CCB MEDIA PHOTOS
Lt. Governor Karyn Polito addresses grantees of an EEA program at the MMA grounds Friday.
BUZZARDS BAY – Environmentally-themed grants were awarded to towns and organizations across the Cape Friday in a ceremony at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, along with Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Ned Bartlett, and other public figures presented nearly $250,000 to water quality monitoring and habitat restoration projects in Wellfleet, Buzzards Bay, Chilmark, Barnstable and Falmouth.
Bartlett explained that money has been granted by the EEA every year since 1988 to organizations statewide who apply for it. The dedication to local, specific causes is something Polito said she admired.
Incoming MMA President Francis McDonald speaks about a state grant the school received at a ceremony Friday.
“What I love about it: it’s not a state- or federally-directed program,” Polito said. “It’s engaging the community leaders and experts to develop what they feel is the best solution.”
The grantees received the awards in a ceremony on the lawn of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay with the Cape Cod Canal as a backdrop.
Incoming MMA President Francis McDonald announced the school would receive $40,000 for benthic mapping on the seafloor in Buzzards Bay. Part of that money will also aid student laboratory costs.
The town of Falmouth accepted $60,000 to remove the dam on Lower Bog and restore the 17-acre property’s habitat as well as part of the Coonamessett Riverbank.
Outgoing MMA President Admiral Richard Gurnon and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito divvy environmental grants from the state at a ceremony in Buzzard’s Bay Friday
Wellfleet’s Friends of Herring River was bestowed $40,000 for restoration of and rare species monitoring along the waterway.
The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation of Chilmark was given $40,000 to restore a portion of Mill Brook and to benefit efforts to restore the Native Brook Trout population.
Barnstable’s Three Bays Preservation, Inc. was granted $25,481 to measure the impacts oyster aquacultures have on the denitrification of water and improving water quality.
Bartlett said that the EEA was lucky to receive what he called a “high volume of quality grant applications.”
Polito agreed and said that the grants will not only promote stronger ecosystems on Cape Cod but also, stronger economies.
“It’s integral to our economy, this is a highly-visited area and many come here to appreciate the quality of the environment here and all that you work so hard to protect and nurture,” she said.
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