2018-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Conservation Commission in particular has been In 2018 the EOC decided to write bylaws ban- enforcing provisions to limit lawn fertilizer use near ning single use plastic straws and polystyrene con- wetlands and surface waters. The EOC has also been tainers—two other hard-to-recycle plastic products educating professional lawn care operators about our that have been implicated as serious pollutants. Those regulations through the Cape Cod Landscape ban bylaws were submitted at the end of 2018 for Association (CCLA). inclusion as Articles in the Town Warrant for the May 2019 Town Meeting. The EOC also began exploring The EOC has also been monitoring water quality a ban on helium balloons—another cause of damage testing work by the DNR and the PALS program and even death to wildlife. (Pond and Lake Stewards). The PALS program was managed for many years by the Mashpee The EOC has also been concerned with the Environmental Coalition (MEC). It is now managed adverse impacts of climate change on our fragile, by the DNR, which also has responsibility for water coastal community. In particular we have been quality testing in our estuaries as part of the CWMP. addressing climate resilience: the ability of our town In particular the EOC has been concerned about water and region to bounce back or transform after climate quality and algal blooms in the last two years in events like more common, more severe storms, Santuit Pond. The Solar Bees,purchased and installed coastal erosion and sea level rise. to improve water quality in Santuit Pond,were work- ing quite well until runoff from a 100 year storm in In particular the EOC pressed the town to apply 2017 seems to have triggered serious algal blooms in for the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability the last two years. The Solar Bees will be serviced Preparedness Program (MVP). The MVP is a pro- this March, when their overall functioning can be gram of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to sup- assessed as well. port municipalities"as they build resilience to climate change." It includes funding for a resilience planning The EOC has provided a forum where Mashpee process, and then offers funding for implementing High School students can explore volunteer opportu- action plans to qualifying municipalities. The town nities in the shellfish program and the PALS program. has put together a team to apply for the MVP,and the Several EOC members were judges at the 2018 high EOC has written a letter in support of that application. school science fair. The EOC will also help facilitate and support the staff and community members to organize a required The EOC has been concerned about the adverse Community Resilience Building Workshop. impacts of stormwater runoff—another leading source of nutrient pollution in our ponds and estuaries, Mashpee has made an outstanding effort pre- including Santuit Pond,Popponesset Bay and Waquoit serving open space and protecting conservation land. Bay. The EOC supports all efforts to reduce stormwa- Every acre of undeveloped conservation land is one ter runoff and to mitigate its effects through "green less acre resulting in nitrogen loading that the town infrastructure". has to clean up potentially with expensive sewer infra- structure—and one more acre the town can use for In addition to water quality concerns and the recreation and wildlife habitat. The EOC has pro- CWMP,the EOC has been very concerned about plas- moted preservation and enhancement of our open tics pollution. More and more, there is world-wide space and conservation resources. Here is a list of our recognition of the serious problems caused by plastic open space oversight activities and initiatives: pollution of our land and seas. In particular, these adverse impacts affect wildlife, including birds, land 1. Support for Community Preservation Act (CPA) and sea turtles,and marine mammals. Plastics are also funding for open space initiatives and projects. hard to recycle, and most plastics are not recycled. We provided the Community Preservation They are also a nuisance,clogging drains and littering Committee (CPC) with ideas for future projects our conservation lands. that could be funded with CPA grants. We also support using some CPA funds to help defray the In 2016 the EOC wrote and submitted a Plastic expense of sewer and wastewater management Bag Ban Bylaw that was approved at the October infrastructure. Town Meeting. Enforcement began a year later, and the ban is fully implemented now. 115