Here's the latest from
FRIENDS OF HERRING RIVER
and the HERRING RIVER RESTORATION PROJECT
NOVEMBER 2022
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Herring River Restoration Project Moves
into Construction Phase
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Above: Aerial view of Cape Cod Bay, Wellfleet Harbor, the "Gut",
the Chequessett Neck Road Dike, and the Herring River
After two decades of planning, the vision of a restored Herring River is closer to reality as the project surpassed multiple milestones toward the start of construction.
The Town of Wellfleet and Cape Cod National Seashore have obtained environmental permits needed for Phase 1 of the tidal restoration. Phase 1 will restore tidal flow to 570 acres and includes construction of all tidal control infrastructure needed for full restoration of 890 acres.
The Town also secured $49 million in state and federal funding, including $27,200,000 from the US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service and $22,670,000 Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration. The grants provide full funding for construction of a new bridge and sluice gate structure to replace the existing dike at Chequessett Neck Road, as well as other project elements.
The significance of these events was underscored during an August visit by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who was joined by Congressman William Keating, State Rep. Sarah Peake and State Sen. Julian Cyr. Senator Warren, who worked with Senator Ed Markey and Congressman Keating to secure federal funding, praised the local, state and federal partnership. The Senator called the project “powerfully important” and a model for effective government action to repair the environment, create economic opportunity and enhance climate resilience.
Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Beth Card, and Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Ron Amidon visited Wellfleet to celebrate the award of state funds and applaud the project’s climate resilience impact. US EPA Regional Director David Cash and NOAA Deputy Assistant Administrator Sam Rauch also toured the project.
The Town advertised a competitive construction bid to replace the existing dike and culverts with a new bridge and sluice gates and is expected to execute a construction contract this fall, setting the stage for mobilization of construction in this calendar year.
The Town will also use a portion of state and federal funds to hire an Owner’s Project Representative to provide staff and technical support to the Town DPW throughout the multi-year construction period. -- Carole Ridley
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Protecting Water Quality in Wellfleet Ponds |
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Above: Gull Pond wnter sunset by Herb Gstalder |
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An informal group of Gull Pond residents has been meeting periodically since the 1980s about Gull Pond water quality. Herb Gstalder and Laura Hewitt are active in GUPACA – the Gull Pond Area Conservation Association. They identified Wellfleet’s needs to protect its ponds and are working to form the non-profit 501(c)(3) Wellfleet Ponds Coalition – to monitor, advocate, and educate about all our Wellfleet kettle ponds. They hope the organization will receive its approvals in the spring of 2023 and will be recruiting board members who love and care about Wellfleet ponds regardless of where they live in Wellfleet.
Herb Gstalder and Laura Hewitt are also members of the Wellfleet Natural Resources Advisory Board (NRAB). Recently, they were tasked by the Board to develop a draft Wellfleet Pond Management Plan. They have spent the last year researching all aspects of the Wellfleet ponds. “We have talked with the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS), the Town of Wellfleet, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), and the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center (MassTC.). These new septic systems are more expensive but there are many grants available to defray costs,” he says.
“We received a great deal of help from the Orleans Pond Coalition,” says Herb, “but there is a need for a Cape Cod Ponds Network, which the APCC has begun to develop. Every pond is different,” he says, “and every individual pond’s data needs to be collected.” Currently, ponds are in danger not simply from fertilizer run off and old cesspools and septic systems, but because cyanobacteria is present at all times, becomes unhealthy as it thrives in rising water temperatures. “Our pond water temperatures are rising at a rate that is off the charts,” says Herb.
Pond water collection for Cyanobacteria testing has been going on for the last two years in the Wellfleet ponds by a group of citizens who deliver the samples to the Wellfleet Board of Health for transport to the APCC for testing.
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Above: Young of the year mass on the edge of Gull Pond ready to enter
the sluiceway for their journey to the sea. Video by Geoff Day.
Gull, Higgins, Herring and Williams Ponds in the Upper Herring River watershed are spawning grounds for the herring run in the Herring River. Friends of Herring River have been advocating for new culverts at Old Kings Highway and Schoolhouse Road in Wellfleet to make the journey to and from the ponds less harrowing for the herring. The Cape Cod National Seashore and the Town of Wellfleet are managing the culvert project and currently working on engineering designs for the culvert replacements.
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State Funding Partners Celebrate Herring River Progress
On September 19, Ronald Amidon, Commissioner, Mass. Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, hosted an event at the Chequessett Neck Road Dike for the many partners in the Herring River Estuary Restoration Project. The event celebrated the Commonwealth’s award to the Town of Wellfleet of $22.67 million to advance the project from permitting into construction.
Those in attendance and speaking included the Commissioner Ron Amidon, Massachusetts Division of Fish and Game, Beth Card, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Geoffrey Sanders, Cape Cod National Seashore, Sarah Peake, Mass. State Representative, Dale Rheault, Chair of Friends of Herring River, and Rich Waldo, Town Manager, Wellfleet.
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Above: Left to Right: Dale Rheault, Chair, Friends of Herring River, Beth Card, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary, Sarah Peake, Mass. State Representative, Ron Amidon, Commissioner, Mass. Department of Fish and Game, and Rich Waldo, Town Manager, Wellfleet.
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Salt marsh plants (Maritime Orache, Atriplex acadiensis), reestablishing below salt-killed trees and shrubs in over-washed Duck Harbor, October 2022. The same can be expected throughout the tide-restored Herring River flood plain, except that elsewhere trees will be removed before seawater inundation. Maritime Orache is a salt-tolerant plant that's common at higher elevations (high marsh) in salt marshes. It turns red in the fall.
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Two important exhibits at Wellfleet Harbor Conference, 11/5/22, at Wellfleet Adult Community Center (COA) |
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Oyster Recruitment and Sedimentation in Wellfleet Harbor in Advance of the Herring River Restoration Project
ABSTRACT:
Coupling the Center for Coastal Studies’ sediment monitoring program in Wellfleet Harbor in advance of the Herring River Restoration Project with the community’s vested interest in oyster larval recruitment, this project assessed seasonal larval recruitment of oysters in Wellfleet Harbor while also serving as a method of monitoring the impact of potential sedimentation events on oysters. Four separate recruitment techniques were installed in tandem at four point[JP1] s along a transect in Wellfleet Harbor, spanning Mayo Beach to the Gut. Recruitment methods included river rock, surf clam cultch, oyster cultch, and spat collectors (a system of concrete-coated, stacked concave discs). Short-term sediment accumulation was also monitored. Installation began in June 2022 and continued with monitoring every two weeks through October 2022. This poster will present preliminary results from the study, including estimates of oyster recruitment and survival across the different methods, as well as estimates for sediment accumulation throughout Wellfleet Harbor. This year’s Harbor Conference will be in-person and virtual. Don’t miss it.
PRESENTER NAME & AFFILIATION: Katherine A. Castagno, Ph.D., Center for Coastal Studies
COLLABORATORS: Eliza Fitzgerald (CCS), Bryan Legare (CCS), Owen Nichols (CCS),
Petra Zuniga (NPS)
Pre-restoration Oyster Spat Settlement in the Herring River
POSTER SUMMARY: The planned restoration of natural tidal flow into Wellfleet’s Herring River is projected to restore habitats for many estuarine animals including economically and recreationally important shellfish. Current hydrodynamic models indicate that water quality will improve and salinity will increase upstream from of the current Chequessett Neck Road Dike. The documentation of sets of oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) upriver from of the Dike after a breach in the 1970s is an example of how this area of the Estuary will respond to increasing salinity. The purpose of the study was to create a baseline to examine potential changes in the set of oysters as the restoration progresses. From 2000-2022, We monitored spat settlement on quarry tiles in four locations within the Herring River and compared these results to a reference location within Wellfleet Harbor. Oyster settlement occurred predominantly during the last two weeks of June of each year. In all years, there was a significant set of oysters just seaward of the dike and a smaller set just landward of the dike. Oyster spat was not observed at any time at the upriver station 600 meters downstream of High Toss Road; this site is at the upstream extent of seawater excursion, with mean salinity throughout the tidal cycle, except during Duck Harbor overwash events.
PRESENTER NAMES & AFFILIATIONs: Barbara Brennessel and John Portnoy, board members,
Friends of Herring River.
COLLABORATOR: Jackie Fouse, board member, Friends of Herring River.
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Each plaque presented to "Protectors of the River" during the FHR Annual Meeting (see below) featured a school of herring sculpted by Steve Swain of Frying Pan Gallery in Wellfleet. |
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Friends of Herring River Annual Meeting.
The Friends of Herring River (FHR) Annual Meeting was held at the Chequessett Club in Wellfleet on September 21. Andrew Gottlieb, Executive Director, Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC) spoke about the future of water security on Cape Cod. The large group in attendance honored as “Protectors of of the River” both the Wellfleet Select Board and Martha Craig, departing executive director of FHR. Rich Waldo, Wellfleet Town Manager accepted for the Select Board.
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Please help Friends of Herring River by donating
ANY AMOUNT TO HELP PROTECT THE FISH
We can’t do our part without you. Please consider
making a gift today to support us.
Together, we can make a difference for our community, for our environment, and for generations to come.
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P.O. Box 565
South Wellfleet, MA 02663
508-214-0656
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