Environmental News
Earth Day 2024 Events – In Mashpee:
Saturday, April 20, 2024, 9am to 1pm – Textile Recycling, Secure Shredding, and Composting Event, Mashpee Senior Center, 26 Frank E Hicks Drive. This FREE event is co-sponsored by the Mashpee Environmental Coalition and Mashpee Department of Public Works. Since it is now illegal to discard any clothing or textiles in the trash, residents can drop off for recycling bags of unwanted, torn, ripped and stained items including bedding, footwear, tablecloths, towels, and even stuffed animals — for both people and pets — as long as they are clean and dry. For a full list of textile items that must now be recycled, click here. A secure shredding company will also be onsite to safely destroy documents with confidential information, at no cost. And, for those who wish to learn more about composting, information and a free kitchen scrap bucket will be distributed to attendees, with home composting bins also on sale. For additional information, see our flyer or email us at [email protected].
Saturday, April 20, 2024, 11am to 4pm, Honor the Earth Fair, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Government Center, 493 Great Neck Road South, Mashpee – Co-sponsored by the Native Land Conservancy and the Mashpee Wampanoag Natural Resources Department. This free event is open to the public and will feature exhibitors and vendors with a shared mission to protect and preserve the ancestral homelands of the Wampanoag. Activities include opening remarks by Chief Earl Mills Jr., cultural crafts, traditional singing and dancing, and children‘s activities. For additional information, go to: https://mashpeewampanoagtribe-nsn.gov/2024-march-mittark-blog/2024/2/28/honor-the-earth-fair.
Sunday, April 21, 2024, 1pm to 3pm, Atlantic White Cedar Tree Planting at Santuit Pond Preserve, Santuit Pond Parking Lot (followed by a short walk), 117 Main Street, Mashpee – Hosted by the Mashpee Conservation Department, the Mashpee Environmental Coalition is pleased to be a sponsor of this worthwhile endeavor. Volunteers should contact [email protected], and bring gloves, boots, and a shovel that day if possible. For additional information, click here.
Additional Earth Day 2024 Events – Upper Cape and Beyond:
Friday, April 19, 2024, 12:30pm to 3:30pm, Beach Upcycle – Making Art from Found Material, Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Visitors Center, 131 Waquoit Hwy, East Falmouth – This free, drop-in program to celebrate Earth Day is offered for kids and adults alike, rain or shine, where art projects will be made using materials found at South Cape Beach. Additional information may be found at: https://waquoitbayreserve.org/events/earth-day-beach-upcycle/.
Saturday, April 20, 2024, 10am to 2pm – 23rd Annual Cape Cod Canal Clean-Up – Join AmeriCorps Cape Cod at the Herring Run Recreation Area, 810 Scenic Highway, Bourne, MA. Clean-up supplies provided, as well as lunch, family-friendly activities, and more! To register and learn more, please go to: https://www.capecod.gov/departments/americorps/what-we-do/annual-program-events/.
NOTE: For a full list of Earth Day Events Worldwide, check out the map on the earthday.org website toward the bottom of the page at: https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/.
Recent and Upcoming Events:
Guided Nature Tours in Mashpee throughout March 2024 will take place as follows: Saturday, March 2, 2024, 9:00am, Santuit Pond Preserve Park; Saturday, March 9, 2024, 9:00am, Mashpee River Woodlands – Cottontail Trail; Saturday, March 16, 2024, 9:00am, Mashpee River Woodlands – South; Saturday, March 23, 2024, 9:00am, Santuit Pond Preserve Park; Saturday, March 30, 2024, 9:00am, Mashpee River Woodlands – West. These guided walking tours, sponsored by the Mashpee Conservation Department, are offered free-of-charge, and are weather dependent. Additional information and directions may be found at: https://www.mashpeema.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif3426/f/uploads/0324_nature_tour_press_release.pdf.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 10:30am to 11:30am, How Compostables Can Improve Sustainability and Your Business’s Bottom Line, Hampton Inn, 99 Route 28, West Yarmouth – Co-sponsored by CARE for the Cape and Islands and the Take Care Cape Cod Coalition, this free event will focus on resources available to support transitioning from single-use plastic and Styrofoam to sustainable Serviceware. Advance registration is required at: www.tinyurl.com/takecarecapecod.
Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 7pm to 9pm, Urine Diversion Forum, Falmouth Library, Hermann Room, 300 Main Street, Falmouth – Earle Barnhart and Hilda Gay of the Green Center along with Bryan Horsley of MASSTC will share information about Falmouth’s pilot program. Please note that this pilot is not restricted to Falmouth residents. For additional information and to join their email list, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
Monday, April 1, 2024, Pollinator Gardening, Times and Locations TBD – Friends of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge will work alongside AmeriCorps Cape Cod and Mashpee Conservation volunteers to clean up and plant in one or more pollinator gardens at Jehu, Red Brook, and Pickerel Cove. For more information and if interested in helping, contact [email protected].
Save these dates: Monday, May 6, 2024 – Mashpee Annual Town Meeting and Saturday, May 11, 2024 – Mashpee Town Election
Information Items:
Waterways in the News – Waquoit Bay. At its board meeting on February 12, 2024, the Mashpee Select Board unanimously passed the Waquoit Bay Nitrogen Load Allocation Intermunicipal Agreement between the Towns of Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich – thus enabling the three towns to jointly file for a watershed permit with the state. This is indeed good news for Waquoit Bay.
A Special “Shout Out” to the Waquoit Bay Reserve for their incredible full-day workshop in November 2023 on how to manage healthy ponds by using oxygenation – and no chemicals. This technique has proven successful in lakes and ponds across the US, as well as right here on Cape Cod with Sarah’s Pond in Orleans – thanks to an initiative undertaken by the Orleans Pond Coalition. The full-day program, including agenda, presenter information, and PowerPoints may be found at the link below. For anyone interested in learning more about a fully natural way to help manage our freshwater ponds, this approach is well worth exploring: https://waquoitbayreserve.org/pond-oxygenation-workshop-learning-through-case-studies/
Satellites to Assist with Water Quality Monitoring on Cape Cod – The Cape Cod Commission recently received a grant to enhance freshwater quality monitoring with satellite imagery. As posted on their website, partnering with other organizations “. . . 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.” The full announcement and program description may be found at: https://www.capecod.gov/2023/11/01/cape-cod-commission-receives-grant-to-enhance-water-quality-monitoring-with-satellite-imagery/
Recycling Reminder: As of November 2022, it is now illegal to discard any clothing or other textile items in the trash, even if stained, ripped, threadbare, or filled with holes. The full list of items that must now be recycled may be accessed at the link provided, courtesy of Bay State Textiles. MEC hopes to hold textile drives twice each year — one in April as an Earth Day event, and one in August alongside the Hazardous Waste Dropoff. Exact dates and times each year will be posted above under “Upcoming Events”. More information may be found at: List of Clothing and Textiles that must now be Recycled
Like Ospreys? Thanks to the Friends of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge and Comcast, you can now watch – and listen to – the osprey nest of Rachel and Carson and their two new babies located at the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. To access this live feed, click on the link below, then “Osprey Cam” at: https://www.friendsofmashpeenationalwildliferefuge.org/
Two Sad Losses for Mashpee
With deep sadness and regret, we learned about the unexpected loss of Raymond (Ray) Jack, who passed away on June 17, 2023. This was just six months after hearing about the passing of Dr. Brian Howes on December 13, 2022. The expertise and dedication of both men in helping Mashpee with its water quality issues will be sorely missed.
Important Fertilizer Reminder: Mashpee regulates the application of fertilizer as follows:
- No application of nitrogen is permitted between October 30 and April 14 — or at any time within 100′ of specified waterways
- No application of phosphorus is permitted between December 1 and March 1 — or at any time within 20′ of specified waterways
Even during acceptable dates, no application is permitted before or during a heavy rainfall or when the ground is saturated. These regulations are detailed in the Nitrogen Control Bylaw, amended 2017, available at www.mashpeema.gov, under Town Clerk. However, please note that Mashpee Town Manager, Rodney C. Collins, issued a Special Water Quality Alert to all property owners asking them to discontinue the use of fertilizers on lawns and landscaped areas. This alert is available at https://www.mashpeema.gov/home/news/special-water-quality-alert-july-2021. Thank you for helping to keep Mashpee’s waterways clean!
Monthly Board of Directors Meeting Schedule
Board meetings of the Mashpee Environmental Coalition (MEC) are held via Zoom the second Thursday of each month (January to November) starting at 4:00pm unless otherwise noted below. There is no meeting in December. Please note that our Annual Meeting takes place the second Thursday in September at 4:00pm followed by the September board meeting.
All are welcome to attend. If you wish to attend one of our meetings, please contact [email protected] by 12:00 noon the day before the meeting so the Zoom link can be emailed to you.
Snapshot Data 2000-2013
In 2003 the Mashpee Environmental Coalition introduced the “Pond Health Program” with volunteer water samplers measuring and recording water column parameters in each of Mashpee’s six major ponds with public access. Collected data was made available to the scientific and local communities. Below are data collected between 2000 and 2013.
Mashpee’s Department of Natural Resources has since taken over the collection of water samples from Mashpee’s waterways.
Right-of-Way Herbicides
While our County Agencies talk to establishing individual town negotiations with transmission line owners on this threat to our potable water supply, they are fostering a divide and conquer approach threatening progress on this important health threat.
Visit for additional information.
The statement below is NStar’s March 2011,not very encouraging, position
NSTAR is the largest Massachusetts-based electric and gas utility with almost a million and a half customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts . It has released this statement about suspending the use of herbicides for much of this year.
NStar is extending its voluntary moratorium on herbicide use through 2011, demonstrating once again the company’s commitment to working cooperatively with the Cape Cod Commission and other local officials. This latest extension will allow sufficient time for the completion of a comprehensive study to quantify and ultimately reduce herbicide and pesticide use by all users on Cape Cod.
In addition to improved mapping of private wells in 2010, progress has also been made in identifying the primary sources of herbicide and pesticide use on Cape Cod. Results to date confirm NSTAR’s IVM program represents a very small portion of the total Cape-wide herbicide use, though there’s more work to be done in documenting and sharing all of the facts. Therefore, NSTAR supports the commissioning of a comprehensive year-long study that further investigates the sources and effects of herbicide and pesticide use on the Cape and establishes guidelines toward its reduction. To lessen the appearance of undue influence on the study, NSTAR will not provide funding and will have only limited involvement in it.
With this latest extension of its voluntary herbicide moratorium comes the need for NSTAR to resume clear-cut mowing on Cape Cod rights-of-way in 2011. Federal regulations require utilities to demonstrate their compliance with strict standards set forth after the Northeast blackout of 2003. Though integrated vegetation management programs are recognized nationwide as the best practice for right-of-way maintenance to meet ecological and reliability standards, clear-cut mowing will be NSTAR’s only viable option on Cape Cod this year. Work is underway to finalize the company’s plans to resume mowing and details will be shared with the affected towns as soon as they are available.
Storm Water
Storm water, from its inception as rain or snow and via its travel as runoff across our lawns, roads and parking lots, adds to itself many forms of unwanted constituents from diverse sources. As it falls from the sky it adds an airborne contaminants to its makeup and then proceeds to include a variety of substances related to human activities.
Lawn fertilizer over-spills onto roads and driveways, the byproducts of automotive utilization such as exhaust, fluid leakage and brake pad wear combined with animal waste products plus many other items, when transported by storm water runoff, create a source of damage to our ground and surface waters that is a substantial threat. The impacts from this pollution source can be mitigated to varying degrees by the application of devices commonly identified as storm water best management practices. These devices are typically selected based upon site-specific conditions and available space.
The typical storm drains found in area roadways and parking lots do nothing to reduce contamination levels and, in fact, are worse than allowing storm flow to discharge across a vegetative surfaces. Many storm water best management practices (BMP’s) rely upon root systems and microbes for contamination controls. In Mashpee several scientific studies have established links between storm water runoff and pollution of both fresh and estuarine surface waters.
Typical BMP’S include wet or dry detention ponds and stone or vegetated swales. With the acceptance of “Low Impact Development” (LID) techniques, the catalog of devices has added, among others, surface sand filters, tree filters and constructed gravel wetlands. Recent evaluations by the University of New Hampshire have highly rated the constructed gravel wetland.