We're trying to incorporate our blog entries right into the town web site under the Department of Natural Resources tab. Most of our posts will show up on the front page as well, when they are new.
Here's the link:
Brewster Department of Natural Resources page
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Paine's Creek Landing repairs
This week the Brewster DPW hired a contractor to remove the broken asphalt from the beach, and put the large rocks on the west side back in place, then put sand in a berm along the north and west sides of the lot.
On Friday, Brewster DNR gathered staff and volunteers and a crew of AmeriCorp to fill and place 1,500 sandbags to further stabilize the bank and protect the landing. Bags were tied and stacked around the boulders, and will be covered with sand to protect the bags. In the event of another high tide storm event, they should provide some resistance to the erosion and help stabilize the boulders protecting the parking area.
1500 bags at 50 pounds a bag is 75,000 pounds, or a good 25 yards of sand. Makes for a long day...
Beginning....
Thanks to everyone on the sandbag crew; AmeriCorp, Brewster Health Department (Sherrie and son Ethan), Friends of the Punkhorn members, and the Brewster DNR staff.
On Friday, Brewster DNR gathered staff and volunteers and a crew of AmeriCorp to fill and place 1,500 sandbags to further stabilize the bank and protect the landing. Bags were tied and stacked around the boulders, and will be covered with sand to protect the bags. In the event of another high tide storm event, they should provide some resistance to the erosion and help stabilize the boulders protecting the parking area.
1500 bags at 50 pounds a bag is 75,000 pounds, or a good 25 yards of sand. Makes for a long day...
Beginning....
Action shots
Nearly finished...
The AmeriCorp team taking a well deserved break...
Thanks to everyone on the sandbag crew; AmeriCorp, Brewster Health Department (Sherrie and son Ethan), Friends of the Punkhorn members, and the Brewster DNR staff.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Last weekend's storm...
We had a snowstorm last weekend, with about a half-foot of accumulation. It was accompanied by a strong northwest wind, and also coincided with astronomically high tides...
Several of our coastal landings took quite a beating. The town will be meeting later this week to perform some triage and decide what happens next.
Paine's Creek landing was under water, and lost a lot of sand at it's west and northwest corners, causing a loss of additional pavement.
Breakwater Landing lost a lot of sand off the beach, undermining the parking lot and causing a loss of about 10' of pavement.
Ellis Landing is totally undermined at its end (note the large pile of sand placed by DPW to keep people from falling off the edge). The underlying drainage structure is now exposed.
Several of our coastal landings took quite a beating. The town will be meeting later this week to perform some triage and decide what happens next.
Paine's Creek landing was under water, and lost a lot of sand at it's west and northwest corners, causing a loss of additional pavement.
Breakwater Landing lost a lot of sand off the beach, undermining the parking lot and causing a loss of about 10' of pavement.
Ellis Landing is totally undermined at its end (note the large pile of sand placed by DPW to keep people from falling off the edge). The underlying drainage structure is now exposed.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
2009 in review...
The Brewster Natural Resources Department includes shellfish propagation and management, harbormaster duties (boats and moorings), and management of public lands, including coastal beaches, flats, and ponds. We also work with various town and county committees and boards related to Brewster's natural environment.
The department includes:
Chris Miller, Director
Ryan Burch, Natural Resources Assistant/Assistant Harbormaster
Jim Gallagher, Conservation Administrator/Natural Resources Assistant
The department samples public bathing beaches weekly in season (for bacteria). We also monitor the nutrient/pesticide and herbicide use at Captains Golf Course and the Freemans Way Recreation Fields on a tri-annual basis.
Working with the Brewster Pond and Lake Stewards, we sample the ponds in town, monitoring water quality.
We host an AmeriCorp individual placement each year; this year we are working on publishing information on improving Brewster's pond water quality.
AmeriCorp also assisted us with group days, providing a dozen eager volunteers to take on some more advanced projects in town, including sorting oysters in our propagation areas; clearing brush and downed trees in our fire management areas of the Punkhorns, and helping to maintain the field habitat project at Wings Island.
We run an active summer intern program. This year we had an independant study on water quality and suitability for shellfish growth in Freemans Pond. We also had a regular group of high school interns working with us on shellfish, land management, and other duties.
We also have an active volunteer program for adults. This year we had one intern come in weekly for several hours, who could work independantly on several vital projects. We also have a core group of volunteers who assist with shellfish work, including oyster propagation, and stocking quahogs in our summer area off Saints Landing. Without this additional help we could not offer the level of service the town has come to expect.
We have begun work on replacing the undersized culverts on Stony Brook under Rt. 6a as part of a federal ARRA stimulus grant. We expect to spend countless hours on this during 2010, culminating in the culvert replacement in fall 2010.
The undersized culverts are failing; and they prevent much of the tide waters from flooding the salt marsh south of Rt. 6a. The larger culverts will restore over 20 acres of salt marsh, and will help several rare plant species in the Stony Brook Valley.
Stony Brook is also one of the best herring runs in the state, and improving this culvert is part of our efforts to maintain and improve this fish run.
Part of this project includes work on the Lee Baldwin Trail at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, as the larger culverts will allow more salt water onto the marsh south of 6a. This will flood out the trail at certain tides; as mitigation, we will be reworking portions of the trail.
This has been a great public/private partnership between the Town, NOAA Restoration Center (the funding source), the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (the landowner for the marsh restoration area), the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (co-project manager), Coastal Zone Management/Wetland Restoration Program, and Division of Marine Fisheries (project management and sponsorship), MA Highways (owner of the roadway and culvert), Brewster Alewife Committee, and countless others.
The department includes:
Chris Miller, Director
Ryan Burch, Natural Resources Assistant/Assistant Harbormaster
Jim Gallagher, Conservation Administrator/Natural Resources Assistant
The department samples public bathing beaches weekly in season (for bacteria). We also monitor the nutrient/pesticide and herbicide use at Captains Golf Course and the Freemans Way Recreation Fields on a tri-annual basis.
Working with the Brewster Pond and Lake Stewards, we sample the ponds in town, monitoring water quality.
We host an AmeriCorp individual placement each year; this year we are working on publishing information on improving Brewster's pond water quality.
AmeriCorp also assisted us with group days, providing a dozen eager volunteers to take on some more advanced projects in town, including sorting oysters in our propagation areas; clearing brush and downed trees in our fire management areas of the Punkhorns, and helping to maintain the field habitat project at Wings Island.
We run an active summer intern program. This year we had an independant study on water quality and suitability for shellfish growth in Freemans Pond. We also had a regular group of high school interns working with us on shellfish, land management, and other duties.
We also have an active volunteer program for adults. This year we had one intern come in weekly for several hours, who could work independantly on several vital projects. We also have a core group of volunteers who assist with shellfish work, including oyster propagation, and stocking quahogs in our summer area off Saints Landing. Without this additional help we could not offer the level of service the town has come to expect.
We have begun work on replacing the undersized culverts on Stony Brook under Rt. 6a as part of a federal ARRA stimulus grant. We expect to spend countless hours on this during 2010, culminating in the culvert replacement in fall 2010.
The undersized culverts are failing; and they prevent much of the tide waters from flooding the salt marsh south of Rt. 6a. The larger culverts will restore over 20 acres of salt marsh, and will help several rare plant species in the Stony Brook Valley.
Stony Brook is also one of the best herring runs in the state, and improving this culvert is part of our efforts to maintain and improve this fish run.
Part of this project includes work on the Lee Baldwin Trail at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, as the larger culverts will allow more salt water onto the marsh south of 6a. This will flood out the trail at certain tides; as mitigation, we will be reworking portions of the trail.
This has been a great public/private partnership between the Town, NOAA Restoration Center (the funding source), the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (the landowner for the marsh restoration area), the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (co-project manager), Coastal Zone Management/Wetland Restoration Program, and Division of Marine Fisheries (project management and sponsorship), MA Highways (owner of the roadway and culvert), Brewster Alewife Committee, and countless others.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Quivett Marsh Vista
Check out the new video, courtesy of the Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gFs-V39pAE
Brewster Conservation Trust paid for 1/2 of the cost of this newest Brewster conservation property; the video is another way for them to raise the money to repay the loan they used to help purchase the property for Brewster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gFs-V39pAE
Brewster Conservation Trust paid for 1/2 of the cost of this newest Brewster conservation property; the video is another way for them to raise the money to repay the loan they used to help purchase the property for Brewster.
Monday, July 20, 2009
July 20
The Brewster Department of Natural Resources is an excellent way to get involved in the community . It offers three different volunteer programs to choose from.
Land Management/ Maintenance:
Water Technician:
Shellfish Aquaculture/ Propagation Assistant:
If you are in high school and looking to learn valuable "life skills" while serving your community, then fill out an application at the Brewster Department of Natural Resources. Pick any of the three positions that best interests you. We hope you join the volunteer program of the Brewster Natural Resources Department. If you have any other questions or want to learn more check out all of the information we have to offer on our website...
Land Management/ Maintenance:
- Assist with implementing land management plans for various town owned properties
- Removal of invasive species using hand tools
- Conduct routine trail maintenance
- Organize a community based volunteer day to maintain or clean town owned property
- Maintain the grounds around the shellfish departmment
Water Technician:
- Weekly water samples are taken from the Town's public swimming beaches and ponds
- Monthly water samples are taken from Long Pond, which include using the instruments: YSI, secchi disk and grab sample tube
- Assist with water samples taken at Captain's Golf Course
- Help organize a community Beach Sweep
- Weekly maintenance and cleaning of the department's boats
Shellfish Aquaculture/ Propagation Assistant:
- Oysters are sorted by size at low tide and relocated to designated beds
- Repair of shellfish gearing equipment
- Transport and distribute quahogs to designated areas
- Maintain department boats
- Develop educational programs such as "Learn to Shellfish Day"
- Assist with town's mooring regulations
If you are in high school and looking to learn valuable "life skills" while serving your community, then fill out an application at the Brewster Department of Natural Resources. Pick any of the three positions that best interests you. We hope you join the volunteer program of the Brewster Natural Resources Department. If you have any other questions or want to learn more check out all of the information we have to offer on our website...
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
July 1
Our busiest season at the DNR...
We received a federal stimulus grant for our work to replace the restrictive culvert under 6A near Betty's Curve. This will improved the herring run to Stony Brook, and restore approximately 20 acres of salt marsh south of 6A. More to follow.
Completed in the last month:
Ongoing:
We received a federal stimulus grant for our work to replace the restrictive culvert under 6A near Betty's Curve. This will improved the herring run to Stony Brook, and restore approximately 20 acres of salt marsh south of 6A. More to follow.
Completed in the last month:
- Installed the swim rafts at Long Pond beach and the Sailing program raft at Upper Mill.
- Installed the "no wake" floats in Long Pond; many of them replaced this year.
- Built and installed a new kayak rack for the Rec department at Long Pond.
- Purchased and installed three new bike racks at town landings.
- Purchased and installed three new kiosks in the Punkhorn Parklands (Calf Field Pond, Eagle Point, and the trail east of the parking area). Thanks to Brian Dinizio, AmeriCorp, for all his work in completing trail maintenance and creating the new trail guides.
- Wing Island erosion control on the trails (with AmeriCorp assistance).
- Lot of work at our newest property, Quivett Marsh Vista (on 6A at the west end of town). New split rail fencing, work on the parking area; removal of invasives and non-native plants, establishing a nature trail, removal of a metal shed and other detrius. Still more ongoing...
Ongoing:
- Weekly surface water sampling of public bathing beaches, fresh and salt.
- Pond monitoring has increased, in addition to our seasonal sampling of groundwater at Captains and the rec fields.
- Oysters are growing fast; we expect to purchase more seed this week.
- Shellfishing at our stocked area off Saints Landing on Thursdays and Sundays.
- Summer intern program has grown again; Monday is Water Quality work; Tuesday is Shellfish; Wednesday is Land Management. We couldn't get all of what's needed done without the support of our volunteers; thanks.
- Wildfire fuel reduction in the Punkhorn Parklands.
- Regulatory sign replacement of worn/damaged signs.
- Managing the mooring process; still have many unregistered moorings to bring into compliance.
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