‘Looks Like Something’s Guts Spilled All Over The Beach’ (1/22/21)
‘Looks Like Something’s Guts Spilled All Over The Beach’ Mashpee Enterprise By RYAN SPENCER Jan 22, 2021 Gobs of red algae more than a foot thick in some places blanket a stretch of Popponesset Spit. RYAN SPENCER/ENTERPRISE Gobs of red algae more than a foot thick in some places blanket a stretch of Popponesset Spit. […]
Volunteer Spotlight
Volunteer Spotlight: Chuck Gifford What is left to do when you already spend your time fishing, cycling, hiking, acting, traveling, sailing, and volunteering for the Rotary Club? For Chuck Gifford, the answer was volunteering with BCWC – and we are the luckier for it. One day, Chuck saw our posters advertising for herring count volunteers […]
Why We Support BCWC
Why We Support BCWC: David Abelman & Marilyn Weil-Abelman After spending many years visting the ponds on Cape Cod with their then young children, David Abelman and his wife Marilyn decided to make Long Pond in Marstons Mills their Cape escape. “Here on Long Pond, you would never know you were in the hustle and […]
Environmentalists Buy Surplus Oysters to Boost Shellfish Industry and Restore Imperiled Waterways
Environmentalists Buy Surplus Oysters to Boost Shellfish Industry and Restore Imperiled Waterways CapeandIslands.org CAI | By Eve Zuckoff Published December 29, 2020 at 11:17 AM EST Local oyster growers are getting a boost after months of restaurant closures have “torpedoed” the industry, according to one grower. The Nature Conservancy, a Boston-based environmental group, and its […]
Summer Staff on the Move
For three summers now, BCWC has grown oysters in an upweller demonstration project on Hyannis Harbor in partnership with the Massachusetts Oyster Project and the town of Barnstable. The tiny oyster spat are only 1-2mm (the size of a grain of sand) when first placed in buckets in the upweller. They filter phytoplankton (algae), nutrients […]
The cleaning power of oysters
The cleaning power of oysters Tasty bivalves provide clear water and denitrification, and play an important part in local marine ecosystems. The Martha’s Vineyard Times By Lucas Thors December 23, 2020 Oysters naturally clean the water column, reduce nitrogen, and are a vital part of the marine ecosystem on Martha’s Vineyard. — Lucas Thors Oysters […]
Barnstable High School launches $1.2M environmental science & technology lab (12/23/20)
Barnstable High School launches $1.2M environmental science & technology lab Barnstable Patriot Bronwen Howells Walsh Dec 23, 2020 As head of Barnstable High School’s new $1.2 million Environmental Science and Technology Lab, Michael Smith cannot wait to get to work. Now entering his 18th year of teaching at BHS, Smith teaching environmental science and biology in the […]
Marstons Mills Cranberry Bog Restoration
In December 2019, BCWC, the EPA and TNC co-hosted the Marstons Mills Cranberry Bog Restoration Workshop. This workshop, attended by 47 scientists and regulators from the local, state, and national level, focused on identifying nature-based strategies to reduce the amount of nitrogen travelling through the cranberry bogs at the headwaters of the Marstons Mills River. […]
Progress With Alternative Septic Systems
Back in June, a new alternative septic system called the NitROE Waste Water Treatment System (NitROE WWTS) received a permit for “provisional approval” from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. This permit codifies a 40% improvement over all previously permitted Innovative/Alternative septic systems – and that is only the beginning! We believe this system will […]
Summer Water Sampling
An important part of BCWC’s water quality monitoring is the collection of water samples from our ponds, streams and estuary. This summer, we are lucky to have David Carter on board to conduct weekly water sampling at several sites, including four ponds, one river and cranberry bogs. The water sampling at the ponds involves collecting […]