YARMOUTH – The Cape Cod Conservation District’s application for federal fund to undertake coastal restoration projects on Cape Cod has been approved by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
The $10 million in FY17 funds will be used for Phase II of the Cape Cod Water Resources Restoration Project which assists Cape communities with the planning, design and construction of numerous coastal restoration projects across the Cape.
“The grant funding should go a long way to helping underwrite the cost of a significant number of coastal restoration projects here on the Cape,” said District Chairman Mark Forest.
For the past four years, the District has been urging Congressional leaders to add more funding to the NRCS’s conservation and restoration programs.
In August, the District submitted a proposal for $7.5 million in funding, along with a list of potential phase II projects.
The projects identified in the District’s Phase II funding proposal include fish passage improvements, storm-water runoff projects and tidal restoration in Brewster, Mashpee, Sandwich, Falmouth, Orleans, Yarmouth, Truro, Harwich, Barnstable and Bourne.
“We applied for $7.5 million, we felt that we had 16 shovel-ready projects here on the Cape ready to go, but they looked at our list and decided to award us $10 million,” said Forest.
“We’re very excited not only about that, but it shows how widely supported in Washington this initiative is,” he said.
“The funding provides Cape Cod with a significant opportunity to continue much-needed environmental restoration work that was begun with the first phase of the Cape Cod Water Resources Restoration Project in 2010. This project will target priority sites across the Cape to improve water quality and restore sensitive shellfish and migratory fish habitats,” said Association to Preserve Cape Cod Executive Director Andrew Gottlieb.
9th District Congressman William Keating also praised the grant award.
“Funding the sixteen individual projects within the Cape Cod Water Resources Restoration Project is well overdue…for too many years, the PL-566 Watershed Restoration and Flood Mitigation Program has gone unfunded by Congress,” he said.
“These projects are critical, the proposals were well-designed, and the need was real. My staff and I worked hand-in-hand with the Association to Preserve Cape Cod on this and they deserve recognition. I know they and the Cape Cod Conservation District will put this money to good use.”
The NRCS provided $6.5 million in funding for Phase I in 2009, with work completed in 2013.
For more information and a background on the project, go to capecodconservationdistrict.com.
The District’s Phase II funding proposal identified over sixteen CCWRPP priority projects –
Brewster: Crosby Lane, storm-water runoff and salt marsh restoration project
Mashpee: Shoestring Bay, storm-water runoff project
Mashpee: Santuit River, fish passage and storm-water remediation project
Mashpee: Johns Pond, fish passage improvements
Sandwich: Sandwich Harbor, five storm-water projects
Falmouth: Magansett Harbor, storm-water project
Falmouth: Coonamessett River, fish passage Restoration
Orleans: Barley Neck Rd, storm-water remediation project
Orleans: Pilgrim lake, fish passage improvements
Yarmouth: Parkers River, Bridge replacement, tidal restoration
Yarmouth: Baxter Grist Mill dam, fish passage improvements
Truro: Eagle Neck Creek, salt marsh restoration project
Harwich: Cold Brook, obstruction removal for fish passage and tidal restoration
Barnstable: Upper Marstons Mills River, improve fish passage and habitat
Eastham: Depot Pond fish passage improvements
Bourne: Monument River, fish passage improvements
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