State Land Conservation Grants Coming to Cape Towns, Environmental Groups

COURTESY OF THE HARWICH CONSERVATION TRUST: A view from Muddy Creek in Harwich.

BOSTON – Several local land trusts, communities and counties have been awarded state grant funding for land conservation and natural resource protection.

The funding is a continued effort to ensure land protection, address climate change, and protect biodiversity within the Commonwealth.

As part of the $3.7 million in funding, grants were provided to eight land trusts through the Conservation Partnership Grant Program, 11 communities through the Local Acquisitions for Natural Diversity Grant Program, and eight projects through the Conservation District Innovative Projects Grant Program.

The Harwich Conservation Trust received $85,000 for the Cornelius Pond Woodlands Project. The project will protect more than 1,000 feet of shoreline on Cornelius Pond.

The Truro Conservation Trust was also awarded $85,000 for the Great Hollow Beach Land Acquisition. The project will acquire a 1.09-acre beachfront property with 267 feet of frontage on Cape Cod Bay. The properties upland contains coastal heathland habitat.

Brewster, Gosnold and Provincetown each received $400,000 for projects

The Long Pond Woodland project in Brewster will protect one of the largest forested parcels in the town and preserve wildlife habitat and a municipal well field, while providing access to the shoreline of Cape Cod.

The Bayberry Hill Conservation Project on Gosnold will acquire a conservation restriction over 11 acres of land, which is habitat for eight listed species and lies over the sole source aquifer for the town’s drinking water supply.

The Beech Tree Dunes Project in Provincetown will acquire critical BioMap2 Core Habitat of beech-maple-oak forest for conservation to support the Provincetown Greenway. The greenway is a forest corridor between the town’s downtown and the open dunes of the shoreline.

Dukes County was awarded $26,000 for a project that will assess, evaluate and reduce the impact of all farming activities within the watersheds of the Edgartown Great Pond, Katama Bay and Lagoon Pond. Reducing nitrogen loading has been determined by the Massachusetts Estuary Program to be a priority for improving water quality.

Barnstable County received $42,000 for an effort to facilitate conservation planning to the towns of Harwich and Bourne, as well as other associated stakeholders for two specific water quality projects. They will identify implementation problems and opportunities, and will determine the final project objectives.

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