DENNIS – The Association to Preserve Cape Cod has launched “The Cape We Shape,” a campaign to preserve the 50,000 acres of undeveloped lands remaining on Cape Cod, about 40,000 of which overlaps with priority natural resource areas critical for water quality and coastal health.
The area comprises about 14 percent of the Cape’s land mass and includes wetlands, vernal pools, flood prone areas, and drinking water sources.
The move comes amid increased scrutiny of the Cape’s water resources, which a pair of recent assessments by the Association have found to be at increasing risk.
The Association’s Hanging in the Balance report determined that development from 2001 to 2019 resulted in the loss about a quarter of the Cape’s forest cover.
An annual assessment of regional water quality, State of the Waters: Cape Cod 2025 determined that 90 percent of the Cape’s coastal embayment and about a third of its observed freshwater ponds showed signs of decreased water quality.
“What we do with these remaining acres will define our region and its future,” said Andrew Gottlieb, the Executive Director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod. “Once developed, green space is gone forever.”
“With developmental pressures greater than ever,” he said, “there is urgency to act now. This campaign is designed to convey the urgency to protect priority natural resources to preserve our drinking water and overall surface water quality, and to prevent the inevitable increase in taxpayer costs to service new development.”
The campaign team has adopted the moniker of Team SOS, incorporating the worldwide standard distress signal.
Volunteers are encouraged to join. To learn more, click here.
About Matthew Tomlinson
