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:

• 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

The Land Management/ Maintenance position is a great way to learn about land management, habitat restoration, and trail construction and maintenance.

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

The water Technician position is ideal for learning about vessels, field sampling, community outreach, and boat maintenance

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

The Shellfish Aquaculture/ Propagation Assistant position will help you learn more about the life cycle of certain species of shellfish. You will also learn how to maintain shellfish farms.

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...

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:

• 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.
  

The new DNR boat is being used weekly; very nice to have a suitable and safe way to manage the bay side.