CHATHAM – Chatham town officials made their second trip to Washington D.C. this week to meet with federal lawmakers over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Monomoy Comprehensive Conservation Plan.
Selectmen Jeffrey Dykens and Seth Taylor were joined by Town Manager Jill Goldsmith and Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson on the trip.
They met with U.S. Congressman Bill Keating, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey.
The agency released a 15 year plan for the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge last year, which claimed that they own over 700 acres of South Beach.
The town is battling the government’s claim to the open waters and submerged lands to the west of the refuge.
“It really was a strategic matter of talking about what our potential options are and what the various likelihoods of this thing advancing in a successful way for the town of Chatham,” said Taylor.
The town said that the plan has not yet received final authorization and that an opinion from the office of Assistant Massachusetts Attorney General Seth Schofield, states that his office “continues to believe the FWS’s position regarding the western boundary and the scope of the original taking is wrong”.
Taylor believes that the trip to Washington was well worth it.
“I would say that our trip was very, very helpful to the town and what has to happen and how we may form our position going forward,” said Taylor.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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