make out the tell-tale features of imbricate scales; creating a shingle-like effect with all the scales overlapping. Black oaks are a textbook example of this scale pattern, as long as you can see it through the dense hairs. Which, speaking of, let’s talk about bud coatings.

It is immediately apparent that black oak buds are extremely pubescent. The entirety of the bud is covered with a dense layer of soft, velvety hairs, which protect the bud from extreme temperatures and browse damage. Keep this in mind, as this is a unique feature of black oaks when compared to the other oak species around the Cape. Red oak (Quercus rubra) and white oak (Quercus alba) do not feature any pubescence, and scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea) only features hairs on the upper half of the bud. The buds of scarlet oak are also on average smaller than black oak.

One important note to keep in mind is that oaks are extremely variable, if you find an oak twig that matches all other features of a black oak, but only has hairs on the upper third of the bud, don’t immediately throw out everything you’ve nailed down. The amount of pubescence on the buds is different for every individual, and can be different even on separate branches of the same individual. This is a trait with a lot of variety, so I would not recommend using it as your key identification feature, but rather just keeping it in mind as you look over the buds.

Next time around we’re going to be digging into bud placement, leaf scars, and the general variety of black oak buds. So, until then, keep an eye out for any black oak twigs you encounter out in our woodlands.

Spotlight on Rodenticides, They're Poison!

SGARs (Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides) are having an unacceptable impact on our wildlife, particularly birds of prey and other predators.

Do you have a contract with a pest control service to control rodents? Do you know what methods they are using? If it's bait boxes that contain rat poison, have them removed—all of them. There are other alternatives. Your contractor may be using them according to the regulations, but that's the problem. The regulations need to be changed. In fact, we believe as many do, there should be a state ban on their use.

If you want to help,

SIGN UP with MA Audubon.

Cape Cod has a regional effort: "Rescue Our Raptors."

Local partners include Cape Wildlife Center, Wild Care Cape Cod,

Sierra Club Cape Cod, and APCC.

Stay informed on Facebook: Rescue Cape Cod Raptors

Events Hosted by Others

A Cape-wide Conservation Event Calendar

The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts (“the Compact”) and its nonprofit members launched a new regional calendar of events. The Conservation Calendar includes programs across Cape Cod hosted by these groups. The goal of the calendar is to encourage visitors and residents to take part in nature and environmental events. You can always find the link to the calendar on APCC's website under News & Events.

A Cape Cod Native Plant-selector

~ to help you choose the perfect native plants for your garden.

Email membership@apcc.org and we'll send you a CapeCodNativePlants.org decal.

Christmas Fern

Polystichum acrostichoides

Guidelines for Cape-friendly Landscapes - an APCC publication

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.

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

Get your copy here—and maybe one for a friend?

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, Sea Howl Bookshop, Soares Flower Garden Nursery, and Eight Cousins Bookshop.

If you are a retailer and would like to sell this publication at your store, please contact us.

You can also view the book's content as a pdf on our website.

If you support our work,

consider giving a

gift of an APCC Membership

to your favorite environmentalist!

See the gift options here.

APCC Merch

Available for online purchase and shipping in the U.S. is free:

APCC caps

$25

+++++++++++++++++

Garden for Life T's

$30

Click here

for more information and to order.

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!

You can purchase the 9-inch aluminum Pollinator Pathway Cape Cod sign at Hyannis Country Garden, Crocker Nurseries, Brewster Book Store, Orleans Conservation Trust, and Cape Abilities Farm.

If you are a retailer, and you would like to sell the signs, you can order online here, or email pollinators@apcc.org.