tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58400817808222039182024-03-05T19:29:59.896-06:00Friends of Hawksnest State ParkHawksnest State Park is an orphan, without any budget for maintenance or enforcement. Litter accumulates, parking is out of control, and erosion threatens a pristine pond. People who love the pond are starting a group to assist the State in managing the land and solving its problems. Hawksnest is in Harwich, MA, on Cape Cod.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-34262433387692802852022-07-05T23:13:00.003-05:002022-07-05T23:13:29.884-05:00Vernal Pools in Hawksnest State Park<div><br /></div>Vernal pools on Cape Cod form in small, shallow depressions that intersect seasonally high water tables, and generally only exist during the wet spring months. During the dry months, the water table drops and the level of the pool lowers too, until it eventually dries up. Because of the seasonal drying, the wide variety of organisms that live in these pools are free from fish predation.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207699468489473178905.0004aa2c8b3f1d1f707e0&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=6&ll=41.712681,-70.047712&spn=0.011213,0.018239&z=15&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207699468489473178905.0004aa2c8b3f1d1f707e0&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=6&ll=41.712681,-70.047712&spn=0.011213,0.018239&z=15&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Vernal Pools around Hawksnest State Park</a> in a larger map</small><br />
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Many organisms breed in vernal pools, and some amphibians such as wood frogs (<i>Rana sylvatica</i>), marbled salamanders (<i>Ambystoma opacum</i>) and spotted salamanders (<i>Ambystoma maculatum</i>), breed here exclusively. <br />
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If a vernal pool is destroyed, the pool-dependent species living there will be unable to find alternate breeding pools. Vernal pools also seem to be important to migrating animals, or those fleeing disturbed habitats. <br />
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Acid rain, contaminated runoff, and changes in runoff amounts can cause severe damage to vernal pool habitats, and often people fill pools because they mistakenly think the waters are lifeless.<br />
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In order to be legally protected, vernal pools must be mapped and certified by the Natural Heritage Program, but most are not currently mapped. Additionally, only those certified pools within lands subject to flooding and bordering vegetated wetlands can actually be protected under Massachusetts' Wetlands Protection Act. <br />
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Quoted from this s<a href="http://www.whrc.org/mapping/capecod/coastal.html">ource</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-48999434288673382222022-07-05T23:07:00.000-05:002022-07-05T23:07:27.759-05:00Changing uses of Hawksnest State Park<br />
Over the years, many different kinds of people have used the lands that now make up Hawksnest State Park, and the surrounding lands. Here's a brief overview.<br />
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<strong>Farming</strong><br />
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The coasts and harbors were the first areas of Cape Cod to be developed. Eventually, as the population grew, people moved inland, where the climate was milder, and tried their hand at farming. <br />
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Large areas were cleared--if you look at old deeds or walk about the woods, you can still see the faint signs of fences, home sites, or old roads. Boundaries of land parcels were informally marked, as "so many rods from a stake, or from an old oak tree." Or they were bounded by a plowed furrow.<br />
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But the soil proved sandy and unproductive--so most of the farms were abandoned. Relatives and heirs didn't know about the Harwich lands that they still owned. If they did, they considerred them almost worthless.<br />
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When I was a boy in Harwich in the 50's, Farmer Nickerson still had a poor farm near the NW corner of routes 39 and 137. Round Cove Rd. was the northern boundary of his farm. He raised corn and vegetables. There was an abandoned farmhouse and barn on the north side of Nathan Walker Rd, with a cleared field sloping down towards Walker Pond. Across the open field, and past the blooming roses, you could catch a glimpse of the blue waters of the pond. Now, the field has grown up to trees, and the only visible trace of the farm are some exotic plants.<br />
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With their land abandoned, the remaining Cape Codders used the land as they wished for hunting, woodcutting, and dumping.<br />
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<strong>Cranberries</strong><br />
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Around 1850, cranberry culture caught on. Many of the wetlands were converted to this purpose. Even small wetlands in and around Hawksnest became cranberry bogs. The cove of Hawksnest, and a small wetland near the Walker Road parking area at Hawksnest were used for cranberries. Oliver Pond also had cranberry bogs. You can still recognize the signs--the "borrow pits," where sand was dug from banks for use in the bog.<br />
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By the 1950s, larger cranberry bogs were still being cultivated. There was a large one north of Walker's Pond. A network of rustic roads served these remaining bogs. But the smaller ones had mostly reverted to nature. <br />
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Because of these older uses--the farms and the bogs, there was a bewildering network of rustic roads crisscrossing the back woods of Harwich. In the 1950s, some were still drivable, while others remained as ghostly scars on the landscape--large trees growing where formerly horse drawn wagons, or model-T Fords had formerly driven.<br />
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Today, just a handful of these rustic roads remain. Round Cove Rd. in the 1950s served just one cabin at the current parking area near the Pond. It was a simple frame structure with an outhouse, used by the Harwich Boy Scouts for outings. Round Cove Rd. went all the way to the isthmus with Black Pond, where a simple duck hunting shack with fireplace had already collapsed before the 1950s. The remaining outer porting of Round Cove Rd will probably be paved soon to the last house.<br />
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Seth Whitfield County Way still looks much as it did in the 1950s, but if present trends continue, it won't last more than a few more years. Traffic is increasing, the southern portion has been widened, and the remaining other parts are eroding or starting to form deep puddles (from vehicles going too fast in wet weather). Nathan Walker Rd is another rustic road that still survives much as it used to be.<br />
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These roads, if preserved, can help preserve the feeling of Harwich as it used to be, and provide rustic trails for equestrians, hikers, mountain bikes, joggers, and people walking their dogs.<br />
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<strong>Duck Hunting</strong><br />
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In the late 1800s, Bostonians discovered ponds of Cape Cod as a great place for hunting ducks. Shacks and blinds were built on ponds like Hawksnest and Black Pond. Duck hunting lodges and clubs were established. Local craftsmen filled a demand for decoys, carving them from wood. <br />
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During this time, East Harwich resident Elmer Crowell was a decoy carver, and he also managed a hunting club. But his decoys were a cut above the rest, and gradually his work changed from a simple craft to an art. Elmer Crowell became the first carver of birds as art. Some of his carvings have sold for over half a million dollars, and you can find them in major museums from Boston to New York.<br />
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By the 1950s, duck hunting was still practiced, but now many of the old duck hunting camps had decayed or morphed into summer homes. The ponds were slowly starting to become popular.<br />
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<strong>Summer homes on the ponds</strong><br />
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In the 1950s, Hawksnest was pretty much forgotten. The Bell family from Boston were using a camp on the western shore; the Nickerson extended family were using Hawksnest Camp on the eastern shore (the only remaining cabin on the pond), and the Thompson family bought the Round Cove cabin from the Boy Scouts. Round Cove Rd west of the four corners was now a private road. Few people knew about the pond--fewer came exploring.<br />
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The Mid Cape Highway near Hawksnest was built from 1953 to 1959. Now Hawksnest wasn't so completely isolated. You could now catch a glimpse of the pond from Spruce Rd, which was constructed as an access road (frontage rd) for the highway. But it served no purpose at all for many years, except as a way to access one end of Walker Rd. Spruce Rd. as the road to nowhere. To this day, many people to not know about this entrance and access to Hawksnest Pond, which is actually more convenient than the Round Cove Rd access that some people are clamoring to keep open.<br />
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When the summer people went home in the fall, Harwich residents nearby returned to reassert their interest. They hunted and cut wood as they liked. The hunting was no problem, and the woodcutting was but a minor annoyance for the owners of the land. <br />
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In the 1970s, the Bells and the Thompsons sold to the State, creating the nucleus for Hawksnest. Their cabins remained, though no longer used by either family. Eventually, without any maintenance from the State, the two cabins fell down, and the remains were removed by staff from Nickerson State Park.<br />
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<strong>State neglect</strong><br />
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When Hawksnest became a State Park, there were some initial plans to create a campground in the southern portion, but nothing came of those plans. The entrance at Round Cove Rd. was gated for a number of years.<br />
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The State provided no services. The road was not maintained, the two cabins fell down for lack of maintenance, and the park even lacked signs or boundary markers. Again, it seemed to be abandoned land.<br />
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People who lived nearby year-round continued to exercise timeworn customs--woodcutting, hunting, and completely free access. Contractors would dump whole truckloads of trash in the park. As new motorized sports developed, the idea of "free access" changed to include the idea that off-road vehicles (ORVs) could have free access. When water levels dropped during a prolonged drought, horses and ORVs going to the beach created severe erosion--now visible as the gully above the beach at the Round Cove Rd parking area.<br />
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Although Harwich began to receive yearly payments from the State, to make up for lost property taxes (from the cabins no longer at Hawksnest), Harwich likewise neglected the parklands. Nevertheless, because the State neglected its responsibililties, Harwich began to feel it belonged to the Town.<br />
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The only attention from Harwich to the area was the creation of the Six Ponds district, which limits certain kinds of development (lots with homes must be at least 2.5 acres), and the purchase of some land on the NE side of Oliver Pond, contiguous to the State Park. This land was purchased as an additional, potential well site, and to safeguard the headwaters for one of the Town's wells. Hawksnest is a protected watershed area for Harwich wells.<br />
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Today, there is some talk of Harwich gaining title to the parklands from the State. But would Harwich be a good steward for the lands? And, would Harwich want to forgo the yearly payments from the State--which last year amounted to about $130,000? With almost no services from Harwich except for an occasional police patrol, Hawksnest now seems to be a cash cow for the Town.<br />
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Still, neglect hasn't been entirely bad for Hawksnest. Round Cove Rd is is such poor condition that it's difficult to drive unless your have a 4X vehicle. This, plus the fact that the park is a well-kept secret for locals, has saved the park from high levels of traffic, to which it is unsuited.<br />
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<strong>Hawksnest on the brink</strong><br />
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Times are changing for Hawksnest. Some businesses and groups in Harwich are beginning to promote it. Seth Witfield road has been widened, and part of Round Cove Rd will soon be paved.<br />
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The State as awakened to the danger of erosion from out of control parking, and is planning to make improvements or restorations to both parking areas.<br />
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Visitation is increasing, along with abuse.<br />
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In any town, city, or park, when use or population reaches a certain point, there has to be more regulation and planning. You don't have the same freedoms in Manhattan that you have in Harwich. With growth, eventually use has to be regulated. The alternative--indifference and neglect--is destruction of the resource. It's the old "Tragedy of the Commons" that Garret Hardin wrote about.<br />
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Still, the nostalgic notion that Hawksnest is a place "Where I can do what I want" persists. It's still the old town swimming hole. As most other beaches have become more regulated, with hefty parking fees attached, Hawksnest remains as free place, one of the last where you can bring your dog to roam or swim, off leash.<br />
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So the question remains--can Hawksnest continue to be the free and easy place with no rules--or will that kind of neglect ruin the place and pollute the best fresh-water swimming in the USA?<br />
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I'm afraid that if we continue as we have, the pristine pond, the solitude, the wildlife and the vegetation, will be compromised.<br />
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Some of the nearby residents want the longtime tradition of "free access" continued, so they can enjoy the resources of the park as they have for over a hundred years. To them, that is "keeping the park as it was." A few of these folks are still cutting trees in the park. A few allow their children to ride ORVs in the park illegally.<br />
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The fact is, the State owns the park, and is duty-bound to manage it for the benefit of all residents of the State (and their guests). <br />
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Others want to keep the water pristine--and avoid the toxic algae blooms that have occurred in nearby ponds like Long Pond and John Joseph's. That's "keeping the park as it was." Others want to continue the lax enforcement of rules, to keep the park as it was, as a party place.<br />
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But under the increased pressure of more people, Hawksnest is going to change, one way or another. The people calling for <strong>more regulation now</strong> aren't the problem. They are only the messenger saying: Problems are mounting. We need to care for the park, and think about how to use it best in a ways that change it the least." Unfortunately, sometimes the messenger with bad news is shot.<br />
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<strong>Future uses of the Park</strong><br />
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When managing a park for recreation, the first principle is to conserve the resource, so the park will be there for the next generation to enjoy.<br />
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If the resource is fragile, or funds limited, the best tool for management is to close certain parts of the park, if they become damaged, and allow them to recover. This is simply sound management, but it bumps against the concept of "open access" held by surrounding residents.<br />
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A similar concept is to limit use from the beginning in areas that are particularly fragile. Fragile areas include certain portions of the lakesore and steep bluffs over the shore. In other words, don't build trails to the tops of sandy bluffs.<br />
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Another important concept of management is to design trails, facilities, and rules of the park so the various groups of users don't conflict with one another. You don't want horses ridilng where children are playing. Perhaps horses and hikers should use different trails. Perhaps dogs should be restricted to one of the two beaches, so that people afraid of dogs will feel at ease at the other beach.<br />
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The first step is to find out what <em>legal</em> user groups exist, then consult them to find out what they need to enjoy their pursuits. Then, you design facililties so the various groups don't conflict with one another.<br />
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There's no question that young people looking for a place to party are one user group. The question remains, can a way be found to allow parties without the resulting litter and problems resulting from no rest rooms?<br />
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<strong>Stopping the decline</strong><br />
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When I talk to people enjoying Hawksnest about plans to solve certain problems like erosion, their first response is: "What problems?" People like Hawksnest the way it is--with no management and no rules.<br />
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But when you have been coming to Hawksnest for over 60 years, you can see the slow decline:<br />
<ul><li>Round Cove Rd , Seth Whitfield Rd, and road from Walker Rd to pond have steadily eroded and deteriorated. Seth Witfield may soon be lost as a rustic road.</li>
<li>Parking areas have expanded and eroded at the end of Roud Cove Rd.</li>
<li>Trails to beach at Round Cove Rd. are eroding. Erosion is a clear threat to water quality.</li>
<li>Wildlife like turtles are in decline</li>
<li>The pond is less clear than it used to be.</li>
<li>Surrounding ponds are suffering from algae blooms, warning of clear danger to Hawksnest from too many nutrients.</li>
<li>The zone of litter, broken glass, and discarded cans is slowly expanding.</li>
</ul>Given these trends, NO CHANGE in the management of the park means continued decline of the resource.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-18674666668161028182022-07-05T22:32:00.000-05:002022-07-05T22:32:34.628-05:00Rivers of sand<em>About why ponds in Cape Cod are special...</em><br />
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The Everglades have been called the River of Grass. Florida is barely above sea level--flatter than a pancake. But Florida gets substantial rainfall, so runoff during the winter rainy season flows in a broad sheet towards the southern tip. It's a river only inches deep, but many tens of miles wide. It supports unique ecosystems, and millions of birds.<br />
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Unaware of this natural system, engineers built roads and canals across the River of Grass, blocking it's flow. It began to dry up--the animals started to disappear. Recently (until the recession) Florida and the Feds pledged billions to restore the River of Grass, because it was so special.<br />
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We have something similar in Cape Cod--a River of Sand, or better, a river <em>through</em> sand. The rainfall sinks into the sandy soil, and flows slowly underground like a broad river, from areas of higher terrain and higher groundwater toward the coasts. These reservoirs, or sources of groundwater, are called "lenses." You may have heard of the Monomoy Lens, the one that's the reservoir for Harwich tap water.<br />
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There's an amazing chart that will tell you most of what you need to know about the Cape's groundwater flow.<br />
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There are other Rivers of Sand in North America--I'll introduce you to four others. But only on Cape Cod do we have so many "windows" into the groundwater. Those windows are the ponds. That's why Cape Cod--and its coastal plain ponds--are so special.<br />
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<strong>Two rivers of sand in Wisconsin</strong><br />
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Southern Wisconsin (like Massachusetts) was covered with an ice sheet until about 12,000 years ago. At the ice cap's border near where I live in Madison, great braided chanels of meltwater flowed out from the melting ice. The floods enlarged their valleys, and partially buried them in sand washing out from the ice.<br />
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Today, the Wisconsin River is the largest in our state--but 12,000 years ago, it was much larger. The lower Wisconsin River valley, 93 miles long, contains about 4 cubic miles of sand. As a result, the river has become a favorite for paddlers and campers. Every camper can have their own private, sandy beach.<br />
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During the summer, the river shrinks substantially--but there's always ample water below the ground, in the river of sand. Because the soil is sandy and porous--it doesn't hold rainfall for long--so farmers pump the water from wells to irrigate with sprinklers.<br />
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Rivers of sand are prone to their own unique problems In Wisconsin, fertilizers and pesticides easily filter through the sand, to contaminate many wells or waterways. In Cape Cod, the analogous problem is the escape of nutrients (phosphorus) from septic systems.<br />
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In Wisconsin, too much pumping by farmers causes creeks and ponds to dry up.<br />
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In another river valley near Madison, we've got the opposite problem. At Fish and Crystal lakes, water levels have <a href="http://wi.water.usgs.gov/pubs/fs-127-01/fs-127-01.pdf">increased 9 ft since 1966</a>. Hundreds of summer homes flanking the ponds are being flooded out. Most people blame it partly on increases in rainfall--which could be partly to blame.<br />
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What's the lesson for Cape Cod? Though a thousand miles apart, rivers of sand follow the same laws of physics.<br />
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As sea levels rise from global warming, groundwater levels on Cape Cod will respond. Some houses located close to the levels of ponds will be flooded out. Already, Hawksnest Camp is nearly flooded when the pond's level naturally rises each spring. In the long run, this cabin will be a casualty of climate change.<br />
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There's another warning for Cape Cod from Crystal and Fish lakes. They are badly polluted by runoff and seepage of nutrients from nearby farms. Cape Cod's river of sand is threatened by similar seepage from septic systems.<br />
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There's a reason why ponds on Cape Cod aren't as polluted as those in Wisconsin--Cape Cod never had the intensive farming that polluted most waterways in southern Wisconsin.<br />
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<strong>Two rivers of sand in Baja California</strong><br />
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I've made several winter trips with my trailer to Mexico.<br />
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The Mexican state of Baja California Norte is extreme desert--and gets most of its rain from a few winter storms. Sometimes they are hurricanes. In some years, no rain falls at all. So when the deluge comes, bone dry valleys become torrents. Because of the occasional flooding, the valleys have become choked with sand, much like the Wisconsin River.<br />
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But while these valleys seem dry, there is still underneath a river through the sand. When I first saw this valley in the 1960s, there was a village of a hundred impoverished Mexicans not far from the sea. In our jeep, we passed a single burro heading down the dusty track towards the town. <br />
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Fifty years later, El Rosario has about 40,000 inhabitants, thanks to water pumped from the river of sand. They use it to irrigate the tomatoes and peppers that eventually reach your supermarket. But every few years the torrents still come to refresh the groundwater--and also to ravage the fields and wash out the highway over the river<br />
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<strong>Looking for a swim in the desert</strong><br />
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On my last trip, I had a chance to explore a little river of sand in the high desert. It was a small creek, flowing out of rounded mountains of white granite near Catavina.* Upstream from the highway, there were some rocky pools ideal for a cool swim, but I kept getting interrupted by exploring tourists. So I decided to head downstream from the highway, to find my own private swimming hole.<br />
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Unfortunately, below the highway the canyon floor became sandy--and the feeble stream flowed only a few inches deep. Then, the water disappeared almost entirely--sinking into the river of sand. Disappointed, I climbed onto a boulder in the middle of the wet sand to look further downstream. Not seeing any pools, I jumped back to the wet sand, ready to retrace my steps.<br />
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But to my great surprise, upon landing I sank up to my thighs in quicksand. Damp sand that had looked solid--now became like jelly when I thudded onto it.<br />
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Here's what must have happened. When groundwater flowing through the sand met the boulder in its path, the water was forced upward through the sand grains. If the water rises fast enough, it can push the sand grains apart, so they no longer touch and support one another. Then the sand becomes like a heavy fluid--quicksand. If the sand contains just the right amount of water--if it's close to becoming quicksand--a sudden shock (like my landing) can turn it from solid to liquid.<br />
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This change sometimes happens during earthquakes. Large areas of wet floodplains can suddenly be turned to jelly, carrying away buildings that once stood firmly on top. In an instant, a solid river of sand can really become a flowing river.<br />
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But not on Cape Cod. No lesson here--just an adventure.<br />
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<strong>A pond is a window</strong><br />
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This look around the world shows how special Cape Cod ponds really are. They are windows into the groundwater. They allow a glimpse into what is otherwise unseen, but so important to the Cape. The river under their feet is where Cape Codders, who are surrounded by salt, get all their fresh drinking water.<br />
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The ponds used to be incredibly pure. All the groundwater on the Cape came from pure rain, and if any that fell got polluted by a town, it was filtered by cubic miles of sand. When I was a boy swimming at Hawksnest, I used to drink the water as I swam.<br />
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With hardly any agriculture, Cape Cod avoided the first big threat to water quality. But then came the rush to build summer and retirement homes. Individual septic systems multiplied. Even when they function perfectly, septic systems still release nutrients into the groundwater. So all Cape Cod ponds are under threat from increased nutrients, which sometimes contribute to toxic algae blooms.<br />
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The degree of threat depends on where the ponds are situated along the river of sand, and on the amount of surface runoff (from lawns and pavement), and on erosion. Already, a number of ponds on Cape Cod have suffered toxic algae blooms. At Cliff Pond, at least three dogs died within minutes of drinking the water.<br />
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Because Hawksnest is located near the center of the Monomy Groundwater Lens, it's like a mountain lake, protected from polluted inflow. The land around it is protected from development, and the ring of shore vegetation is remarkably intact. So Hawksnest stands an excellent chance of staying pristine, <em><strong>if</strong></em> it is managed properly.<br />
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Some of the ponds on Cape Cod are still amazingly pure, compared to most other waterways around the world. They are warm, crystal clear, with sandy bottoms, and fragrant to swim in. Flowering shrubs surround them--as you swim, fragrance descends to the surface, then spreads across the mirror surface of the pond.<br />
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Rare or elusive plants and animals live along the shores of Hawsknest--endangered damselflies, delicate sundew plants that eat insects, lovely Plymouth gentian flowers, or secretive otter that play in the mists of dawn.<br />
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Together, these make up the rare** ecosystem of coastal plain ponds. These are quiet places, sheltered from the winds and tides that ravish ocean beaches. The plants have adapted to this inland calm--they ring and protect the gentle waters, holding the pond close with their twining roots.<br />
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For a while, the pond rises, pruning back the small plants and seedlings on the beach. But as summer advances, or sometimes in years of greater drought, the sandy beach emerges for a while.<br />
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Then the smaller plants have their chance. The tiny sundews come from nowhere--then spread their sticky fingers to ensnare blundering gnats. Plymouth gentians sprout from long dormant seeds or rhizome--to blaze again in tall sprays of purple, daisy-like flowers.<br />
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This slow, back and forth dance of the waters--is what the ponds are all about. This ring of fragrant shrubs is not something that can endure much trampling. It's a gentle place. It asks for gentle visitors.<br />
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Vehicles and campfires are for the ocean beach, where winds and currents surge. Salty shores are used to disturbance. Ponds are all about a gentle ebb and flow, watched over by a delicate ring of vegetation that protects the pond.<br />
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<strong>Common but rare</strong><br />
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There are other rivers of sand. But in southern Wisconsin, ponds are fewer and almost everywhere polluted by agriculture. In Baja, the rivers of sand sometimes become raging torrents--and there are no ponds at all--only a few rocky pools in desert canyons.<br />
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So pure water for swimming,** and intact shoreline vegetation, is quite rare around the world. The good news is, that in Cape Cod, there are still a number of pristine "windows on the groundwater" left.<br />
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The bad news is, that because there are so many rare ponds in one place, people don't appreciate this treasure in their own back yard. Through neglect, it could be slipping away.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"># # #</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><em>* The canyon is named "Arroyo la Bocana" further downstream.</em><br />
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<em>** Is "pure water for swimming" really that rare? What about lakes in the mountains, or the north country? </em><br />
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<em>There is still a lot of relatively pure lakes and streams on this planet. But it's usually too far away for your vacation. Mountain lakes or northern lakes are often too cold to swim in. In Northern Wisconsin, our lakes are pretty clear, but they are cold, dark with tannin, have mucky bottoms, and are guarded by swarms of leaches and mosquitoes. Before you can swim in mountain lakes, you often have to wade over sharp or slippery boulders.</em><br />
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<em>I visited four mountain lakes this summer in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Two were as clear as Hawksnest (but colder), one was clear but had the shore destroyed by hikers and horses, and the fourth (a large crater lake with hundreds of campgrounds) was somewhat polluted. Not one was as convenient or pleasant for swimming as Hawksnest. In all of the lakes, I saw only one person swimming, besides myself.</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-88264893741340053352022-07-05T22:24:00.002-05:002022-07-05T22:24:37.843-05:00Feeding wildlife at HawksnestLast summer, I was having a conversation with a regular visitor to Hawksnest. We were at Bell's landing on the west side of the pond. As we talked, he tossed a few pieces of leftover pizza into the woods, "for the coyotes."<br />
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It's true there are coyotes around Hawksnest. I saw them twice last summer, both times close to Seth Whitfield Rd.<br />
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It's good to have wildlife on the Cape--and that's one of the purposes of state parks like Hawksnest. Coyotes help restore the natural balance. For example, they can prevent the buildup of pesky populations of geese, that litter parks with their droppings.<br />
<br />Feeding coyotes, whether intentional or not, will only lead to death for the coyotes. Last summer, after complaints, the animal control officer in Chatham trapped and removed family of coyotes.<br />
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<strong>How homeowners provide food for coyotes</strong><br />
<ul><li>Leaving pet food in a dish on your patio</li>
<li>Leaving bags of petfood accessible in your garage</li>
<li>Scattered seed under your bird feeder---attracts rodents which coyotes feed on</li>
<li>Leaving small pets outdoors (or off leash), especially at night.</li>
<li>Leaving your garbage can uncovered</li>
</ul>Coyotes are a good reason to keep your dog on-leash at Hawksnest. They are known to attack and kill dogs--even dogs their own size. They do this, not for food, but because dogs are seen as a threat to their territory or their den.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/capecod/environment/x1664755762/Coyote-attacks-concern-Mill-Pond-neighbors#axzz1glZAtydV">More stories</a> about coyote attacks on dogs on the Cape.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-47885319127654608362022-07-05T22:10:00.003-05:002022-07-05T22:11:24.065-05:00Ponds around the world--Holland<br />Marten Scheffer, a biologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, grew up swimming in the clear lowland ponds of his country. In the 1980s, many of these ponds turned turbid. The plants would die, algae would cover the surface, and only bottom-feeding fish remained. The cause — fertilizer runoff from nearby farms — was well known, but even after you stopped the runoff, replanted the lilies and restocked the trout, the ponds would stay dark and scummy.<br />
<br />
Mr. Scheffer solved this problem with a key insight: the ponds behaved according to a branch of mathematics called “dynamical systems,” which deals with sudden changes. Once you reach a tipping point, it’s very difficult to return things to how they used to be. It’s easy to roll a boulder off a cliff, for instance, but much harder to roll it back. Once the ponds turned turbid, it wasn’t enough to just replant and restock. You had get them back to their original, clear state.<br />
<br />
Science is a graveyard of grand principles that fail in the end to explain the real world. So it is all the more surprising that Mr. Scheffer’s idea worked.<br />
<br />
By applying the principles of dynamical systems, Mr. Scheffer was able to figure out that to fix the ponds, he had to remove the fish that thrive in the turbid water. They stir up sediment, which blocks sunlight from plants, and eat the zooplankton that keep the water clear. His program of fixing the Netherlands’ ponds and lakes is legendary in ecology. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/opinion/the-climate-change-tipping-point.html?src=recg" target="_blank">Source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-84721230920757112092014-01-04T10:24:00.000-06:002014-01-04T10:25:40.884-06:00Resource management planning for Hawksnest State Park<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">The Department of Conservation and Recreation held a public meeting on December 5 to announce their proposed their Resource Management Plan (RMP). The plan encompasses Nickerson State lands on Cape Cod, including Hawksnest State Park.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">At the meeting they indicated they were accepting public feedback expressing concerns, issues or ideas. They gave January 10 as the deadline for comments, but said they would accept comments that came later.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">The RMP serves as a guide for potential future actions by the DCR. The guidelines are often used as criteria for grants from other public or private agencies. These guidelines may help organizations like the Harwich Conservation Trust to find grant money to help buy property for conservation purposes. The RMP doesn’t include any funding for recommendations.</span></span><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.90625px;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><u style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;"><b><br /></b></u></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><u style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;"><b>Please share your thoughts with the DCR</b></u><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;"></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18.90625px;">Public comments could include almost anything, such as :</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• How you use the park</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• What you like about the park</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• What you would like to see preserved in the park</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• What you don’t want to see changed</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• What you would like to see changed</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• What benefits you see to keeping the park the way it is </span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• Where you are from and why you go to Hawksnest park</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">• First hand knowledge of human misuse of the park such as human waste, fires, ATV use, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">parties after park closing hours. All these are illegal under current DCR regulations. </span></span><br />
<h4 style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">
<u><span style="font-family: inherit;">How to make a public comment</span></u></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">You can make whatever comments you wish to the DCR by email or by letter. They assured everyone at the 5 December meeting that all comments will be read and taken into consideration.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">All public comments will be posted on line and are indeed public, they will NOT redact anything including name, address , personal information, etc</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">When you email, you need to put “Nickerson Complex RMP” in the subject line to make sure it gets to the correct place. Again, Hawksnest is only one of the properties within the larger Nickerson Complex which covers all DCR properties on the Cape and Islands. </span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">Email address is : DCR.Updates@state.ma.us</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">Regular Mail :</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">Department of Conservation and Recreation</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">Office of Public Outreach</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">251 Causeway Street, Suite 900</span><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; line-height: 18.90625px;">Boston, MA 02114 </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-20585320655358115472013-12-21T13:04:00.000-06:002013-12-21T13:13:36.193-06:00The channel connecting Black and Hawksnest ponds<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;">Black Pond and Hawksnest Pond are very different. Black Pond is shallow, filled with vegetation, and high in nutrients, while Hawksnest Pond is deep, mostly free of aquatic plants, and nutrient poor. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;" />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_CI0RsoNz5eIJLFFtNzZdipUfKbYSaq27b-N0GZUDsDufsVnDv4v0IipVCXA1JAFKqGD_LWixPzop1OwY7aa47DIBeIflKKLCP2wXs-_eR166J9vYVG6BuCV8a6iOljdJkFNiFJp5-I/s1600/3743850379_68bffea688_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #eeeecc; clear: right; color: #223344; float: right; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_CI0RsoNz5eIJLFFtNzZdipUfKbYSaq27b-N0GZUDsDufsVnDv4v0IipVCXA1JAFKqGD_LWixPzop1OwY7aa47DIBeIflKKLCP2wXs-_eR166J9vYVG6BuCV8a6iOljdJkFNiFJp5-I/s320/3743850379_68bffea688_b.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="212" /></a><span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;">Yet Black Pond is about a foot higher than Hawksnest. When water levels are high, a strong current flows from Black to Hawksnest. This probably imports a lot of nutrients into Hawksnest.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5840081780822203918" name="more" style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;"></a><br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;" />
<span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;">In the 1950s tthrough the 1970s, the two ponds were connected only during very high water. Even then, I did not notice much flow between them. High bushes on the isthmus must have filtered any water that did flow from Black Pond.</span><br />
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<i>Looking from Black to Hawksnest. Grass in the water indicates strong flow.</i><br />
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<br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;">Since then, a channel has been created between the two ponds. In 2010, I found this channel and dammed it with rocks. But the rocks were removed by someone within 24 hours! This demonstrates that the channel was built, and is actively kept open. It's most likely use is to allow boats to move from Hawksnest to Black Pond.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;">Black Pond needs to be included in Harwich's pond sampling program. It's likely that sampling would find that Black Pond indeed has higher levels of dissolved phosphorus and other nutrients that could be a threat to Hawksnest.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;" />
<span style="background-color: #eeeecc; color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.90625px;">Another concern is that if any invasive plants become established in Black Pond, they could quickly spread to Hawksnest.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-740968220860173262013-12-15T23:05:00.002-06:002013-12-15T23:34:06.054-06:00Planning for the future of DCR lands on the Cape, including Hawksnest<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
There will be a meeting hosted by the Friends of Hawksnest<b> </b>to discuss local input to DCR's planning process:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>When</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><b> Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 7:30 pm.</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Where</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><b>First Parish Church in Brewster, on rte 124 just off of 6A, in the church's barn building, accessible from the parking lot. </b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyone with an interest in the conservation of Hawksnest is invited. Please RSVP to Suzanne Ryan, suzeryan01@gmail.com, or 774-208-8627. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>Background--the planning process</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<i>On Dec. 5, the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation held a <a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/news/public-meetings/materials/rmp/2013-12-5-nickersonrmpnotice.pdf" target="_blank">public forum</a> to introduce their process for planning for State lands on the Cape and Islands. Below are John Wittmann's notes from the meeting. Link to a <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/newsnow/x1467739554/Nickerson-Park-Complex-creating-a-new-guide-for-the-Future#thecomments" target="_blank">newspaper story</a> on the meeting.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The meeting was held at the Cape Cod Community College. There were around 20 people in attendance and almost half were employees of the State. There were only a few that were actual public.<br />
<br />
The meeting's purpose was to introduce us to the process that will be used to create a Resource Management Plan for the Nickerson Complex.<br />
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The Nickerson Complex is the name the State gives to all the land managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). This includes many properties across the Cape and Islands, including Hawksnest State Park. <br />
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<a name='more'></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71jrr-2x8mbbWy-E62VMNTNpfILDhKz3YO6kLacNvogkgD6e4dN4V6QcEplPWLAGC6XYEjGpX83ktNBxj_rojVuYOnA5dT1fyIp1MB-x6_sLU41yMssnbVcf_4m-IKsD3YrHHhPRVyAA/s1600/Handout+2+from+Derc+5+2013+DCR+meeting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71jrr-2x8mbbWy-E62VMNTNpfILDhKz3YO6kLacNvogkgD6e4dN4V6QcEplPWLAGC6XYEjGpX83ktNBxj_rojVuYOnA5dT1fyIp1MB-x6_sLU41yMssnbVcf_4m-IKsD3YrHHhPRVyAA/s400/Handout+2+from+Derc+5+2013+DCR+meeting.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<i style="text-align: start;">Handout 2 from the forum – map of Nickerson Complex properties.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
Resource Management Plans are required under state law and are being created for the 40+ “complexes” in the State. They are only doing a few a year. It is now our turn. These plans are designed to provide guidelines, restraints, and directions for the development of properties within a given area. (See section below that gives a fuller description).<br />
<br />
<b>Steps to the planning process</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Initial public forum – this is what the 12/5 meeting was for.</li>
<li>Time for public input by email, letter, or phone. This time period ends on 10 January 2014. They may accept more input after this deadline</li>
<li>Creation of the plan document by the DCR through the winter and early Spring</li>
<li>Initial introduction of DCR's plan in a public meeting in the Spring of 2014. Document will be posted on line at the same time as this meeting</li>
<li>After the Spring presentation there will be a 30-day public comment period.</li>
<li>The plan will be revised and posted in Summer of 2014 at which time is will be voted on by the Conservation commission in the state (?) and assumed to be passed. </li>
</ol>
The plan is supposed to consider the “past, present, and future of the property.”<br />
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Each individual property will have its own section within the plan.<br />
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Each plan looks at all 3 types of “land stewardship zoning” within each area. Every square foot of an area is delineated as one of these 3 zoning areas. There is a separate document attached that has more information regarding these land stewardship zones.<br />
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Each plan is to include all other current environmental information. I assume that means they will include information from the Harwich Bio map report that was created in 2012. (attached)<br />
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<b>My comments</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
These plans do not come with funding of any type but are often used as guidelines for future funding and growth so it is important to be involved at the ground floor of the process. It will also be important to review the draft plan when it is created and give comments. They seemed very open to comments and said each one would be read.<br />
<br />
During the public comment section of the meeting, moderated by Andy Backman, director of Regional Planning, a comment was made by someone who gives walks around Hawksnest and was concerned about lack of trails and knowing what part is private and which parts are public.<br />
<br />
Andy mentioned that one should be careful walking around Hawksnest since parts of it are part of the “Natural Heritage Program.” This program is part of the DCR and includes the MA endangered species. This in turn led me to the MA Bio Map of 2012 which delineates all the areas of concern across the State. This in turn led to the “Harwich Bio Map” (attached). It seems we have some threatened and critical species at Hawksnest. Andy said this should be included in the plan automatically, but we should check to make sure. It also seems that using some of the language of that plan should be used in our public comments.<br />
<br />
<b>Links </b>from my web browsing, to help us understand the process better...<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/conservation/planning-and-resource-protection/rmp/" target="_blank">Resource Management Planning</a> describes the process and purpose of the plans.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/conservation/planning-and-resource-protection/rmp/resource-management-plan-hppu.html" target="_blank">Sample Management plan</a> shows what we may expect. This was done for one of the other areas of MA. There are others on the DCR website. </li>
<li>DCR handout 1- this is what they gave me at the forum. <i>See end of this article.</i></li>
<li><a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/conservation/planning-and-resource-protection/land-stewardship-zoning-guidelines.html" target="_blank">Land Stewardship Zoning guidelines</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/dfg/biomap/pdf/town_core/Harwich.pdf" target="_blank">Harwich Biodiversity</a> – document showing all the areas of Harwich.</li>
</ul>
<b>DCR Mission Statement</b><br />
<br />
The following is from <a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/welcomedcr-welcome.html" target="_blank">DCR's website</a>, and seems to be a good talking point in comments in any comments we make on the process.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">To protect, promote and enhance our common wealth of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the well-being of all.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">In meeting today's responsibilities and planning for tomorrow, DCR's focus is on:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Improving outdoor recreational opportunities and natural resource conservation</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Restoring and improving our facilities</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Expanding public involvement in carrying out DCR's mission, and</span></li>
<li><span style="color: blue;">Establishing first-rate management systems and practices.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: blue;">The health and happiness of people across Massachusetts depend on the accessibility and quality of our green infrastructure - our natural resources, recreational facilities, and great historic landscapes. The DCR continues to improve the vital connection between people and the environment.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4soTGgOp5XJ5eZI5DQPF73WNzZkyJAFEsfePACdkASVWkoASa3YKsKxPqKm8-gfzcR6tWjCNMBRtqCRd9tfGn830fiDqO_LlnK1bermPZlCbyB63HlgyE3q-YMz9Nx4XZn_p1PAR1BKM/s1600/Handout+1+from+Dec+5,+2013+DCR+forum.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4soTGgOp5XJ5eZI5DQPF73WNzZkyJAFEsfePACdkASVWkoASa3YKsKxPqKm8-gfzcR6tWjCNMBRtqCRd9tfGn830fiDqO_LlnK1bermPZlCbyB63HlgyE3q-YMz9Nx4XZn_p1PAR1BKM/s400/Handout+1+from+Dec+5,+2013+DCR+forum.JPG" width="312" /></a></div>
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<i>Handout 2 from the forum. Click to enlarge.</i></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-29710292569531563682013-10-30T01:59:00.002-05:002022-07-05T23:11:00.753-05:00Photos show the basics of erosion control at Hawksnest<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LQVyrIoeNeElQSN5e_EnwBDzcMnkMccgwnBZGv_DE6K6czaJ92E28SgHRUIT8d94WaMF5Riqf3fcwEsLIzBrJ27TILNZ2kGomJFdCX1kyMVUPdGL_8ZRDdm-QIyUa-7rQ1_ZE90WqUk/s1600/LakeMendotaAfterStorm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1LQVyrIoeNeElQSN5e_EnwBDzcMnkMccgwnBZGv_DE6K6czaJ92E28SgHRUIT8d94WaMF5Riqf3fcwEsLIzBrJ27TILNZ2kGomJFdCX1kyMVUPdGL_8ZRDdm-QIyUa-7rQ1_ZE90WqUk/s400/LakeMendotaAfterStorm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stormwater carries mud, waste, and nutrients to lakes. It can get this bad (photo from Madison, WI)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZILaslFdGK3iEizCjhTshYoXSCjUl113ZrNBARTyxXKy_IU4yCWEJUyzGepchBba6LThZr_fjqSapZa_6yOVsdEysvJJeIli3vKmQ7z91SVxghKlEsBDvJIUWr5-JJLY6kkA3ZdcSm_A/s1600/6238207923_4101b7aef9_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZILaslFdGK3iEizCjhTshYoXSCjUl113ZrNBARTyxXKy_IU4yCWEJUyzGepchBba6LThZr_fjqSapZa_6yOVsdEysvJJeIli3vKmQ7z91SVxghKlEsBDvJIUWr5-JJLY6kkA3ZdcSm_A/s400/6238207923_4101b7aef9_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Once in the lakes, nutrients feed the growth of toxic algae.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
The debris washed in isn't just some leaves. At Hawksnest with no port-a-potties and parties of up to 25 people, the waste can get nasty.<br />
<br />
Erosion and stormwater are one of the largest sources of nutrients to ponds on Cape Cod. Stormwater runoff causes the erosion, and also caries nutrient-rich debris to the pond--dog waste, human waste, soil, leaves, and garbage.<br />
<br />
Nutrients in turn cause toxic algae blooms, and the growth of aquatic weeds that reduce the quality of swimming and other uses. Once nutrients get into the lake, they are extremely difficult to eliminate. The pond is degraded forever. Alum treatment can improve the lake, but it's expensive and has to be repeated periodically.<br />
<br />
Erosion around ponds isn't recognized as a problem, because such erosion is normal for the seacoast. Most people are familiar with ocean beaches, but the ponds are less visited. So people think erosion around ponds is normal. In fact, they probably enjoy the enlarged beaches caused by erosion and trampling of shore vegetation. But the enlarged beach eventually degrades water quality--the very reason they came to the beach.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The coastal plain ponds of Cape Cod are a rare and threatened ecosystem--totally different from the seacoast. Ponds are very protected from winds, waves, ice movement, and tides. So before settlement, the shores were completely clothed with a ring of brushy vegetation.<br />
<br />
It's here along the shore that we find species of special concern like the Plymouth gentian and sun dews. In the shallow water are several endangered species of damsel flies. The ring of vegetation protects the pond's water quality in several ways...<br />
<ul>
<li>The ring prevents erosion of the shoreline. When the banks and bluffs along the shore erode, they dump enormous quantities of nutrients into the lake.</li>
<li>The ring acts like a screen to catch falling leaves before they reach the pond.</li>
<li>The ring acts like a filter to prevent runoff and floating debris from reaching the pond. </li>
<li>The nutrients trapped at the shore feed growth of shrubs with perfumed flowers--rather than growth of toxic algae in the pond.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Everywhere in the USA, people flock to the shores of ponds and streams, trampling the vegetation. Almost everywhere except in remote places, shoreline vegetation has been destroyed. So Hawksnest presents a unique laboratory for learning--a unique resource for the schools of Harwich, and for scientists worldwide.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>What happens when you don't prevent erosion</b></div>
<br />
Walden Pond, made famous by the writings of Thoreau, has hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. For many decades, they trampled the shores until severe erosion set in. The State delayed until finally, about five years ago, they made extensive repairs and restored the vegetation. <b>These repairs cost over a million dollars. </b> At Hawksnest, we could do repairs before runaway erosion sets in, for only a few thousand dollars.<br />
<br />
At Nickerson State Park, toxic algae blooms have prompted a study, probably leading to treating the pond with alum. One cause of the algae blooms at Nickerson is the severe erosion of the surrounding bluffs and trails, along with loss of the protective ring of vegetation.<br />
<br />
A number of other nearby ponds have experienced algae blooms: Molls, Great, and Herring ponds in Eastham; Long and Cliff ponds in Brewster; along with <a href="http://harwichconservationtrust.org/pond-watershed-land-preseved/" target="_blank">Hinkley's, Seymour's</a>,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/news/x135732978/Toxic-algae-bloom-closes-Hinckley-s-Pond?zc_p=1" target="_blank">John Joseph, Buck’s, Kiddies, Sand, Aunt Renie’s</a> and Skinequit </span>ponds in Harwich. Long Pond is right next to Hawksnest. Residents around Skinequit Pond <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/x979191279" target="_blank">purchased a $45,000 SolarBee</a> to reduce the pollution.<br />
<br />
<b>Eroding basins</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Undisturbed woodlands on Cape Cod have extremely porous soil. The water sinks right in. Streams and gullies normally don't occur. So before settlement, little debris washed into ponds--and they remained extremely pure.<br />
<br />
At Hawksnest before the park, the only way debris could get in was from the air. I springtime, yellow pollen from the pines made golden rows along the shore. Leaves blew in during the fall, but only from trees right along the shore. A little dust came in with the rain. All this was blown across the lake by southwest winds, and trapped in the little cove over by Spruce Road (what we call the beak of the hawk sitting in Hawksnest). That's why a little corner of the cove is the only swampy, mucky, weedy place in Hawksnest.<br />
<br />
But once erosion started at Hawksnest, water ran more swiftly to the lake over bare, compacted soils. The fast-moving water began to carve basins. The dirt roads and trail became tributaries, directing more water towards the pond.<br />
<br />
Now the parking lot at the end of Hawksnest has become a bowl-shaped basin that channels water towards trails leading to the lake. The trail from the parking lot that goes up over the hill is beginning to channel more and more water into the eroding parking lot. These enlarging basins are channeling more and more dirty water towards the pond. As they flow, they channel dog and human waste towards the pond. There are no port-a-potties, and sometimes 25 people come for a party.<br />
<br />
So, with increasing erosion, it's fair to say that the area that sheds leaves and dirt to the pond has enlarged from just a tiny ring (the shore protected by vegetation) to many acres--consisting of the trails, roads, and basins that now send runoff to the pond.<br />
<br />
The larger these runoff basins become, the faster they erode. At some point, the erosion becomes "runaway" and very hard to stop.<br />
<br />
<b>Stages of erosion</b><br />
<ol>
<li><u>Bare soil</u>. Vegetation is removed. Leaf litter is raked or blown away. Soil is compacted by traffic, so rain cannot sink it. Instead, if flows over the ground.</li>
<li><u>Channel formation</u>. You can see a small channel, marked by signs of flowing water, such as a little "dike" of pine needles that floated to the edge of the channel. Or, you may see some bare soil, or sand that washed down the channel. The channel focuses the power of erosion on one spot.</li>
<li><u>Channel excavation</u>. The channel starts to deepen into the soil, perhaps exposing a few roots of trees. The basin starts to enlarge, as soil from the surrounding area is removed.</li>
<li><u>Many tree roots exposed</u>. For a while, the roots of trees act as little dams. They slow the flow, so the water can't pick up too much speed. The roots hang onto the soil. But erosion is nearing the runaway point.</li>
<li><u>Tree roots undermined</u>. Once the roots are undermined, they can be broken by traffic, or water simply goes under them. The roots are the last protection--once more than half are gone, <span style="color: #660000;"><b>runaway erosion can occur</b>.</span> When many roots are destroyed, the surrounding trees die--increasing the rate of erosion by wind and pounding rain.</li>
<li><u>Gully formation</u>. Most erosion occurs only during severe storms, causing people to underestimate the danger. Nothing much happens for perhaps ten years. Then a big gully opens up in a storm--but this was perfectly predictable. Once a gully forms, it becomes nearly impossible to deflect the stormwater, so it continues to erode, unless you fill it in. And that can be expensive.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Big dogs, horses, bicycles, ATVs, and 4X vehicles make erosion much worse on trails.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The two trails that lead to the pond from Round Cove Rd are at Stage 4-5. The left-hand trail (facing the pond) trail to the pond from the parking area is at the most risk for runaway erosion, because the slope is steep. The roots of a big oak at the bottom are becoming undermined. Runaway erosion could be only one hurricane away.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>An opportunity for Harwich</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's still time to fix erosion at Hawksnest inexpensively. One problem is the paperwork and fees required for a permit from the Conservation Commission. That would be prohibitive, if a permit has to be applied for, each time we do anything within 100' of the pond. It's hard to plan ahead, because an erosion problem can develop suddenly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If Friends of Hawksnest can apply for a permit once--say for a 10 year period--a permit which limits us to certain low-impact techniques at Hawksnest State Park, it would remove a major obstacle--and would facilitate writing grants. This extended permit might require periodic consultations with the Conservation Agent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It would also set an example for other Cape ponds and even nationwide, demonstrating that proactive erosion control by volunteers is possible. Right now, everywhere we're stuck in reactive mode. The problem is ignored until it becomes severe. Then everyone wants it solved right away, at great cost. Here's a chance for Friends of Hawksnest to make an enormous contribution.<br />
<b><br /></b><b>Priorities for Round Cove Road beach</b><br />
<br />
<u>Near term (no permit needed)</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Re-establish barriers to prevent vehicles from approaching close to the pond (in the hollow).</li>
<li>Replace any silt socks that have broken.</li>
<li>Close the trail over the hill (that feeds runoff into the parking area). This will be very hard to do, until the Friends gain community support for this.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Mid-term</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Obtain a necessary specific or general permits.</li>
<li>Reinforcement of the gully from the hollow to the beach.</li>
<li>Restoration of the hollow, plant pine trees near the shore, filling of giant puddle.</li>
<li>Shoring up of the bottom of the steep trail, to protect the roots there. Deflection of water from the trail.</li>
<li>A port-a-potty.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Future</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Close the current parking area, and restore the eroding basin to make it a picnic area. This steep area simply isn't appropriate for parking. Establish parking instead at the bottom of the hill, south of Round Cove Rd.</li>
<li>Build boardwalks allowing access to the beach from the parking and picnic areas, so that people don't erode the trail.</li>
<li>A gate, to be closed by local residents at park closing time. The gate could also be closed during rainy weather. This would allow restoration of the road. If the road is not closed when wet, then any improvements will quickly be destroyed.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<b>Priorities for the Walker Road landing</b><br />
<br />
<div>
<i>This area has a plan developed by the State, and approved by the Conservation Commission. It would cost tens of thousands of dollars to implement, and so hasn't been done. Instead, volunteers could prevent erosion here, with minimal expense.</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
The main problem here is runoff coming down the eroding access road. It flows directly into the pond, frequently washing ashes and garbage from campfires into the pond. This water can be deflected away from the pond by building a berm with a rake--but traffic keeps destroying the berm.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Near term</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Build a low berm. Maintain it frequently. Remove any blockage that prevents runoff from flowing away from the pond.</li>
<li>Establish a fence to keep dogs and people away from the bank on the left, near the pond. Cover with mulch and plant native shrubs.</li>
<li>Dig some trenches high on the road to deflect water from the road.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Medium-term</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Get a permit from the Conservation Commission.</li>
<li>Build a permanent berm from gravel to deflect runoff from the pond.</li>
<li>More permanent shoring up of the water's edge, possibly including the posts called for in the State's plan.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Long-term</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Possibly improve the road or parking on this side. This side is really more accessible than the Round Cove side. Any road improvements would be shorter.</li>
<li>A gate, to be closed by local residents at park closing time.</li>
<li>A port-a-potty.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Other shores of the pond</b></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
In 2011, a new access point down a steep slope on the north shore was opened by a person walking dogs. There is potential for erosion. This area needs to be watched to see if it is healing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Water Quality Task Force reports "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-center;">Runoff-</b><span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-center;">From Rt 6 and Spruce Rd, Storm drains discharge onto West Shore." Investigate.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-22507378702482974722013-10-29T17:20:00.000-05:002013-10-29T21:02:42.212-05:00Why erosion control is needed at Hawksnest<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
Erosion and stormwater are one of the largest sources of nutrients to ponds on Cape Cod. Stormwater runoff causes the erosion, and also caries nutrient-rich debris to the pond--dog waste, human waste, soil, leaves, and garbage.<br />
<br />
Nutrients in turn cause toxic algae blooms, and the growth of aquatic weeds that reduce the quality of swimming and other uses. Once nutrients get into the lake, they are extremely difficult to eliminate. The pond is degraded forever. Alum treatment can improve the lake, but it's expensive and has to be repeated periodically.<br />
<br />
Erosion around ponds isn't recognized as a problem, because such erosion is normal for the seacoast. Most people are familiar with ocean beaches, but the ponds are less visited. So people think erosion around ponds is normal. In fact, they probably enjoy the enlarged beaches caused by erosion and trampling of shore vegetation. But the enlarged beach eventually degrades water quality--the very reason they came to the beach.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>The coastal plain ponds of Cape Cod are a rare and threatened ecosystem--totally different from the seacoast. Ponds are very protected from winds, waves, ice movement, and tides. So before settlement, the shores were completely clothed with a ring of brushy vegetation.<br />
<br />
It's here along the shore that we find species of special concern like the Plymouth gentian and sun dews. In the shallow water are several endangered species of damsel flies. The ring of vegetation protects the pond's water quality in several ways...<br />
<ul>
<li>The ring prevents erosion of the shoreline. When the banks and bluffs along the shore erode, they dump enormous quantities of nutrients into the lake.</li>
<li>The ring acts like a screen to catch falling leaves before they reach the pond.</li>
<li>The ring acts like a filter to prevent runoff and floating debris from reaching the pond. </li>
<li>The nutrients trapped at the shore feed growth of shrubs with perfumed flowers--rather than growth of toxic algae in the pond.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Everywhere in the USA, people flock to the shores of ponds and streams, trampling the vegetation. Almost everywhere except in remote places, shoreline vegetation has been destroyed. So Hawksnest presents a unique laboratory for learning--a unique resource for the schools of Harwich, and for scientists worldwide.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>What happens when you don't prevent erosion</b></div>
<br />
Walden Pond, made famous by the writings of Thoreau, has hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. For many decades, they trampled the shores until severe erosion set in. The State delayed until finally, about five years ago, they made extensive repairs and restored the vegetation. <b>These repairs cost over a million dollars. </b> At Hawksnest, we could do repairs before runaway erosion sets in, for only a few thousand dollars.<br />
<br />
At Nickerson State Park, toxic algae blooms have prompted a study, probably leading to treating the pond with alum. One cause of the algae blooms at Nickerson is the severe erosion of the surrounding bluffs and trails, along with loss of the protective ring of vegetation.<br />
<br />
A number of other nearby ponds have experienced algae blooms: Molls, Great, and Herring ponds in Eastham; Long and Cliff ponds in Brewster; along with <a href="http://harwichconservationtrust.org/pond-watershed-land-preseved/" target="_blank">Hinkley's, Seymour's</a>,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/news/x135732978/Toxic-algae-bloom-closes-Hinckley-s-Pond?zc_p=1" target="_blank">John Joseph, Buck’s, Kiddies, Sand, Aunt Renie’s</a> and Skinequit </span>ponds in Harwich. Long Pond is right next to Hawksnest. Residents around Skinequit Pond <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/x979191279" target="_blank">purchased a $45,000 SolarBee</a> to reduce the pollution.<br />
<br />
<b>Eroding basins</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Undisturbed woodlands on Cape Cod have extremely porous soil. The water sinks right in. Streams and gullies normally don't occur. So before settlement, little debris washed into ponds--and they remained extremely pure.<br />
<br />
At Hawksnest before the park, the only way debris could get in was from the air. I springtime, yellow pollen from the pines made golden rows along the shore. Leaves blew in during the fall, but only from trees right along the shore. A little dust came in with the rain. All this was blown across the lake by southwest winds, and trapped in the little cove over by Spruce Road (what we call the beak of the hawk sitting in Hawksnest). That's why a little corner of the cove is the only swampy, mucky, weedy place in Hawksnest.<br />
<br />
But once erosion started at Hawksnest, water ran more swiftly to the lake over bare, compacted soils. The fast-moving water began to carve basins. The dirt roads and trail became tributaries, directing more water towards the pond.<br />
<br />
Now the parking lot at the end of Hawksnest has become a bowl-shaped basin that channels water towards trails leading to the lake. The trail from the parking lot that goes up over the hill is beginning to channel more and more water into the eroding parking lot. These enlarging basins are channeling more and more dirty water towards the pond. As they flow, they channel dog and human waste towards the pond. There are no port-a-potties, and sometimes 25 people come for a party.<br />
<br />
So, with increasing erosion, it's fair to say that the area that sheds leaves and dirt to the pond has enlarged from just a tiny ring (the shore protected by vegetation) to many acres--consisting of the trails, roads, and basins that now send runoff to the pond.<br />
<br />
The larger these runoff basins become, the faster they erode. At some point, the erosion becomes "runaway" and very hard to stop.<br />
<br />
<b>Stages of erosion</b><br />
<ol>
<li><u>Bare soil</u>. Vegetation is removed. Leaf litter is raked or blown away. Soil is compacted by traffic, so rain cannot sink it. Instead, if flows over the ground.</li>
<li><u>Channel formation</u>. You can see a small channel, marked by signs of flowing water, such as a little "dike" of pine needles that floated to the edge of the channel. Or, you may see some bare soil, or sand that washed down the channel. The channel focuses the power of erosion on one spot.</li>
<li><u>Channel excavation</u>. The channel starts to deepen into the soil, perhaps exposing a few roots of trees. The basin starts to enlarge, as soil from the surrounding area is removed.</li>
<li><u>Many tree roots exposed</u>. For a while, the roots of trees act as little dams. They slow the flow, so the water can't pick up too much speed. The roots hang onto the soil. But erosion is nearing the runaway point.</li>
<li><u>Tree roots undermined</u>. Once the roots are undermined, they can be broken by traffic, or water simply goes under them. The roots are the last protection--once more than half are gone, <span style="color: #660000;"><b>runaway erosion can occur</b>.</span> When many roots are destroyed, the surrounding trees die--increasing the rate of erosion by wind and pounding rain.</li>
<li><u>Gully formation</u>. Most erosion occurs only during severe storms, causing people to underestimate the danger. Nothing much happens for perhaps ten years. Then a big gully opens up in a storm--but this was perfectly predictable. Once a gully forms, it becomes nearly impossible to deflect the stormwater, so it continues to erode, unless you fill it in. And that can be expensive.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Big dogs, horses, bicycles, ATVs, and 4X vehicles make erosion much worse on trails.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The two trails that lead to the pond from Round Cove Rd are at Stage 4-5. The left-hand trail (facing the pond) trail to the pond from the parking area is at the most risk for runaway erosion, because the slope is steep. The roots of a big oak at the bottom are becoming undermined. Runaway erosion could be only one hurricane away.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>An opportunity for Harwich</b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's still time to fix erosion at Hawksnest inexpensively. One problem is the paperwork and fees required for a permit from the Conservation Commission. That would be prohibitive, if a permit has to be applied for, each time we do anything within 100' of the pond. It's hard to plan ahead, because an erosion problem can develop suddenly.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If Friends of Hawksnest can apply for a permit once--say for a 10 year period--a permit which limits us to certain low-impact techniques at Hawksnest State Park, it would remove a major obstacle--and would facilitate writing grants. This extended permit might require periodic consultations with the Conservation Agent.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It would also set an example for other Cape ponds and even nationwide, demonstrating that proactive erosion control by volunteers is possible. Right now, everywhere we're stuck in reactive mode. The problem is ignored until it becomes severe. Then everyone wants it solved right away, at great cost. Here's a chance for Friends of Hawksnest to make an enormous contribution.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Priorities for Round Cove Road beach</b><br />
<br />
<u>Near term (no permit needed)</u><br />
<ul>
<li>Re-establish barriers to prevent vehicles from approaching close to the pond (in the hollow).</li>
<li>Replace any silt socks that have broken.</li>
<li>Close the trail over the hill (that feeds runoff into the parking area). This will be very hard to do, until the Friends gain community support for this.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Mid-term</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Obtain a necessary specific or general permits.</li>
<li>Reinforcement of the gully from the hollow to the beach.</li>
<li>Restoration of the hollow, plant pine trees near the shore, filling of giant puddle.</li>
<li>Shoring up of the bottom of the steep trail, to protect the roots there. Deflection of water from the trail.</li>
<li>A port-a-potty.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Future</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Close the current parking area, and restore the eroding basin to make it a picnic area. This steep area simply isn't appropriate for parking. Establish parking instead at the bottom of the hill, south of Round Cove Rd.</li>
<li>Build boardwalks allowing access to the beach from the parking and picnic areas, so that people don't erode the trail.</li>
<li>A gate, to be closed by local residents at park closing time. The gate could also be closed during rainy weather. This would allow restoration of the road. If the road is not closed when wet, then any improvements will quickly be destroyed.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<b>Priorities for the Walker Road landing</b><br />
<br />
<div>
<i>This area has a plan developed by the State, and approved by the Conservation Commission. It would cost tens of thousands of dollars to implement, and so hasn't been done. Instead, volunteers could prevent erosion here, with minimal expense.</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
The main problem here is runoff coming down the eroding access road. It flows directly into the pond, frequently washing ashes and garbage from campfires into the pond. This water can be deflected away from the pond by building a berm with a rake--but traffic keeps destroying the berm.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<u>Near term</u></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Build a low berm. Maintain it frequently. Remove any blockage that prevents runoff from flowing away from the pond.</li>
<li>Establish a fence to keep dogs and people away from the bank on the left, near the pond. Cover with mulch and plant native shrubs.</li>
<li>Dig some trenches high on the road to deflect water from the road.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Medium-term</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Get a permit from the Conservation Commission.</li>
<li>Build a permanent berm from gravel to deflect runoff from the pond.</li>
<li>More permanent shoring up of the water's edge, possibly including the posts called for in the State's plan.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<u>Long-term</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Possibly improve the road or parking on this side. This side is really more accessible than the Round Cove side. Any road improvements would be shorter.</li>
<li>A gate, to be closed by local residents at park closing time.</li>
<li>A port-a-potty.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Other shores of the pond</b></div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
In 2011, a new access point down a steep slope on the north shore was opened by a person walking dogs. There is potential for erosion. This area needs to be watched to see if it is healing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Water Quality Task Force reports "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-center;">Runoff-</b><span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-center;">From Rt 6 and Spruce Rd, Storm drains discharge onto West Shore." Investigate.</span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-8988284837411148792013-10-29T17:06:00.000-05:002013-10-29T15:04:23.741-05:00Previous erosion control projects at Hawksnest<strong>Our approach</strong><br />
<ul>
<li>Use local materials--<em>like logs and mulch.</em></li>
<li>Hand tools rather than heavy equipment--<em>less expensive, less disturbance.</em></li>
<li>Mulch all surfaces--<em>looks more natural, prevents erosion, promotes plant growth.</em></li>
<li>Watch where the rain goes<em>--work with the rain, not against it.</em></li>
<li>Explain what we're doing.</li>
<li>Be responsive to legitimate needs of users--<em>we're trying to repair rather than close paths to the pond.</em></li>
<li>Volunteers must coordinate <em>so they don't work against each othe.r</em></li>
<li>All projects are approved by Nickerson State Park's superintendent.</li>
<li>We strongly discourage improvement of roads into Hawksnest. Poor roads are the best conservation tool--they limit visitation and other damage to the park. But we may make some repairs to roads, only to prevent harmful runoff from roads to the pond.</li>
</ul>
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<strong><em>Plan of erosion control projects at Hawksest, near Round Cove Rd parking.</em></strong></div>
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<a name='more'></a><strong>Repair of the giant puddle</strong> <br />
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<em>Former beautiful hollow, home of orchids, before repair.</em></div>
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In 1970, this spot was a beautiful, semi-open grove of pine trees. There were scattered clumps of grass, low blueberry bushes, and orchids. Gradually, cars began to park in the glen closer to the pond. By about 2007, 4X vehicles began to drive down the footpath from the upper parking, completing a loop.<br />
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With vehicles using the steep footpath, it began to erode, channeling runoff from the parking area toward the pond. In the lowest spot of the grove, a giant puddled formed from runoff that came from Round Cove Rd and the upper parking area. When full, the puddle was within about a foot (in height) of overflowing to the pond.<br />
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The puddle was filthy with dog and human feces washed from the parking area. SUVs splashed through the puddle for fun, going round and round the loop. Last summer, two vehicles became mired in the puddle and had to be towed out.<br />
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The State drew up an expensive plan for fixing the whole area, but the Harwich Conservation Commission blocked the plan because it would restrict vehicle access. There was much talk of bringing in a backhoe and loads of gravel to fill the puddle, but nothing materialized.<br />
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I decided action was better than talk. Larry from Nickerson State Park felled two dead trees, and dragged them with a truck to block access by vehicles. I spent two days shoveling dirt--that had splashed out--back into the crater. Then I raked it all smooth, and mulched it over with leaf litter taken from the woods. I planted some native plants, and finished with a pathway, bordered by small logs.<br />
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Not counting Larry, the whole job required no more than a shovel, a rake, a tarp for carrying mulch, and about $30 for ropes and signs. It shows that money and heavy equipment aren't needed for most restoration jobs.<br />
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<u>Results</u>: I was successful in diverting runoff from Round Cove Rd. A small puddle still forms, but without vehicle traffic, it's not getting any bigger, and there's no longer danger it will break through and pollute the pond.<br />
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<u>Future work</u>: Ropes and signs marking the restored area were removed by vandals. Although there's no vehicular traffic, bikes, ATVs, horses, and romping dogs are still crossing the restored area. Unless traffic can be reduced, plants won't grow here, and it can't be fully restored. Scampering dogs are especially hard on the plants.<br />
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<em>Immediately after restoration and mulching, <br />
Aug. 2010.</em> <br />
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<em>Former 'Giant Puddle," after severe rainstorm in July, 2011.</em></div>
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This could be an ideal spot for picnicking, sunbathing, or resting after a swim. It deserves full restoration to its original beauty.</div>
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<strong>Silt socks at Round Cove Rd, upper parking</strong><br />
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Silt socks are tubes made of plastic fabric. When filled with sand or mulch, and tied at the ends, they make a sausage-shaped dam that slows or diverts runoff.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9r2o32UnPxFEkE5QYCPAbgwtrqCxxmacgyv1SLPQyDSp4NeiQVu4EjS1fzeGFIKQfNNgNTc3i5CQz6zuHucERQWwjG8wq0Ghxp0wEpGD6O2hHnmrVlMCXzZDENQjXeEBO4YhXSc1Frs/s1600/IMG_6234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9r2o32UnPxFEkE5QYCPAbgwtrqCxxmacgyv1SLPQyDSp4NeiQVu4EjS1fzeGFIKQfNNgNTc3i5CQz6zuHucERQWwjG8wq0Ghxp0wEpGD6O2hHnmrVlMCXzZDENQjXeEBO4YhXSc1Frs/s400/IMG_6234.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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Larry from Nickerson State Park brought a load of sand, and spent a day helping me fill the socks. Because socks longer than 6 feet are too heavy to carry, we had to fill them in place.</div>
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See the diagram for their locations (pink). The trails near the silt socks were heavily mulched.<br />
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<u>Results</u>: One silt sock was dragged a mile away by a vehicle, apparently for a joke. A few others were moved, and one broke open.<br />
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During the heaviest rain of the year, I happened to be on-site. Where socks had been used to deflect runoff, they worked pretty well. But on trails from the parking to the pond, they were easily overtopped by the floods. Nevertheless, they probably slowed the flood and reduced the erosion. <br />
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During the storm, I saw that the upper parking area--a basin--creates so much runoff, that the resulting floods can't be prevented from causing more erosion downhill towards the pond.<br />
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<u>Future work</u>: Eventually, the upper parking will have to be closed, in favor of the lower parking area (to the S of the road). The upper parking area could become a picnic area, once vegetation is restored.<br />
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Most of the mulch was washed away--the trails will have to be re-mulched. Most people agree they don't look very nice, so socks are a temporary solution. <br />
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I'm proposing that we replace the socks with logs, held in place with rebar stakes. With soil filled behind the logs, we'll have a series of steps on pathways to the pond. <br />
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<strong>The steep trail to the pond</strong><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8p1CfuxW2PeNJ4te4K3Rr_4ma_GV88ucU2oBsZ1LBsODz-mdCqTS-vM0WYNqddxx5fe5uwZdICEMiQ1yRFmR0pipV3AeOhEHPDtNaVqWGNKTwB-G0pQGBvyLWuuxRZL1MTZj-NAiNDo/s1600/IMG_6236.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8p1CfuxW2PeNJ4te4K3Rr_4ma_GV88ucU2oBsZ1LBsODz-mdCqTS-vM0WYNqddxx5fe5uwZdICEMiQ1yRFmR0pipV3AeOhEHPDtNaVqWGNKTwB-G0pQGBvyLWuuxRZL1MTZj-NAiNDo/s200/IMG_6236.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
Runoff from parking was prevented from reaching the trail by a silt sock at the top, and the trail was mulched.<br />
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The mulch has washed away. The trail still channels enough runoff so it's still at risk. Fixing this is our highest priority--see future projects.<br />
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<strong>The gulley to the beach</strong></div>
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A silt sock at the top successfully diverts runoff from the parking area.<br />
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From time totime, I place ropes, signs, or branches at the top, to keep people off the top of the bank. But these barriers don't last long.<br />
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Dogs are the biggest problem here, digging into the bank. If the sides of this gulley aren't protected, the trees will be undermined and blow down. Fixing this area is the second highest priority--see future projects.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfF2UM6C_Gn90WtppxybHPVdN4H0PPlGISPhoy6TnHKeSc9nLLm0n4Bu9ElRbCzymGaIzB-mY5d0vWzLjfoQwh9h15cWsTR70PjgH2uZ7gc0MFuc-AQsbALZuE9c0552GZgPdR7S6Rhk/s1600/IMG_6258.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZfF2UM6C_Gn90WtppxybHPVdN4H0PPlGISPhoy6TnHKeSc9nLLm0n4Bu9ElRbCzymGaIzB-mY5d0vWzLjfoQwh9h15cWsTR70PjgH2uZ7gc0MFuc-AQsbALZuE9c0552GZgPdR7S6Rhk/s400/IMG_6258.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<em>Gully to the beach,showing (left) where dogs have been digging.</em></div>
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<strong>Closure of trail over Sunset Hill</strong></div>
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The trail was blocked with logs. Silt socks were placed to divert water off the trail, helped by diversion ditches. Finally, the portion near the parking area was mulched.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdH2UxPN0fsOjROcBTYfO31BPH7lyw_mkpYacLRessCGayJgKAmidGkU7yl9gEfH6ybQTjDANBeWQK_dS7ymhDLLkOnTdFuf2oo7sILXRkzYMpljXVVgprMTxgILAo_3OeXk_xXNCGo7A/s1600/IMG_6291.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdH2UxPN0fsOjROcBTYfO31BPH7lyw_mkpYacLRessCGayJgKAmidGkU7yl9gEfH6ybQTjDANBeWQK_dS7ymhDLLkOnTdFuf2oo7sILXRkzYMpljXVVgprMTxgILAo_3OeXk_xXNCGo7A/s320/IMG_6291.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<em>Trail over the hill (upper left) as it comes into the parking area.</em></div>
Vandals removed all the logs, ropes, and signs (three times). They hid some of the silt socks in the woods. Nevertheless, I redid most of the work.<br />
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<u>Results</u>: With the relatively small amount of runoff on this trail, mulch will do most of the protective work.<br />
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<u>Future work</u>: Nothing will work unless we can keep heavy traffic--horses and ATVs--off this trail. They scatter the mulch and trample any recovering plants. It's essential to get this erosion under control before the gully gets too deep. Once that happens, there's no way to deflect the runoff from a deep channel.<br />
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<strong>Diversion of runoff from Round Cove Rd</strong><br />
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Most of the runoff to the Giant Puddle was coming from Round Cove Rd, either from the parking area, or from the hill to the east. Diversion ditches were dug, and the low point of the road was graded (by hand) to slope away from the pond.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZPLvusx2YQBNijQWFMwwiJFWOjF0AsRwhBtX4MFL4nTS3ek3CaGlL3EgpAa6GhSzMVi6El4J1On5MrOlc0ASFTkVDZtx1R012OMZ85iziZxCC90WKB3Z2lXrpyiPTy0hcUaGvyksixg/s1600/IMG_6283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZPLvusx2YQBNijQWFMwwiJFWOjF0AsRwhBtX4MFL4nTS3ek3CaGlL3EgpAa6GhSzMVi6El4J1On5MrOlc0ASFTkVDZtx1R012OMZ85iziZxCC90WKB3Z2lXrpyiPTy0hcUaGvyksixg/s400/IMG_6283.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<em>Round Cove Rd at low point, looking toward Rte. 137.</em></div>
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<em>Note berm to left on pond side, & drainage ditch to right.</em></div>
Most important was creating a berm on the pond side, to keep water from flowing toward the puddle. Besides a berm, we placed a silt sock under a log, creating a dam.<br />
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<u>Results</u>: All this was very successful, as seen during the big rain.<br />
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<u>Future work</u>: The berm and the ditches have to maintained frequently. Accumulating sediment has to be periodically removed from the south side of the road, so it won't block escape of runoff away from the pond. Barriers to vehicle traffic and no parking signs (towards the pond) have to be maintained.<br />
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<strong>Diversion of runoff at Bell's landing</strong><br />
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This is the spur from Nathan Walker Rd, providing access to the W side of the pond. I call it Bell's landing, after the Boston couple who sold their land to the State. They had a cabin here.<br />
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The road to the beach has become a deep channel for runoff, which flows directly into the pond. Fires are sometimes built in the channel, so ashes wash to the pond. Ashes are rich in phosphorus, which can cause toxic algae blooms.<br />
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The State developed expensive plans for restoring and developing this area. Plans called for four parking areas, and diversion of runoff to a large (constructed) rain garden, in a low spot away from the pond. The Harwich Conservation Commission approved the plan, but the State is broke.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqav4azgSqj0UyMJinnPM_uZGWE-KEil1YdtU6_ZrUcTMIkLEa7E1nvbCNV7fkVOtEmxVC5lt4i9kS0c89E6WaYl9tzDkm4VERNk_ZG5dzBJpXDm4nqZ6BcHEbwOtUONzNvnodn5y2jFY/s1600/P1000597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqav4azgSqj0UyMJinnPM_uZGWE-KEil1YdtU6_ZrUcTMIkLEa7E1nvbCNV7fkVOtEmxVC5lt4i9kS0c89E6WaYl9tzDkm4VERNk_ZG5dzBJpXDm4nqZ6BcHEbwOtUONzNvnodn5y2jFY/s400/P1000597.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em>A berm (levee) was built to deflect runoff towards the planned location of the rain garden. </em><em>Looking uphill from pond. Road enters from right.</em></div>
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<u>Results</u>: But when the big storm came, the berm was breached, and a great deal of organic matter and litter was washed into the pond. There was a lot of floating debris on the W side of the pond, and the water remained cloudy for days.<br />
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<u>Future work</u>: I rebuilt the berm, but it needs to be enlarged and maintained. Vehicles scatter the mound, and the diversion channel towards the "rain garden" away from the pond gets clogged.If you can walk in, that's better, because vehicles destroy the berm.<br />
Maintaining and improving this diversion is our third priority. Simple but frequent work. Bring a garden rake with your swim suit.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-4993217868210753072013-07-31T01:36:00.000-05:002013-07-31T02:56:44.063-05:00Severe erosion at Cliff Pond--one cause of the algae blooms<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
At 90 feet, Cliff Pond is the deepest pond on Cape Cod. It's located in Nickerson State Park, and is a popular for swimming and boating.<br />
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But starting a 1998, toxic algae blooms there became a problem, resulting in the death of at least <a href="http://friendsofhawksnest.blogspot.com/2011/08/ponds-on-cape-cod-with-toxic-algae-2009.html#more" target="_blank">two dogs</a>* that had been swimming in the pond.<br />
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Closures of the pond to swimming have increased in recent years. Last year, park officials closed the pond for a total of 99 days. This summer, the pond was closed from June 25 to July 9.<br />
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The reason was high levels of blue-green algae.<br />
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The microscopic plant is present all the time,** but the timing of "blooms," when it multiplies out of control, is unpredictable. Not all blooms result in dangerous toxins. How the weather leads to a toxic bloom isn't well understood. Experts expect more and more blooms as the climate warms.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Phosphorus</b><br />
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But one known cause of blooms is the inflow of phosphorus to waterways. Phosphorus is a powerful nutrient, triggering explosive growth of algae and other unpleasant weeds. Phosphorus comes from septic systems, fire ash, animal waste, and organic waste--such as leaves--washing in. Once in the pond, the phosphorous stays, being recycled between the algae, other living things, and the sediments.<br />
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Since the pond has no houses on its shore, septic systems and lawn fertilizer are mostly ruled out as sources of the phosphorus.*** Perhaps this led the <a href="http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130730/NEWS/130739969" target="_blank">Cape Cod Times</a> to say: "The source of these algae blooms has been a mystery."<br />
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But it's really no mystery at all, once you understand that eroding soil transports phosphorus, and that Cliff Pond has severe erosion of bluffs, trails, and shoreline.<br />
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<b>Soil and phosphorus</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUCq43TdqGax6aYtnIomgjNvDcCdwgx52xHEpKE9pR6_8oOcVpZXK5jjScZ4Z3WvVGo5k0HgvoLHCOFrQe37em7epqZts-hZJoQRcG9wSU0XWWvDRb-9wPzgTm8wm7XJgZGV4qu7ZF9l0/s1600/6191170499_29df6474cf_b+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUCq43TdqGax6aYtnIomgjNvDcCdwgx52xHEpKE9pR6_8oOcVpZXK5jjScZ4Z3WvVGo5k0HgvoLHCOFrQe37em7epqZts-hZJoQRcG9wSU0XWWvDRb-9wPzgTm8wm7XJgZGV4qu7ZF9l0/s320/6191170499_29df6474cf_b+(1).jpg" width="214" /></a><b><br /></b>
Phosphorus is nearly insoluble in water.<br />
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That means it can only get into ponds by hitchhiking on something--in the bodies of dead plants and animals, or attached to soil particles.<br />
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<i>This organic debris has washed in from the bare shoreline, and from trails. This is a large amount of debris, compared to a less-disturbed pond, like Hawksnest.</i><br />
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Scientists say the phosphorus "adsorbs" to tiny particles.<br />
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Imagine rolling a ball of pizza dough in corn meal (so it won't stick to the pan). You coat the ball with corn meal particles. The dough ball is like a soil particle, and the corn meal bits are like the phosphorus molecules. Strangely enough, a pound of very fine particles in muddy water can hold much more phosphorus than a pound of coarser particles. So muddy water can transport a LOT of phosphorus.<br />
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Soil stores a lot of phosphorus. That's one reason why soil is needed for plants to grow. So when soil erodes, and then runs as muddy water to a pond, a LOT of phosphorus is washing into the pond. And as the water rushes towards the pond, it also picks up dog waste and leaves, adding to the load of phosphorus.<br />
<br />
Eroding shorelines, and eroding steep banks above ponds, are a serious threat to the health of ponds. This is especially true of the special ponds on Cape Cod. These are "coastal plain kettle ponds," a rare ecosystem found almost nowhere else. These ponds normally should have low levels of phosphorus--so an increase of nutrients threatens to change them forever.<br />
<br />
<b>Erosion at Cliff Pond</b><br />
<br />
Cliff Pond--as the name implies--has steep, sandy hills overlooking the pond.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjw1mIgAjv4DTWvStS7QOInt9KzykuBfy7aov_pSyKDQXqkyTUGL0v3raPvaZQiXik8Tav7xFdRJi-Z4z7vpiBNrmEyrEDmkiDHfk3idIhaDFikSsMZANkz1A0ix4szdvyRGxvMc25JvY/s1600/6191735656_8085b8c599_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjw1mIgAjv4DTWvStS7QOInt9KzykuBfy7aov_pSyKDQXqkyTUGL0v3raPvaZQiXik8Tav7xFdRJi-Z4z7vpiBNrmEyrEDmkiDHfk3idIhaDFikSsMZANkz1A0ix4szdvyRGxvMc25JvY/s400/6191735656_8085b8c599_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2wwQ_0bkf3cLYoC8SPwD55T06HmnZdQiV7JJx453J_DKYTMzS0MhgKlBdaN9cNDkiUJwhMI2cipHR4rs69z1tyV507VVnN-oBrBew_dOwTgcWMjMESe9s7dLJ-l1mIw6v9LsrC-ktJM/s1600/6191715280_9786be69f8_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ2wwQ_0bkf3cLYoC8SPwD55T06HmnZdQiV7JJx453J_DKYTMzS0MhgKlBdaN9cNDkiUJwhMI2cipHR4rs69z1tyV507VVnN-oBrBew_dOwTgcWMjMESe9s7dLJ-l1mIw6v9LsrC-ktJM/s320/6191715280_9786be69f8_b.jpg" width="212" /></a>Over the years, trails around the pond have channeled the runoff, becoming ravines in places <i>(right)</i>. The trails become stormwater channels to the pond, transporting debris and nutrients.<br />
<br />
Good trail maintenance should deflect rainwater from trails, before the flow gets big enough to erode the trail. But in places at Nickerson State Park, the trails have become so deeply eroded that now it's impossible to deflect the runoff without major reconstruction.<br />
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In other places, people have run up and down the cliffs, causing large bare areas.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn-xBP2c9IGlKTqxenSwlMh4B1VjUD-w8RXb53XUt-YnTXVOye3u54NHeUYGxThsdF49n4KkgQwIcF_qqPKsf9WW3V1HHj165oLVL3_y6SfAw1bnD7xR7pdBdK4dzKiNryYEoqDuslMQ/s1600/6191710704_d3b54a823e_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn-xBP2c9IGlKTqxenSwlMh4B1VjUD-w8RXb53XUt-YnTXVOye3u54NHeUYGxThsdF49n4KkgQwIcF_qqPKsf9WW3V1HHj165oLVL3_y6SfAw1bnD7xR7pdBdK4dzKiNryYEoqDuslMQ/s400/6191710704_d3b54a823e_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
These places have become unstable, like sand dunes. The only long-term solution for this is to keep people off these steep areas. <br />
<br />
On Cape Cod, most people think eroding hills along the water's edge are natural. This is true of the ocean shore, where waves and storms pound the coast. But inland ponds are protected from violent weather, and so they support a plant community that's very delicate. Fortunately, because of the Cape's mild but damp climate, steep eroding banks can heal themselves in 10-20 years--but only if they are left strictly undisturbed.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Cliff Pond is popular, so the shoreline is trampled in many places, with the vegetation destroyed <i>(below)</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xoqE9YFfxPiSWeQBkfTEhD4zi1k6neYnYiLSpwNJdte3fhmnP7OGUkdUF5KAVO9MVYydaF57FoiC1auQHLzeYRy0yHtUREvMC5RY75wW30G47HrtQ8fGXJb4eI2oiUw6Nq7lFeqAZSw/s1600/6191154393_2ab5be6e9d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xoqE9YFfxPiSWeQBkfTEhD4zi1k6neYnYiLSpwNJdte3fhmnP7OGUkdUF5KAVO9MVYydaF57FoiC1auQHLzeYRy0yHtUREvMC5RY75wW30G47HrtQ8fGXJb4eI2oiUw6Nq7lFeqAZSw/s400/6191154393_2ab5be6e9d_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Yet the border of intact, native vegetation is vital for protecting ponds. That's because the ring of vegetation acts as a filter to any stormwater flowing down the shore. It removes the particles with their attached phosphorus, before reaching the lake. The phosphorus then helps grow beautiful, flowering shrubs, instead of smelly algae.<br />
<br />
I've heard that Nickerson State Park, with its heavy visitation, is perhaps the only state park that makes a profit. But those profits are taken by the State, leaving Nickerson with few resources--unable to repair the erosion. The park's only maintenance person also has to maintain the Cape Cod Rail Trail. It's sad that, after plundering the park, the State is considering a costly rescue, when just giving the park resources to maintain trails could have prevented the problem. <br />
<br />
<b>Solutions</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Ken Wagner is studying the problem for the state. He said:"...the results of his study, due in the spring, would lead to a recommendation for treatment. If it is indeed a sediment related problem, then possible solutions include aluminum treatment, oxygen addition, circulation of the lake or dredging...." <a href="http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130730/NEWS/130739969" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltgC-ZUh9wVg71Vsb9Q_CnL5zWqpX17JRdJEEqYOxF53hAPF-5Ft2WKBG4eXqubBgbPkwo80Md-3Rie6MWjDBDGFGDcox6IUzZAfhK_u58oGnPFiX0zAquVCfbk3n5bhIaZ-VhjGU4Cw/s1600/6191696894_44242a5127_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltgC-ZUh9wVg71Vsb9Q_CnL5zWqpX17JRdJEEqYOxF53hAPF-5Ft2WKBG4eXqubBgbPkwo80Md-3Rie6MWjDBDGFGDcox6IUzZAfhK_u58oGnPFiX0zAquVCfbk3n5bhIaZ-VhjGU4Cw/s320/6191696894_44242a5127_b.jpg" width="214" /></a>These possible solutions deal with the phosphorus in the sediments, but they ignore the root cause of how the sediments got there--the severe erosion.<br />
<br />
If the state invested in these expensive remedies, the problem would just recur, as more phosphorus washed in.<br />
<br />
The only sensible solution is to first stop the erosion, then wait to see if the blooms continue. Only then should Wagner's remedies be employed.<br />
<br />
If we don't stop the erosion, then Wagner's remedies are like bailing a sinking boat, without fixing the leak.<br />
<br />
Fixing erosion at Cliff Pond would be expensive, because the problem<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEien_qIzdoOSc4pQA13Yc1L7-pmQ90DOSAJx6bp9Dc68_-bEpJ5kIq0qZWYYjliuF1TkagzZHe3yE_xWXEiAOzUhYVh0B5oPzq2sXj2ayo_ke_wljDHVwoAfpADKt-d3pYNM64OLKby6X4/s1600/9404377329_755fae0941_h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEien_qIzdoOSc4pQA13Yc1L7-pmQ90DOSAJx6bp9Dc68_-bEpJ5kIq0qZWYYjliuF1TkagzZHe3yE_xWXEiAOzUhYVh0B5oPzq2sXj2ayo_ke_wljDHVwoAfpADKt-d3pYNM64OLKby6X4/s320/9404377329_755fae0941_h.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
has been allowed to fester. But there are proven techniques, like those used to repair erosion at Walden Pond near Boston. Volunteers could do much to fix erosion at Cliff Pond, using <a href="http://www.deltalok.com/" target="_blank">Deltalok</a> bags.<br />
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<div style="text-align: right;">
<i>Nickerson State Park needs more trails like these near the ponds. Would they be less expensive than alum treatment?</i></div>
<br />
<b>Erosion at Hawksnest Pond</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
At Hawksnest, we still have a chance to head off the erosion and algae problem, before it develops.<br />
<br />
Hawksnest State Park is under the jurisdiction of Nickerson State Park.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb8wTewQd-1S9erDdQvGgy5QupI64y4aZEEiXQzchHKNahn-uavMN8MEI9xEmBr_tdEb2ceqnLvyIlirgiVZGTRf8eQRNjU4tjrVmajdqOkEgdcNUief9KgIjmeWN3J8E-weHb-3msCg/s1600/3744260189_7ab0d2f06d_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijb8wTewQd-1S9erDdQvGgy5QupI64y4aZEEiXQzchHKNahn-uavMN8MEI9xEmBr_tdEb2ceqnLvyIlirgiVZGTRf8eQRNjU4tjrVmajdqOkEgdcNUief9KgIjmeWN3J8E-weHb-3msCg/s400/3744260189_7ab0d2f06d_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hawksnest Pond has the best water quality of any pond in Harwich, but it's also threatened by erosion. Like Cliff Pond, Hawksnest has steep cliffs.<br />
<br />
Several trails down to the shore are starting to erode <i>(below)</i>.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8XuxUJTW629wuwIVmc28ByniFABh2zrXhzwpQKYgU47tXxzeYk8zaxr6LH_7h0YIhiyw3qcuH8PAjXmcuYH9stZz3FQR5QS0-uk2QyUkl9MfQ1zFNTeHwPmoys_jJ05hV7m0ivNkJuo/s1600/6054222098_37a6a8673b_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8XuxUJTW629wuwIVmc28ByniFABh2zrXhzwpQKYgU47tXxzeYk8zaxr6LH_7h0YIhiyw3qcuH8PAjXmcuYH9stZz3FQR5QS0-uk2QyUkl9MfQ1zFNTeHwPmoys_jJ05hV7m0ivNkJuo/s400/6054222098_37a6a8673b_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once the erosion passes a certain point--perhaps just a few years from now--the erosion will be come "runaway," and very hard to stop. <br />
<br />
It would be easy to fix now, but very expensive to fix later. Repair of erosion at Walden Pond cost about a million dollars. Taxpayers hate "waste and abuse" of state funds. What better way to prevent the waste of tax dollars, than to prevent erosion early, while it would cost only a few thousand dollars? <br />
<br />
Hawksnest still has intact shoreline vegetation.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi724UE4uG9_vJSG4w0pngfvTMuxLTTrvFZM89K6eQRIpd4qwgSWkZLaIg-qSE9oSLQRco2vPTpB_Rea2-ZD-7gmfAJbkIbfJQi2ljDxJ35zHyri-BOxr-g2UUJ5KZgbZHO_0mOwsqLQYM/s1600/3745067594_5c47cbc120_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi724UE4uG9_vJSG4w0pngfvTMuxLTTrvFZM89K6eQRIpd4qwgSWkZLaIg-qSE9oSLQRco2vPTpB_Rea2-ZD-7gmfAJbkIbfJQi2ljDxJ35zHyri-BOxr-g2UUJ5KZgbZHO_0mOwsqLQYM/s400/3745067594_5c47cbc120_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
That makes it a laboratory and classroom <u>for the entire nation</u>, showing the beauty and value of the ring of protective vegetation.<br />
<br />
What's needed to protect Hawksnest from erosion...<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>A group of people who care, and want to help.</li>
<li>Approval from the Harwich Conservation Commission of open plans for repair of erosion by volunteers.</li>
<li>Donation of supplies and funds. <a href="http://www.deltalok.com/" target="_blank">Deltalok</a> has offered to donate some supplies.</li>
<li>Relocation of the parking area at the end of Round Cove Rd, which is eroding and feeding runoff towards the pond.</li>
<li>Education about the problem, and the need to stay off certain areas.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
# # #</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35544042@N06/sets/72157627650055097/with/9404377329/" target="_blank">More photos</a> of erosion around Cliff Pond.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://friendsofhawksnest.blogspot.com/2010/08/erosion-control-at-round-cove-rd.html" target="_blank">Past efforts to stop erosion at Hawksnest.</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
* The dogs belonged to <a href="http://friendsofhawksnest.blogspot.com/2011/08/ponds-on-cape-cod-with-toxic-algae-2009.html#more" target="_blank">Jeff Hook</a>, of Harwich. He believes other dogs died. He may have been the first to alert officials in MA and nationwide to the dangers for dogs and swimmers. Swimmers are at less risk, because they don't drink from the pond, like dogs do.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
** Unlike some invasive plants, the cyanobacteria are present in all ponds, all of the time. They arrive by the wind, attached to visiting ducks, or on boats. The questions are... How do the nutrients get into the lake, enabling the algae to grow explosively, and what timing and amounts of wind, sun, and temperature trigger the bloom and the production of toxins?</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
*** Before you can rule out nutrients coming from homes or dumps, you have to know which way the groundwater flows. There's <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/sim/2004/2857/" target="_blank">a map showing general groundwater flows on Cape Cod</a>. If groundwater is flowing from developed areas towards Cliff Pond, it's still possible that septic systems are the source of phosphorus. At <a href="http://friendsofhawksnest.blogspot.com/2012/07/toxic-algae-bloom-reported-in-eastham.html" target="_blank">Moll Pond in Eastham</a>, an algae bloom may have been caused by nutrients in groundwater flowing from an old dump towards the pond.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Hawksnest Pond is at the "continental divide" of the groundwater flow. That means the pond is likely to remain safe from nutrients leaching from distant septic systems. So Hawksnest stands a chance of staying algae-free, if we can protect the pond from nutrient input caused by erosion.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-87007688192818014052012-08-07T14:02:00.001-05:002012-08-07T22:54:05.565-05:00Cape Cod from space<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
Seen from space, the Cape is incredibly small, fragile, and delicate. It's unique on the planet--and in the universe.<br />
<br />
The Cape is a lacework of blue ponds, etched on sand...<br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLygTRlk9NwmiPWlqPBcObitIUqV3RIMZGogqhVHCfJtq_ND4Tnl93-0KJ4i1U4sjNFSfE2V_CPJCdze9qmqNp1CiizHtg5WwmmR2PG2UKaHaLdUE6Q01DYiOndJZG9Yt4bnLgV8PL580/s1600/478711main_3Storms-ATLANTIC-LARGE_full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLygTRlk9NwmiPWlqPBcObitIUqV3RIMZGogqhVHCfJtq_ND4Tnl93-0KJ4i1U4sjNFSfE2V_CPJCdze9qmqNp1CiizHtg5WwmmR2PG2UKaHaLdUE6Q01DYiOndJZG9Yt4bnLgV8PL580/s400/478711main_3Storms-ATLANTIC-LARGE_full.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjgGD0UUjI6CIgaTx3nM4cQtRIyTV8vy6icYAhyN-0MyGOT35ameDPDH6FdjB6nQ9v1wHWs8oa_t38056QL1p7MCSy0DluYIJTa6y9dkrHL7fZjwVejyXa5GQZFfd_JJgiFiV1DZeWmQ/s1600/Space-Shuttle-Discovery-STS-085-007.preview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPjgGD0UUjI6CIgaTx3nM4cQtRIyTV8vy6icYAhyN-0MyGOT35ameDPDH6FdjB6nQ9v1wHWs8oa_t38056QL1p7MCSy0DluYIJTa6y9dkrHL7fZjwVejyXa5GQZFfd_JJgiFiV1DZeWmQ/s400/Space-Shuttle-Discovery-STS-085-007.preview.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDG1U35S8vQYq3lYFp1wX0NdsQN19B8wGT-EJArMiuij18dtTs8SQmx7trVoQ53_ZPCaQFe_9-5w-MKBNG8vyMu-SNmP-qcppc3DK7HCMO6wLt7HCv-hvzIP-VWqGVFdWUolhHKD8jKAE/s1600/Cape-Cod-&-the-Islands_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDG1U35S8vQYq3lYFp1wX0NdsQN19B8wGT-EJArMiuij18dtTs8SQmx7trVoQ53_ZPCaQFe_9-5w-MKBNG8vyMu-SNmP-qcppc3DK7HCMO6wLt7HCv-hvzIP-VWqGVFdWUolhHKD8jKAE/s400/Cape-Cod-&-the-Islands_large.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>The Cape was left in the wake of glaciers, much as this lacework of sand was left by a receding wave on Lake Superior...</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWb-djy47HYJuskGTknUeOYCxsuDn_vGsJU3C75L-FcNRg8Am2rQi74unjWgrmXLeqIf2akaW9o-aRYTVMqdas3UPYSN3psQBrSi5RKv_V-kDSCiYn8WfA9kP6UXcNqtqOqjQric4KMA/s1600/Lake+Superior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWb-djy47HYJuskGTknUeOYCxsuDn_vGsJU3C75L-FcNRg8Am2rQi74unjWgrmXLeqIf2akaW9o-aRYTVMqdas3UPYSN3psQBrSi5RKv_V-kDSCiYn8WfA9kP6UXcNqtqOqjQric4KMA/s400/Lake+Superior.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://archive.org/details/SVS-1213" target="_blank">Video</a> of Cape Cod from space</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span id="goog_426033211"></span><span id="goog_426033212"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-20849105815138665262012-08-07T03:21:00.000-05:002012-08-07T03:21:32.113-05:00Ponds around the world--Indiana<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
<i>Coastal plain ponds are a rare and endangered ecosystem. Although most are found along the Atlantic coast north of New York City, Indiana claims a few. They are located SE of Chicago--one could say on the coastal plain of Lake Michigan.</i><br />
<br />
They are found in Jasper-Pulaski State Park, famous as a place to view Sandhill Cranes during migration <i>(below).</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTvUNmztsMipYDsG7HZ85oa6x_bQEbkAAELwf456rmT3m8Bhldy3mFRNXoI73Ko4shdp6xySHoMEUPqf7kIOLleZPVoJIF8-EFqBFTdwPYUGQESnVoUKVaKIHzL_jOkI1si7JsJ1I1RZI/s1600/Sandhill+Cranes+Platte+R.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTvUNmztsMipYDsG7HZ85oa6x_bQEbkAAELwf456rmT3m8Bhldy3mFRNXoI73Ko4shdp6xySHoMEUPqf7kIOLleZPVoJIF8-EFqBFTdwPYUGQESnVoUKVaKIHzL_jOkI1si7JsJ1I1RZI/s400/Sandhill+Cranes+Platte+R.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
"Although a popular destination for hunters, anglers, and Sandhill Crane enthusiasts, <span style="color: blue;">few are aware of the global significance of Inland Coastal Plain ponds</span> and marshes at Jasper-Pulaski. These ephemerally wet, shallow basins are host to an impressive array of unusual flora.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
As the name of the nature preserve and natural community type suggests, several plants found in these wetlands have their primary distribution along the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain.<br />
<br />
As water levels recede in late summer, muckflats and sandflats are exposed, providing a suitable substrate for these and other interesting plants. Long-horned beakrush, Robbin’s spikerush, netted nutrush, warty panic grass, sessile-leaved bugleweed, and creeping Saint John’s-wort are among the rare and interesting flora." <br />
<a href="http://www.in.gov/dnr/naturepreserve/files/np-Coastal_Plain_Ponds.pdf" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-7793582734960017162012-08-07T02:23:00.002-05:002012-08-07T02:32:46.689-05:00Ponds around the world--New York State<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coastal plain ponds...</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br />
</b></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">...are a unique and rare ecosystem found from New Jersey north along the Atlantic coast. They include the amazing ponds of Cape Cod. Some people consider seepage ponds in Midwestern states--formed along the glacial margin like those on the Cape-to be close relatives.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAL-0gCLED_O6wiTnqFj0sWqRQb_i9QYyMKcRBXg1J_Qh_Ke0OrAHvhMZbKKf6Teu75BxEDWriCwAKGqQF5fW3G3aIaUPMtHGCRskTuzm5sv8C2coknRYLGa2fEum-B5pqYCOXDnGvX4/s1600/Long+Pond+Sag+Harbour+New+York+Steven+M+Young.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAL-0gCLED_O6wiTnqFj0sWqRQb_i9QYyMKcRBXg1J_Qh_Ke0OrAHvhMZbKKf6Teu75BxEDWriCwAKGqQF5fW3G3aIaUPMtHGCRskTuzm5sv8C2coknRYLGa2fEum-B5pqYCOXDnGvX4/s400/Long+Pond+Sag+Harbour+New+York+Steven+M+Young.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A pond in New York State (Long Pond, Sag Harbor), by Steven Young</i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">"The first thing you might notice about a coastal plain pond is that there is no stream flowing in and none flowing out. Water levels of the pond, and therefore the size of the exposed pond shore, are due only to changes in an underground aquifer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">During the wetter parts of the year this aquifer is high and water levels in the pond are high which translates into a very narrow pond shore. Conversely, during the dry months (late summer) the aquifer is low so water levels are low but there is a large expanse of pond shore. Every 5 years or so there is an exceptionally dry year with a lot of pond shore exposed.</span> Plants that may not have been seen for a decade will now germinate and grow.<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">There are over 50 documented occurrences of coastal plain pond shores in New York. They are restricted to the coastal plain of Long Island. Many of these separate occurrences that occur near each other may actually be combined into pond systems because they are hydrologically connected and should be considered as one occurrence. As of now, there are an estimated 15 separate sites and about 6 pond systems documented. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: blue;">Many of these systems continue to be threatened by development, invasive species, changes to hydrology, and recreation (e.g.off-road vehicles and trampling)."</span></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></b> <b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Trends</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></b> <span style="font-family: inherit;">The numbers and acreage of coastal plain ponds in New York have declined in recent years. There are less than 400 acres currently mapped with probably less than 1000 acres extant. The total, historical, acreage is unknown but was probably less than 2000 acres. The decline is due primarily to development and the increasing demand for freshwater.</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></b> <span style="font-family: inherit;">"The numbers and acreage of coastal plain ponds have declined from historical numbers primarily due to settlement of the area and the corresponding agricultural, residential, and commercial development causing both a displacement of this community and a lowering of the water table due to an increased demand for freshwater."</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Conservation strategies</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">"Where practical, establish and maintain a natural wetland buffer to reduce storm-water, pollution, and nutrient run-off, while simultaneously capturing sediments before they reach the wetland. Buffer width should take into account the erodibility of the surrounding soils, slope steepness, and current land use.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Roads and trails should be routed around wetlands, and ideally not pass through the buffer area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">Minimize actions that will change what the water carries and how water travels to this community, both on the surface and underground. Water traveling over-the-ground as run-off usually carries an abundance of silt, clay, and other particulates during (and often after) a construction project. While still suspended in the water, these particulates make it difficult for aquatic animals to find food; after settling to the bottom of the wetland, these particulates bury small plants and animals and alter the natural functions of the community in many other ways. Thus, road construction and development activities near this community type should strive to minimize particulate-laden run-off into this community."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.acris.nynhp.org/guide.php?id=9919" target="_blank">Source</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-14791147682399464782012-08-07T01:59:00.000-05:002012-08-07T01:59:37.453-05:00Ponds around the world--Switzerland<div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><span class="story_dl" style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">"Global warming, a concern for its effects on the world's oceans, is also causing harm to the globe's freshwater lakes, researchers in Switzerland say.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">Researchers... said a study of Lake Zurich showed that because of global warming, there is insufficient water turnover in the lake following the winter and harmful algae known as Burgundy blood algae are increasingly thriving.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89OZXY0AWOv6_BcZD0hgxKCLjvY-wrfI477fkABapzUHj9lgLr9ouj1n3-RXY3LkeCHszGpjTu8bJOEpTSAZAmAi-SDGDnYSOblVMoffB6GACOu-3ZNIvwZHbwDYof9cSus9Mbl-X7y4/s1600/Lake+Zurich+Chris+Brown+OK+attribute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89OZXY0AWOv6_BcZD0hgxKCLjvY-wrfI477fkABapzUHj9lgLr9ouj1n3-RXY3LkeCHszGpjTu8bJOEpTSAZAmAi-SDGDnYSOblVMoffB6GACOu-3ZNIvwZHbwDYof9cSus9Mbl-X7y4/s400/Lake+Zurich+Chris+Brown+OK+attribute.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Lake Zurich, by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonabar/2431457685/" target="_blank">Chris Brown</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">Many large lakes in Central Europe became heavily overfertilized in the 20th century through sewage, and as a result algal blooms form, reducing oxygen content in the water and threatening fish stocks, they said.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
'The problem today is that mankind is changing two sensitive lake properties at the same time, namely the nutrient ratios and, with global warming, water temperature,' Zurich researcher Thomas Posch said.</div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">Historical data on Lake Zurich reveals the...Burgundy blood algae... has developed increasingly denser blooms in the last 40 years.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">The most important natural control of the cyanobacteria blooms occurs in the spring after the entire lake has cooled down during the winter, as intensive winds trigger the turnover of the surface and deep water.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">But with global warming the winters are increasingly too warm and the lake water is not able to turn over fully as the temperature difference between the surface and depths poses a physical barrier, the researchers said.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px;">'Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing a paradox,' Posch said. 'Even though we thought we had partly solved the nutrient problem, in some lakes global warming works against the clean-up measures. Therefore, we primarily need cold winters with strong winds again.' "</div><div style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">All around the world, lakes are in trouble--with fish kills or toxic algae blooms. Usually, the culprit is excess nutrients washing into the lake. It's happening even at pristine lakes, long thought to be immune to these problems.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">The root cause is development--from growing populations and affluence--plus the difficulty of managing thousands of small sources of nutrients.</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><br />
<a href="http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/07/16/Global-warming-affecting-worlds-lakes/UPI-52971342467161/#ixzz21cSlKDEF" target="_blank">Source</a> UPI July 16, 2012.</span><br />
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: helvetica, arial; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-50159923148356846312012-08-07T01:24:00.000-05:002012-08-07T01:24:42.640-05:00Dead fish in Shangri-La<div style="text-align: left;"></div><i><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit;">.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">All around the world, lakes are in trouble--with fish kills or toxic algae blooms. Usually, the culprit is excess nutrients washing into the lake. It's happening even at pristine lakes, long thought to be immune to these problems.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></i> <i><span style="font-family: inherit;">From time to time, I'll feature problems of lakes in a different parts of the world. The root cause is growing populations and affluence, plus the difficulty of managing thousands of small sources of nutrients.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></i> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzDPx7KC2TL3_jCFbTKYEo7oCynB0wYI_3oes6V_llfPDZYQK1Df4huHU2qE_57xmh0TVHahcorlcBYMIJEXoO8OyythL3x89ReLeJQqfysySmfOGxbPpYxoSzcAqvP4MLk56yWZn6q-0/s1600/L+Nigeen.Srinagar+Indian+Kashmir+by+Tanya+May+OK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzDPx7KC2TL3_jCFbTKYEo7oCynB0wYI_3oes6V_llfPDZYQK1Df4huHU2qE_57xmh0TVHahcorlcBYMIJEXoO8OyythL3x89ReLeJQqfysySmfOGxbPpYxoSzcAqvP4MLk56yWZn6q-0/s400/L+Nigeen.Srinagar+Indian+Kashmir+by+Tanya+May+OK.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Indian Kashmir used to be a place people compared to mythical Shangri-La--verdant and unspoiled. And Nigeen Lake (above), in a green valley surrounded by the Himalayas, is considered by waterways officials to the least polluted waterway in the city of Srinagar (population 1.3 million).<br />
<br />
But a few days ago, there was a big fish kill on the lake. "The fisheries department has attributed the deaths to depletion of oxygen, fluctuation of temperature and flow of untreated sewage into the lake." Residents say they've never seen anything like this before. <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article3735222.ece" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkDeoxbXSwXAfj5D8P11DuVCC480PT50QlEUUVxVe8lEYbLrhYs2L9lwKQsygmUQPcXHEwb5MVkzOeOFOg7HjERXafUVw0L9GzIZsvhb_ZbwPVk8RFXvd7wup-vpbIxeshRyS-UlcV7U/s1600/L+Nigeen.Srinagar+8.6.12+Credit+EPA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkDeoxbXSwXAfj5D8P11DuVCC480PT50QlEUUVxVe8lEYbLrhYs2L9lwKQsygmUQPcXHEwb5MVkzOeOFOg7HjERXafUVw0L9GzIZsvhb_ZbwPVk8RFXvd7wup-vpbIxeshRyS-UlcV7U/s400/L+Nigeen.Srinagar+8.6.12+Credit+EPA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.883333206176758px;"><a href="http://www.vosizneias.com/news/photos/view/700481096" style="color: #cc6633;" target="_blank">Credit: EPA</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Nigeen Lake--and nearby Dal Lake--have suffered extensive damage over the last two decades, due to discharge of sewage into the lakes, and "encroachment on the borders of the lakes."<br />
<br />
Lake Nigeen is about the same size as Hawksnest. There are extensive wetlands nearby.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0r7dC30yGABLUx_-1s4w2OvFexUdTSia7Kxl-f1QdkhMEs7pRDqFxPvTSA3xIcgGOI19NewVPE5VBVG1tJdIJCx4waXD4apDTvqH8ZGbbqIKVBwjjecHCnfgmejd9GWZOGjScna0o1k/s1600/800_qb9ac9rwfiqvna0etfe32jrrk1myk1tu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0r7dC30yGABLUx_-1s4w2OvFexUdTSia7Kxl-f1QdkhMEs7pRDqFxPvTSA3xIcgGOI19NewVPE5VBVG1tJdIJCx4waXD4apDTvqH8ZGbbqIKVBwjjecHCnfgmejd9GWZOGjScna0o1k/s400/800_qb9ac9rwfiqvna0etfe32jrrk1myk1tu.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<div style="line-height: 18.899999618530273px; text-align: center;"><i>At least at Hawksnest, we don't have houseboats.</i></div><div style="line-height: 18.899999618530273px; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div><span style="line-height: 18.883333206176758px;">Many people view Cape Cod--with it's crystalline ponds--as a legendary place to vacation or live. But Nigeen Lake shows that even Shangri-La itself needs good water management--to stay Shangri-La.</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 18.883333206176758px;"><span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-90130586294472623262012-07-18T13:08:00.001-05:002012-07-18T14:02:08.462-05:00Toxic algae bloom reported in Eastham<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
"Town officials are warning swimmers and pet owners to avoid Molls Pond off Alston Avenue because of the growth of blue-green algae." The problem was noticed when a dog became sick, after drinking from the pond.<br />
<br />
"Possible health effects range from rashes, hives or skin blisters to runny eyes and nose, sore throat, diarrhea and vomiting. In rare cases, exposure can lead to neurological symptoms, including drooling, weakness, staggering, convulsions, and death in dogs. Humans may experience dizziness, numb lips or tingling fingers. <a href="http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120717/NEWS/207170318" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><b>Nearby dump may be a cause</b><br />
<br />
Algae blooms are caused by excess nutrients, reaching the pond via overland runoff or through the groundwater.<br />
<br />
The pond is surrounded by houses, so leaking septic systems could be part of the problem.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=moll+pond+rd+eastham,+MA&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.005754,102.919922&t=h&ie=UTF8&ll=41.845157,-69.977288&spn=0.005595,0.00912&z=16&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=moll+pond+rd+eastham,+MA&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.005754,102.919922&t=h&ie=UTF8&ll=41.845157,-69.977288&spn=0.005595,0.00912&z=16" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">View Larger Map</a></small> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>The old dump is the smooth area, upper left.</i></div><br />
A capped landfill is located about a thousand feet to the NW of the pond. The direction of flow of groundwater is generally <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2005/13/pdf/fig01.pdf" target="_blank">towards the pond</a>. So leachate from the landfill, laden with nutrients, may be reaching the pond. Even if the landfill is properly constructed now, the nutrients may have escaped when the dump was young and unregulated, and only reaching the pond now.<br />
<br />
<b>Could algae become a problem at Hawksnest?</b><br />
<br />
Hawksnest has the <a href="http://www.hwqtf.com/Memo_04-15-2011_LM.pdf" target="_blank">best water quality</a> of any pond in Harwich, and has never experienced an algae bloom.<br />
<br />
But keeping it that way depends on keeping all sources of nutrients away. Because of the wide buffer of state park around the pond, Hawksnest has a good chance of escaping a nutrient overload from septic systems.<br />
<br />
But dog and human waste is rich in phosphorus, the nutrient that's the number one cause of algae blooms. There are no restrooms at the pond, and some pet owners don't pick up after their pets.<br />
<br />
Landscapers have been dumping yard waste along Round Cove Rd near the pond. Erosion of the Round Cove parking area continues. And the commercial area NE of Hawksnest continues to expand. So the long-term prognosis for Hawksnest depends on how well we care for the pond, and the direction of flow of the goundwater.<br />
<br />
Phosphorus <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/x477566241?zc_p=1#axzz20zuCzKjK" target="_blank">moves slowly</a> through the groundwater, so it's possible that the nutrients from development around Hawksnest haven't reached the pond yet. The fact that the pond is still clean isn't a reason for doing nothing. If anything, it means we still have a fighting chance to save the pond from the overabundance of nutrients that has damaged so many ponds on the Cape.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-59579978517535246812012-06-28T19:14:00.004-05:002012-06-28T20:35:09.979-05:00The Future--Cleaning up the Cape's algae problem<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"></span></span><br />
<div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">"Everything about the Cape functions around its ability to have clean beaches, abundant shellfishing,</span></div><div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">and all the tourism spinoffs.</span></span></div><div style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Our product, you can say, is clean water.’’*</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6nArq7fnwrM746gRKouvR9ZImAjOK8PbsJhcNLmF3A5VToQsO_ZsDxN8p6i-L5x78U1-Pm8dqVkAHuVHyDxCc6qUuZxFaITvHhlYkEBQ1_LBMGR4ycar7PHGIGL0ZuHvtlnxZ56wgFNg/s1600/6278756515_c41e1e5bd0_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6nArq7fnwrM746gRKouvR9ZImAjOK8PbsJhcNLmF3A5VToQsO_ZsDxN8p6i-L5x78U1-Pm8dqVkAHuVHyDxCc6qUuZxFaITvHhlYkEBQ1_LBMGR4ycar7PHGIGL0ZuHvtlnxZ56wgFNg/s400/6278756515_c41e1e5bd0_b.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</b><br />
<b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">CLF Cleaning up the Cape’s Algae Problem</b><br />
<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><i style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Nov 30, 2011 by Ben Carmichael <a href="http://www.clf.org/blog/ocean-conservation/clf-cleaning-up-the-cape%E2%80%99s-algae-problem/" target="_blank">Source</a></span></i></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">"Rotten eggs and black mayonnaise – sights and smells that, to the dread of many, are becoming increasingly common across Cape Cod. Over the 30 years, increased development and insufficient wastewater treatment systems have degraded the quality of Cape Cod’s waters. CLF, in association with Buzzards Bay Coalition, are working to clean up the Cape – work that was recently covered by David Abel in <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2011-11-26/news/30445112_1_septic-tanks-clean-water-act-waste-water" target="_blank">The Boston Globe</a>.<a name='more'></a></span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">The eggs and mayonnaise (a description David used to open his piece) are but two signs of a growing body of evidence, both visible and disturbing, of degraded water quality. While visitors and residents depend upon Cape Cod’s pristine waterways – suitable for swimming, conducive to ocean life – instead they find ponds and bays that, in warm months, can be covered in a film of algae, while the water itself turns an opaque copper color.</span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">This degradation is the consequence of too much nitrogen, the result of improperly treated wastewater, primarily from the Cape’s preponderance of septic tanks. In the Cape’s loose, sandy soils, wastewater moves quickly through the ground, and is carried into the bays and estuaries before it can be adequately filtered. The region’s economy, ecology, recreation and beauty have all suffered as a consequence – and will suffer more if stakeholders continue to delay action on a clean up plan.</span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">In September, our staff at CLF, together with Buzzards Bay Coalition, filed a federal lawsuit against the US Environmental Protection Agency. Our claim: that the EPA failed to fulfill its responsibilities to oversee a regional water quality plan as required by the Clean Water Act. This lawsuit was CLF’s second showing EPA’s failure to address the Cape’s nitrogen pollution problem. The first, concerning point sources, was filed in August, 2010, and can be found here.</span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">Why is this so important? The regional plan under question has not been updated since 1978, despite predictions at the time about the environmental risks of unchecked nitrogen pollution. Today, the consequences of decades of inaction are clear: badly degraded waterways, with mounting costs for solutions and little time left to ponder them while the region’s ecology and economy hang in the balance..</span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">The answer, CLF argues, is a legally enforceable, coordinated blueprint to clean up the Cape. “It’s our firm belief that a coordinated regional approach is necessary – not individual towns trying to solve the problems on their own,” says Christopher Kilian, a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation as quoted in The Boston Globe article.</span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">The approach EPA will ultimately take is the subject of ongoing negotiations between CLF and the Buzzards Bay Coalition, EPA and Barnstable County officials. A report to the Court is due December 6th. Stay tuned.</span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;">For more on CLF’s efforts on cleaning up the Cape, read our release on our recent lawsuit, filed with the Buzzards Bay Coalition."</span></h2><div class="blog-content" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="color: #333333; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"># # #</span></div></div><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">* Quote by Mark Rasmussen, president of the <a href="http://www.savebuzzardsbay.org/">Buzzards Bay Coalition</a></i><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The top photo of bluegreen algae is from Fish Lake, a kettle pond similar to those in Cape Cod, but located in Dane Co, WI. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35544042@N06/sets/72157627928026260/with/6278756515/" target="_blank">More photos</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: inherit; line-height: 23px;"><b>Read more</b></span><br />
<h1 style="border: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://articles.boston.com/2011-11-26/news/30445112_1_septic-tanks-clean-water-act-waste-water" style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Searching for the right cure for Cape’s algae-choked waters</a></span></h1><div><table class="contentpaneopen" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="contentheading" style="color: #4b4682; font-size: 1.3em; font-weight: bold; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px;" width="100%"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/946/107/" style="background-color: #fff2cc;" target="_blank">Harmful algae taking advantage of global warming</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nutrientoutreach.cfm" target="_blank">Nutrient pollution outreach and education matrials</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-13266564068108045792012-06-13T23:44:00.001-05:002012-06-28T21:26:31.498-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: blue; font-size: medium;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #fff2cc; font-size: medium;">.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: blue; font-size: medium;">Take the skull challenge...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Can you name the wetland animal that matches each skull?</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><b style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">The relative sizes are shown. The largest is 7 3/4" long, and the smallest is 2 3/8" long.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87g6Us57Q_0rNCEz3FvtAiHnUS1TUr_jXKzJHx7h0E7TnM8wSicVHyHCxnxs2sK8Px6KKoybBMf6FeiDnitXKX9mj0oY0WXCz6UHxA_klKqnJ5tufwcbNc6ZuWTv8VDk1SCip0gfNMP8/s1600/Skull+A+lowres.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #cc6633; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87g6Us57Q_0rNCEz3FvtAiHnUS1TUr_jXKzJHx7h0E7TnM8wSicVHyHCxnxs2sK8Px6KKoybBMf6FeiDnitXKX9mj0oY0WXCz6UHxA_klKqnJ5tufwcbNc6ZuWTv8VDk1SCip0gfNMP8/s400/Skull+A+lowres.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">A. hint: omnivore (eats a wide variety of animals and plants). Not aquatic, but often feeds along the shores of ponds and streams.</span></div><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-size: 13px;"><br style="text-align: left;" /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=5840081780822203918&postID=1326656406810804579" name="more" style="text-align: left;"></a></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9z471hylCDl0vaAYWoIxniZ62dAhcXf8tcFvc4xmR7C0kVOebvS7KuIE1mI1357k_FXFbYSieey5h67jhiIWPIzr9c4R30NQtHy4aezQj1-hFX9cUVxwz1C6JOnnJSFarG6a1MBs1Yg8/s1600/Skull+B+lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #cc6633; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9z471hylCDl0vaAYWoIxniZ62dAhcXf8tcFvc4xmR7C0kVOebvS7KuIE1mI1357k_FXFbYSieey5h67jhiIWPIzr9c4R30NQtHy4aezQj1-hFX9cUVxwz1C6JOnnJSFarG6a1MBs1Yg8/s400/Skull+B+lores.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">B. hint: herbivore (eats plants); round tail. Very aquatic.</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQE9wqXDOK8wZIVwN9Y0yYK62Dkaqu6ipMyqWzoCWkh8NsnsSnhNuV5ZXyzgFzBm3hjQM_ACg88b8rCt13Xg_5E3_IJE9rO9BKg2Htbj8VuUYnmMycfSWrAJ79w0tchpsd6_iM2CgDshY/s1600/Skull+C+lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #cc6633; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQE9wqXDOK8wZIVwN9Y0yYK62Dkaqu6ipMyqWzoCWkh8NsnsSnhNuV5ZXyzgFzBm3hjQM_ACg88b8rCt13Xg_5E3_IJE9rO9BKg2Htbj8VuUYnmMycfSWrAJ79w0tchpsd6_iM2CgDshY/s400/Skull+C+lores.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">C. hint: mostly a carnivore (eats animals). Not aquatic, but travels along shorelines.</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9pGGjHTA1s9j5vCieI-H_NZ9IjJ5kU3dXdsL2-mbKBOdaj_EaCnUDFvebkfu_RBeftGHyW04SzllUWaytEKPPCxI0ipjh2XxAYeMBN-R7p5oAIN2SuX62RXB4T5axmE7BPEblFj9htw/s1600/Skull+D+lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #cc6633; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9pGGjHTA1s9j5vCieI-H_NZ9IjJ5kU3dXdsL2-mbKBOdaj_EaCnUDFvebkfu_RBeftGHyW04SzllUWaytEKPPCxI0ipjh2XxAYeMBN-R7p5oAIN2SuX62RXB4T5axmE7BPEblFj9htw/s400/Skull+D+lores.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">D. hint: omnivore (eats a variety of animals and plants). This animal is not a wetland species, but might be found along the shore at times.</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguC-Fio8yfAvQ-R-TBI_Gs-9jLr04n9s_gKoZ_sDuUpknPmjSu7o1uMvDM-z1mWRcoRfCMPmRqzTGi0m7GjsOPTVWLE4g9xVQumsPZ2uXQoVbRBXLHVloWWIBe56lzZGsjpSGtFJezuGo/s1600/Skull+E+lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #cc6633; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguC-Fio8yfAvQ-R-TBI_Gs-9jLr04n9s_gKoZ_sDuUpknPmjSu7o1uMvDM-z1mWRcoRfCMPmRqzTGi0m7GjsOPTVWLE4g9xVQumsPZ2uXQoVbRBXLHVloWWIBe56lzZGsjpSGtFJezuGo/s400/Skull+E+lores.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">E. hint: carnivore (eats animals). Very aquatic.</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS93KQfdWs_G2k_qxJDZ6OfsQJyERWVjTlkIPFXJ2MFfmt4lgXs2NtaKEvO29fADG2tsUF4ZY64L5_pGxOdgzwAEPJoIirwFmtoM9wmdhAun2OUrse7oguhKf706q6b8GFqOcSVmUtFOE/s1600/Skull+F+lores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; color: #cc6633; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS93KQfdWs_G2k_qxJDZ6OfsQJyERWVjTlkIPFXJ2MFfmt4lgXs2NtaKEvO29fADG2tsUF4ZY64L5_pGxOdgzwAEPJoIirwFmtoM9wmdhAun2OUrse7oguhKf706q6b8GFqOcSVmUtFOE/s400/Skull+F+lores.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(187, 187, 187); margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 4px;" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;">F. hint: herbivore (eats plants), flat tail.</span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"> </span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"> Very aquatic.</span><span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"> This is the only one of the six skulls which does not occur in Cape Cod and SE Massachusetts--but it is common elsewhere. Bonus points if you can come up with a good answer for why it's not found in Cape Cod!</span></div><div style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Answers to the Skull Challenge</b> (click on the letter to see the animal)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon" target="_blank">A</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskrat" target="_blank">B</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote" target="_blank">C</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum" target="_blank">D</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink" target="_blank">E</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink" target="_blank">F</a></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-53869656769128325782011-10-19T22:36:00.003-05:002011-10-20T00:31:15.706-05:00Snapping turtles at Hawksnest<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
Since my childhood in the 1950s, I've seen snapping turtles at Hawksnest, usually close to Black Pond. Years might go between sightings, but they were definitely there, and some were BIG.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDbpwSl7MjpIQnCmlURBJm7UNpXF8mM9oFPk4a_hJ7dZ8KsB1gcfM6YwmLTTZ45T2M5tuwu39P4yeN1pQbJvso30B6_KExS5aGbAgi9WsS52eh1PpX1BaXInyUTRUcPlAfV_tOo6KYpM/s1600/Jun454+Snapper+Madison+6x8CMSh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDbpwSl7MjpIQnCmlURBJm7UNpXF8mM9oFPk4a_hJ7dZ8KsB1gcfM6YwmLTTZ45T2M5tuwu39P4yeN1pQbJvso30B6_KExS5aGbAgi9WsS52eh1PpX1BaXInyUTRUcPlAfV_tOo6KYpM/s400/Jun454+Snapper+Madison+6x8CMSh.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Common snapping turtle crossing a road.</em></div><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Last August, while walking along the isthmus between Black and Hawksnest ponds, I spotted some mysterious tracks--three inches across, and with enormous claw marks.<br />
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I took photos, and decided to figure out what animal was responsible.<br />
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It wasn't long before I began to suspect the River Otter. Large males can have tracks that big, and river otters do probably live in the ponds of Hawksnest State Park. They occur all over Nickerson State Park nearby. But they avoid daylight during the summer, and would be wary of the many dogs at the pond. So they will be hard to spot.<br />
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I sent my photos to two wildlife experts: <a href="http://forestandwildlifeecology.wisc.edu/facstaff/craven.html">Scott Craven</a> and <a href="http://www.dbwildlife.com/">David Brown</a>. Craven suspected either snapper or otter--but he thought the tail drag was too heavy for an otter, which seldom leaves tail marks. Brown was positive it was a <strong>common snapping turtle</strong> <em>Chelydra serpentina</em>, and said the holes in the sand were also caused by the turtle. Mystery solved!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarD-2LzBLZASIhZ1Wmx3p2_pgPPRoPZYFb-7-Lg3tgYCVdZzeh8W_V8vzaPNrVD23_O1l6k8-1RBzc7bznO8SiKYxJYtwbaUo1JiMiKYIDEdi048gTUaA_bJiuo3TPKmizUmbi6ciqbU/s1600/Snapping+turtle+tracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjarD-2LzBLZASIhZ1Wmx3p2_pgPPRoPZYFb-7-Lg3tgYCVdZzeh8W_V8vzaPNrVD23_O1l6k8-1RBzc7bznO8SiKYxJYtwbaUo1JiMiKYIDEdi048gTUaA_bJiuo3TPKmizUmbi6ciqbU/s640/Snapping+turtle+tracks.jpg" width="426" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Large snapping turtle tracks, coming out of Hawksnest and crossing the isthmus towards Black Pond.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Notice the heavy tail mark. The foot prints are roundish, with deep claw marks around the edge. You don't see marks from the shell, because snappers walk with the shell off the ground.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0SGkpUlBKGRvypydtMoiils1vpXvpXj4KNgR3GaVUfFzj0U94ZgGmAkPOJ1MyBbYxAVR-ikrVdKQY2b_yMji84TCNmsrBksm646NWTNK5m1aaFN1rr5b40ljXdXx31RqLeNvvy1SjnM/s1600/Turtle+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW0SGkpUlBKGRvypydtMoiils1vpXvpXj4KNgR3GaVUfFzj0U94ZgGmAkPOJ1MyBbYxAVR-ikrVdKQY2b_yMji84TCNmsrBksm646NWTNK5m1aaFN1rr5b40ljXdXx31RqLeNvvy1SjnM/s400/Turtle+sign.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Excavations, probably by the snapper, as she looked for a place to lay.</em> <em><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Snapping_turtle_4_md.jpg">Photo</a> of female laying.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
These holes were likely made by a female snapper <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Snapping_turtle_1_md.jpg">digging with her front feet</a> as she looks for a place to dig her nest. If the nest had been finished and covered, you wouldn't be able to find it. If it had been plundered by a raccoon, you would see eggshells scattered about.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
It's likely the snapper found this wet spot unsuitable for a nest, since the water was only a few inches down. Pond turtles require dry, sandy places for their nests, and there aren't many places available at Hawksnest--with so many woods around. Another attempted hole nearby suggested this was one frustrated turtle, looking urgently for a place to lay her eggs!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Females may travel long distances over land, looking for a place to lay. This makes them vulnerable to being run over.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkvnzXvase1N05GXsd__-6JCbEcVrAZSRZe7jzxys461ooUf-qWQM1J2IHd2QnAW76GXQlFfJeFHydpivuzWBI716_vIODnW6jViq55xkw22P6flitU24gptzQc5XFRlho8IdwCO3RTc/s1600/613px-Chelydra_serpentinaHolbrookV1P23A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkvnzXvase1N05GXsd__-6JCbEcVrAZSRZe7jzxys461ooUf-qWQM1J2IHd2QnAW76GXQlFfJeFHydpivuzWBI716_vIODnW6jViq55xkw22P6flitU24gptzQc5XFRlho8IdwCO3RTc/s400/613px-Chelydra_serpentinaHolbrookV1P23A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Common snapping turtle, from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chelydra_serpentinaHolbrookV1P23A.jpg">Wikipedia</a> commons.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Snappers can grow up to 80 pounds and live for 30 years in the wild or 50 in captivity. They look like ancient reptiles--and indeed they are. They are little changed in form from well before the time of the dinosaurs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
But snappers have survived into the modern world because being cold blooded has its advantages. With a very slow metabolism, snappers can hold their breath for a half hour or more. They are often <em>ambush predators</em>, waiting motionless below the surface for a fish or frog to happen by. Then, the long neck strikes with lightning speed, and the surprised prey is eaten with a few gulps.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Snappers may bury themselves under the mud in shallow water, waiting for something edible to happen by. When they need to breathe, they simply raise their long neck to the surface.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Young snappers eat insects, worms, leeches, crayfish, small fish, or dead animals. Adult turtles eat larger prey including frogs, toads, snakes, turtles, small mammals, and even ducklings. Both eat plants as well, for a third of their diet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Being rather fierce--and protected by scales and strong jaws--snappers don't require as much protection from their shell. They look like they have badly outgrown their shells--seeming to bulge out of them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Snappers won't attack swimmers, but if you pick them up, they have very long necks that can take a serious bite--even remove your finger.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrdt1za4myKftpCMjGeFBLszEGiqP__WhnV4tpZMuRb7MNV_nGfpUZnlbxUpqbJt9QIfhlztGpOf98UA0eR1wbGcwahDls4QbZ08padr43peX4jSeifcDIAu5sDDa5nzKK41y7WgmKWk/s1600/Alligator+snapper+510px-Macrochelys_temminckiiHolbrookV1P24A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrdt1za4myKftpCMjGeFBLszEGiqP__WhnV4tpZMuRb7MNV_nGfpUZnlbxUpqbJt9QIfhlztGpOf98UA0eR1wbGcwahDls4QbZ08padr43peX4jSeifcDIAu5sDDa5nzKK41y7WgmKWk/s200/Alligator+snapper+510px-Macrochelys_temminckiiHolbrookV1P24A.jpg" width="170" /></a>Don't confuse the common snapper with the <strong>alligator snapping turtle</strong> <em>Macrochelys temminckii</em>, found in southern states. The record for an alligator snapper was over 260 pounds. These turtles look much more fierce and primitive than the common snapper. Their most distinctive feature is a worm-like red lure on the bottom of their mouth. They open their jaws wide to display the lure, and wait....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"># # #</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="left"><strong>Find out more about snappers</strong></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Popular <a href="http://www.chelydra.org/index.html">snapping turtle website</a></div><div align="left">Wikipedia articles on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_snapping_turtle">common snappers</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrochelys">alligator snappers</a>.</div><div align="left"><a href="http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/conservation/herps/turtle_tips.htm">Turtles in Massachusetts</a>. Snappers are found all over the state, and are not endangered.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-77280571186401812442011-10-06T22:05:00.012-05:002011-10-06T23:28:30.305-05:00Carnivorous plants--Bladderwort in Black Pond<em><span style="color: blue;">by Rex Merrill</span></em><br />
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You don't know what lurks below the surface unless you look.<br />
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One of the joys of living near a pond is being able to get out on the water for a paddle on a sunny summer day. I often make a quick circuit in a canoe or kayak just inside the zone of submerged aquatic vegetation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92RSbyOng5S9CN9FvvwdUwcEs54ZFVjNN5tSY_bCfvtfTPOpWqGvhTxpnbIKa1xHT23tdHiRFII1Z1wNDQ406fe_9aqWuFUz_hlTWtdTin2u-aQswourEZy7b_voKpGBww7U98z2NcoU/s1600/Black+pond+7.18.11+CSmSatB" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92RSbyOng5S9CN9FvvwdUwcEs54ZFVjNN5tSY_bCfvtfTPOpWqGvhTxpnbIKa1xHT23tdHiRFII1Z1wNDQ406fe_9aqWuFUz_hlTWtdTin2u-aQswourEZy7b_voKpGBww7U98z2NcoU/s400/Black+pond+7.18.11+CSmSatB" width="400" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Bladderwort is found in shallow water along the shore of Black Pond, near the isthmus.</em></div><a name='more'></a><br />
Sometimes I'm frustrated by having to paddle through thick beds of invasive European water-millfoil, but other times I slow down to take a look at the variety of life just beneath my boat. On such a paddle I ran across the bladderwort, a fascinating plant that eats aquatic invertebrates.<br />
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The bladderwort is easy to miss. Its highly branched shoots float just beneath the water surface and may be mistaken for the finely divided leaves of the water-milfoil that often grown nearby.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNdR1vkpeccw6i_SGwQMt6tzxJx6AGaFH6vWrCdCjodA4B9RVvt4bDJoCP1Djq1FFQ08H4RGjRlbwBjjUTE-JS0Ysvs42O0A43tLnfW9lrqAIhAoFz71yRvt29MfbBIgMcmRsk2Vrq4s/s1600/Bladderwort+flower+8x12CShm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNdR1vkpeccw6i_SGwQMt6tzxJx6AGaFH6vWrCdCjodA4B9RVvt4bDJoCP1Djq1FFQ08H4RGjRlbwBjjUTE-JS0Ysvs42O0A43tLnfW9lrqAIhAoFz71yRvt29MfbBIgMcmRsk2Vrq4s/s320/Bladderwort+flower+8x12CShm.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
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<em>When bladderwort blooms, it sends a stalk 4-12 inches above the water with several purple flowers which are over half an inch wide and reminiscent of snapdragons.</em></div><br />
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Once you find the plant and pull it above the water's surface, you should see the small bladders (each about a sixteenth of an inch in diameter) that give the bladderwort its name.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYbPKkxwzpZW4-U5DHj87Tuu0vDnDsCIq1670fKS6gIv5CQ9DqTOgYA6eDGjrAF7H9_52gH_YAJ1LZgQTj-YLVOBFkMcjugyl41v23bH3qSAV8Ld725RnWHQ0xn6dOcFYrZGc5FvD9F9Y/s1600/Bladderwort+under+black+pond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYbPKkxwzpZW4-U5DHj87Tuu0vDnDsCIq1670fKS6gIv5CQ9DqTOgYA6eDGjrAF7H9_52gH_YAJ1LZgQTj-YLVOBFkMcjugyl41v23bH3qSAV8Ld725RnWHQ0xn6dOcFYrZGc5FvD9F9Y/s400/Bladderwort+under+black+pond.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Lurking under Black Pond... </em><em>The round leaves are water lilies. The feathery leaves are bladderwort. </em><em>The small, dark, beanlike structures are the bladders. Click photo to enlarge.</em></div><br />
<strong>Bugs beware</strong><br />
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The bladders are hair-triggered traps that catch aquatic invertebrates such as mosquito larvae and water fleas. The trap is set by pumping water out of a bladder and closing a trap door. The trap is sprung when an unwitting invertebrate trips the trigger hairs that surround the door.<br />
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When the trigger hairs are tripped, the door snaps open so that water and invertebrates are sucked into the bladder. I've actually heard the traps snap open. <br />
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Once the prey is caught, it suffers a prolonged death as it is dissolved by digestive enzymes produced by glands inside the traps.<br />
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<em>Rex is a professor at the University of Wisconsin--Baraboo, and a Board Member of Friends of Lake Wingra. This article first appeared in the newsletter for <a href="http://lakewingra.org/">Friends of Lake Wingra</a>.</em> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><em>A few minor changes have been made to adapt the article to Cape Cod. For example, there are several species--Rex was writing about the common bladderwort (</em>Utricularia vulgaris<em>), with yellow flowers. The one in Black Pond is apparently a closely related species with <u>purple</u> flowers. It was blooming on July 17, 2011.</em></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-44353730924969415302011-08-30T17:29:00.011-05:002012-06-28T23:13:25.142-05:00Ponds on Cape Cod with toxic algae, 2009-2011Blue-green algae creates "toxic algae blooms." They have been known to kill dogs and people. While only a few people have been sickened by algae blooms in the US, about 50 people were killed in Brazil from drinking water tainted with algae. <br />
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In 1998, four dogs were poisoned--two of them died--from drinking water at Cliff Pond in Nickerson State Park. One of the dogs that died belonged to Jeff Hook--and he thinks the four dogs are just the tip of the iceberg. A few years later, he had a second dog die at Cliff Pond.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>In an email Jeff wrote: "<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I lost two dogs after they were poisoned by algae at Nickerson State Park, and haven't been back there since. I am concered about the same problem occuring at Hawksnest Pond--tho I do not see or smell a problem so far. The blue-green algae at Nickerson was so intense it killed my 50-pound dogs in less than ten minutes. And I mean killed them dead. That was 1996 and the park officials didn't even know what blue-green algae was. Nor did the vets I went to. Nowadays people seem more knowledgable about it."</span></span><br />
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Toxic algae blooms are caused by complex factors--but all starts when too many nutrients get into a pond. The nutrients are like loading the gun. The exact trigger is unknown--it might be warm weather and/or other factors.<br />
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<strong>Hinkleys Pond</strong><br />
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In 2009, Hinkleys Pond in Harwich had its water sampled during routine water quality measurements. Everyone was surprised when technicians notified the town that the pond's water had five times the acceptable level of blue-green algae. The pond was immediately closed. <a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/town_info/government/x135732978/Toxic-algae-bloom-closes-Hinckley-s-Pond#axzz1WYRUofl4">More</a>.<br />
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<strong>Hawksnest Pond</strong><br />
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Hawksnest, to my knowledge, has never had an algae bloom of any kind. That's because Hawksnest has the best water quality of any pond in Harwich, based on many years of data from the Town's volunteer sampling program.<br />
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Cleaning up after dogs, keeping vegetation intact along the shore, and preventing erosion, will keep the pond in tip-top condition.<br />
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The map below shows ponds where there have recently been blue-green algae advisories.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207699468489473178905.0004ab300fd30fc1fa03b&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=0&ll=41.704359,-70.243063&spn=0.11009,0.435504&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
<small>View <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207699468489473178905.0004ab300fd30fc1fa03b&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=0&ll=41.704359,-70.243063&spn=0.11009,0.435504&source=embed" style="color: blue; text-align: left;">Cape Cod ponds with blue-green algae advisories</a> in a larger map</small><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>To see all the ponds, zoom out (click the minus sign, upper left).You can get the pond name and year of data by moving your cursor over the pond and clicking.</em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<i>Data is from the MA Dept. of Public Health, for 2009, 2010, and 2011.</i><br />
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<b>Update </b>6/28/12<br />
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<a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/capecod/news/x1091335944/Algae-bloom-in-Swan-Pond-in-Dennis-blamed-on-nitrogen#axzz1z9A0hsCp" target="_blank">Swan Pond</a> (salt water) near South Dennis also had an algae bloom in 2006 & 2009, though it was not reported as a toxic one.<br />
<a href="http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100811/NEWS/8110323/-1/rss02" target="_blank">Long Pond</a> in Falmouth, the town drinking water supply, in 2010. Not considered a toxic bloom.<br />
<a href="http://www.wickedlocal.com/capecod/news/cape_cod_news/x1331803541/State-monitors-algae-bloom-in-Queen-Sewell-Bay#axzz1z9A0hsCp" target="_blank">Queen Sewell</a> Pond in Buzzards Bay, in 2009.<br />
Long Pond in Harwich/Brewster.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-9951486046607368092011-08-22T00:50:00.007-05:002011-08-22T03:20:18.979-05:00Protecting fragile vegetation at Hawksnest<span style="color: #fff2cc;">.</span><br />
The soil's surface... is the living skin of the earth.<br />
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When vegetation is destroyed, erosion creates a wound--as dangerous to the ecosystem as a festering sore. In the resulting scars, invasive plants and animals can become established.<br />
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Healthy soil stores nutrients for plants--but with erosion, phosphorus escapes, creating imbalances in waterways downstream.<br />
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If erosion is allowed to continue unchecked, the resulting gullies will be very expensive to repair. At <a href="http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/walden/">Walden Pond State Reservation</a> near Boston, erosion that went unchecked for decades cost over a <a href="http://landscapeonline.com/">million dollars</a> to repair.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkkgyp-jt8K7ZWqC-TvJ9Bp0zbZ9epPFCzqITD-_9N54YlS3HvvYQejPzTndmpq7pY8-B_SlwzrH9xo8g9I4Kl7sPKweS1ce-K3FE2HflARBsE4WF2Sl33kon4Sdpq_7iXQ5Vlvb9hQ8/s1600/P1000571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbkkgyp-jt8K7ZWqC-TvJ9Bp0zbZ9epPFCzqITD-_9N54YlS3HvvYQejPzTndmpq7pY8-B_SlwzrH9xo8g9I4Kl7sPKweS1ce-K3FE2HflARBsE4WF2Sl33kon4Sdpq_7iXQ5Vlvb9hQ8/s400/P1000571.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><em>Looking down a steep, eroding bluff towards Little Cliff Pond.</em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
Nickerson State Park has beautiful ponds with steep banks. But there are several ponds there with serious erosion on their bluffs. One of the ponds became so unbalanced from nutrients in 1998 that two dogs died within ten minutes of entering the water. The cause--a toxic algae bloom, resulting from too many nutrients washing into the water.</div><br />
<strong>A fragile park</strong><br />
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Vegetation in Hawksnest State is fragile, because the soil is thin, underlain by loose sand. There are steep bluffs overlooking the water to the west and north of the pond.<br />
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Shore vegetation is especially fragile, because it has become adapted to a sheltered environment. Along the edge of small ponds, there's little wave action or movement of winter ice. Interior ponds are different from the ocean shore, where storms and currents normally cause much erosion. Coastal plants and animals have become adapted to change.<br />
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The fragility of Cape soils was revealed in historic times. In portions of the Provincetown and Eastham, the sandy soil became destabilized from overgrazing or farming--resulting in barren plains or even roving dunes.*<br />
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In desert, alpine, or arctic landscapes, erosion can take a very long time to heal.<br />
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But on Cape Cod, erosion can heal relatively quickly after disturbance stops, because of the gentle slopes, mild climate, and humid air. At many locations in and around Hawksnest, you can see the scars of old roads or borrow pits, now healed over.<br />
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While Cape landscapes can mend when disturbance stops, ponds can't heal so easily. Once excess nutrients reach the pond, most of the nutrients stay forever.<br />
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Shorelines are especially vulnerable, because they attract people to a narrow strip. And shorelines are also more prone to erosion because of steep slopes, wet soil, or wave action.<br />
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When shorelines erode, there's noting to prevent the soil from going directly into the lake or stream, where it contributes to overfertilization.<br />
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Most shores of lakes and streams in the US are severely degraded--taking a toll on water quality. But at Hawksnest Pond, the shore and its ring of protective vegetation is remarkably intact. Not a drop of water gets into the pond unless it seeps through the sand, or through the filtering ring of plants.<br />
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The intact shoreline is one of the reasons Hawksnest has the best water quality of any pond in Harwich.<br />
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Hawksnest is remarkably well-reserved because it was private property until 1970, then was protected by terrible roads. If we can keep the shorline intact, it could be an example for the whole country. Almost everywhere else, people have forgotten what a natural shoreline can be.<br />
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<strong>Boardwalks for Hawksnest</strong><br />
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Recognizing the damage that can occur, many parks have built boardwalks over paths where the traffic is too heavy, or the vegetation is too fragile.<br />
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Boardwalks like these are needed at Hawksnest. When water levels are high, there's no beach, so swimmers trample shoreline plants.<br />
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If we built a few boardwalks down to the beach, we'd have easier access, a more beautiful shoreline, and cleaner water for all time.<br />
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It's time to recognize what a gem we have in Hawksnest, and do something to protect it from careless abuse.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7w-AxTKG5_XYg4FTw-wdANEVHlx0dAXBzId_OyXImiA9g4iUM_CcJK70XC6-PR7h6mChiYUYs3UoWcqzjv7WSGcnm2n49PcE36s7Y_ZZV47N1FMm3dxDhf78Y1rfnK35ac6jwdXFSVBk/s1600/Boardwalk+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7w-AxTKG5_XYg4FTw-wdANEVHlx0dAXBzId_OyXImiA9g4iUM_CcJK70XC6-PR7h6mChiYUYs3UoWcqzjv7WSGcnm2n49PcE36s7Y_ZZV47N1FMm3dxDhf78Y1rfnK35ac6jwdXFSVBk/s400/Boardwalk+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Cape Cod National Seashore, at Provincetown.</em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Slide show: <a href="http://www.flickr.com//photos/35544042@N06/sets/72157627487026358/show/">Boardwalks around the world</a><br />
Slide show: <a href="http://www.flickr.com//photos/35544042@N06/sets/72157627490584326/show/">Loving Walden Pond to death</a><br />
* Barren landscapes described by Thoreau in <em>Cape Cod</em>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5840081780822203918.post-15967935396166663652011-08-21T15:36:00.005-05:002011-08-21T16:25:54.226-05:00Trail over "Sunset Hill" closed for erosion control<span style="color: #fff2cc;">..</span><br />
Rising to a breath-taking altitude of 79 feet, "Sunset Hill" is <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207699468489473178905.0004aa44c1cf5e0c604b3">one of the highest places in Hawksnest</a> State Park. A trail over the top didn't exist when the park was established, but it soon became a favorite route of equestrians and off-road vehicles.<br />
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The trail is useful, because it links Round Cove Rd. with Nathan Walker Rd. But to provide that link, it doesn't have to go over the hilltop.<br />
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Recently, Friends of Hawksnest secured permission from the State to detour the trail away from the top of the hill. One of the equestrians was consulted, and agreed to use the new route.<br />
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<strong>Erosion control required the change</strong><br />
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Since the park began around 1970, the upper parking area has gradually eroded. As much as six feet of soil has eroded, transforming the parking area into two little basins. One channels stormwater towards the pond; the other towards incoming Round Cove Rd.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDjVsoixorJyNMsmiCR_XRLkXiiqThA7J5FiSD4H3igxIvebSqSPxyYlipfCXJ0BICvM9Fg94-WaHk84msDjvlLYk7j3BfZgkhNMe2fiSq9eC7D6RmKsAcil_U3ns_V4PnRtAxmUvAnI/s1600/Round+cove+parking+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDjVsoixorJyNMsmiCR_XRLkXiiqThA7J5FiSD4H3igxIvebSqSPxyYlipfCXJ0BICvM9Fg94-WaHk84msDjvlLYk7j3BfZgkhNMe2fiSq9eC7D6RmKsAcil_U3ns_V4PnRtAxmUvAnI/s400/Round+cove+parking+2.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>View from the end of Round Cove Road, across the upper parking area, towards the trail.</em><br />
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</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCiKX1by7M94MLwVmjP1TApPmVulU0U9Tefmjplc-uo4URlyTgK9GK3Q6CR1qikpCi181nIlqL-QtOp5eUYgz4Ww6LxFPkA7ysr1tnusjXjcUph3RbtHTGy2YJMByF8_xfZ6FF3CqMyw/s1600/Round+cove+trail+backside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzCiKX1by7M94MLwVmjP1TApPmVulU0U9Tefmjplc-uo4URlyTgK9GK3Q6CR1qikpCi181nIlqL-QtOp5eUYgz4Ww6LxFPkA7ysr1tnusjXjcUph3RbtHTGy2YJMByF8_xfZ6FF3CqMyw/s320/Round+cove+trail+backside.jpg" width="213" /></a>Recently, the trail over Sunset Hill has started to erode. It now feeds stormwater into one of the basins. Without action, the parking area and the end of the road will become unusable--not to mention pollution of the pond.<br />
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<em>The trail is especially steep as it descends away from Round Cove Rd, NW towards Black Pond. This portion is eroding as well.</em></div><br />
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<strong>Tools of good management</strong><br />
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When erosion starts from overuse, the best tool is to protect vegetation by closing the area--especially if there are no funds for other measures. Sometimes, a temporary closure of a few years is enough for vegetation to recover.<br />
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Another concept of good management is to reduce conflict between different user groups. If there's conflict, it can be resolved in favor of the most appropriate use for that site.<br />
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The trail over the hill creates several kinds of conflict. First of all, trail damage indicates ATVs come over too fast. This isn't a good idea on a blind hilltop, and it isn't safe for a trail entering a parking area. Likewise, it's not a good idea to route horses through a parking area.<br />
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Erosion can pollute the pond. So use of this trail harms the interests of swimmers.<br />
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Finally, there's a lovely grassy clearing at the top of the hill. It's great for quiet relaxation, yet still close to the parking area. It doesn't make sense to route through traffic of horses or hikers past this fragile spot.<br />
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<strong>The new route...</strong><br />
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...is designed to cross the hill at an angle. That way, stormwater won't follow the trail for a long way.<br />
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If you are headed for Nathan Walker Rd., simply turn left from Round Cove R. at the lowest point in the road, before you approach the upper parking area.<br />
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If you are coming from Nathan Walker Rd, take a sharp right just before you would have gone up the steep hill. The new route is the quickest way to the beach at Hawksnest.<br />
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Twice, illegal ATV riders have removed logs blocking the old trail. You can help protect Hawksnest by replacing the logs if they are removed again.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;">Please respect the ropes or branches blocking the old trail! </span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">They are designed to maximize enjoyment for everyone, and to preserve the area for your grandchildren.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0