Newsletter Spring 2017 HPWA is a 501(c)3 Charitable Organization Volume 8, Issue 1 table) is exposed. Other important habitats Directors President’s Message supported by the aquifer include Atlantic Brian Harrington, Brian Harrington, President white cedar swamps and coastal rivers, such as President Lee Pulis, Vice Pres. the Wareham, Agawam, Red Brook, and Eel Water, water everywhere – Not long after I Rivers. The cedar swamps, including small John Foye, Treasurer moved into the Herring River Watershed my Linda White, Secretary patches in the Herring River Watershed, are daughter mentioned that our tap water had a home to a number of rare and declining Webmaster, open funny smell to it. We switched to drinking Asst. Webmaster, Lee species. Our coastal rivers serve many Pulis bottled water. Testing showed that there were functions including recreation, spawning areas Paula Kuketz, Water traces of a harmful gasoline additive that for migratory fish and, in historic times, were Safety Committee somehow had made its way to our remote centers of trade, commerce and Martha Sheldon, well. The odor gradually faded, and after Membership Committee manufacturing. about 6 months the chemical was no longer As Plymouth grows the risks of contamina- Geri Williams, Newsletter detectable. Luckily, the “plume” had passed. Editor tion to our aquifer increases, along with the Our neighborhood wells, like mine, tap into Lee Pulis, Education and demand for water. High-density development Outreach Committee an aquifer. We depend on the aquifer for our increases the potential for fouling our ponds drinking water, and also as the primary source Don Williams and Jack and wells, and the aquifer itself. Because the Kedian, Water Quality of water in our watershed lakes and rivers. PCA is a vast area of sand and gravel, water Committee Ours is known as the Plymouth-Carver sole- flows freely throughout its boundaries, Dennis White, source aquifer (PCA). The PCA is a crucial typically moving slowly in a southeasterly Government Liaison resource for our southeastern Massachusetts direction. The water in a pond today may be Jerry Levine, Invasive communities. far to the southeast a month later. Committee The Plymouth/Carver Aquifer was created Once pollution occurs, cleaning up an aquifer Phil Angell, Member-at- approximately 16,000 years ago as glaciers is costly. Clean-up costs for the Sagamore Large retreated. As the glacier melted, broad areas Lens on Cape Cod are expected to exceed of sand and gravel – known as outwash plains $850 million. You could buy 1,200 school Website – washed out of the ice. These immensely busses for that. A coordinated protection www.TheHerringPondsW permeable surface sands make for a very high atershed.org effort is the best way to preserve the quality yielding groundwater system, but also makes and quantity of our water. Poorly planned the aquifer extremely susceptible to growth is a blueprint for polluting our aquifer, Upcoming Events contamination. You can think of the aquifer and along with it, our lakes, wells and ponds. March 20, 6:30 pm as a broad, deep and slow-moving, under HPWA General Meeting Today our communities enjoy clean water. British Beer Company ground river. Due to the sandy soils of the Together, we must take care to balance Dr. Jon Way will speak on PCA, water readily discharges to the surface, human needs with the protection and Eastern Coyote and supporting natural communities (eg. ponds, Coywolf ecology and management of the natural resources that behavior. riverbottoms, maple swamps, bogs) that make this the special home we so enjoy. We May24, 7:30 am Spring define our region’s character. Plymouth alone need to be good stewards to insure a quality Bird Walk Meet Pres. has more than 400 ponds. aquifer for ourselves and our grandchildren. Brian Harrington at the Many of our local ponds aren’t connected to a We all lose from carelessness and poor turn circle at the north stream and are considered windows on the end of Little Herring Pond planning. Become involved. Tell your Rd. for bird walk around aquifer. The Herring Ponds watershed is an Selectmen, your Planning Board, and your the conservation property exception, like a giant gravy platter, it drains Zoning Board that you care. Visit our web site between Triangle and aquifer water through the Carters and Herring Little Herring Pond, [www.theherringpondswatershed.org] and our Rivers towards the ocean. Still, like other Stewardship Guide to learn more about our coastal ponds, our watershed ponds provide a valuable aquifer resources; they are precious glimpse of where the aquifer surface (or water and they are fragile. 1 Upcoming HPWA Meeting limiting the amount of impervious Spring Bird Walk surface on your property and installing Join President Brian Harrington at 7:30 rain barrels. Another way to cut down AM on 24 May for our annual spring on the amount of lawn chemicals is to replace grass with native plants, which bird walk. We will meet (rain or shine) at the turn-circle at the north end of Little have adapted to this climate and are more pest resistant. They also attract Herring Pond Road in Cedarville (Plymouth) and walk through woodlands beneficial insects, such as dragonflies between Little Herring Pond and and ladybugs that feed on pests. Triangle Ponds. No guarantees, but this Keep the grass at least 3.5 inches to strengthen roots and shade out weeds. is a good place to find Scarlet Tanagers! Bring what you might need, including Dr. Jon Way will speak on the Eastern Leave clippings on the lawn. They binoculars if you have them. We will try Coyote/Coywolf Ecology and Behavior provide about 50% of the fertilizer a soil needs. Apply organic fertilizer, especially to have one or two extra pairs of on March 20th at the British Beer binoculars for loan. Company in Cedarville. Join HPWA for in the fall. In general organic fertilizers improve the soil – instead of feeding the a lively talk from Jon about our close neighbors, the eastern coyotes and lawn or plants – making grass and landscaping more durable and safer. coywolves. Dr. Way is the author of You’ll have a safer lawn with less cost Suburban Howls and My Yellowstone and effort. Experience and the founder of Eastern Coyote Research. He is a Cape Cod Invasives Committee native who earned a Ph.D. from by Jerry Levine, Chair Boston College studying coyotes. Jon will share photos and information The purpose of the Invasive Committee ranging from the natural history of is to understand the effect that plants coyotes to their hybridization with and animals that are not native to our Volunteer River Herring wolves. Admission is free; area is having on our ecosystem. The Counters refreshments and socializing start at invasive organisms generally do not have naturally occurring entities that We will be counting River Herring 6:30pm with complimentary light swimming upriver at the South end of refreshments and a cash bar. The will control their growth and Great Herring Pond (at Sandy Pond program will begin at 7:15pm. Space propagation. It is critical that we Road bridge) in our historical herring is limited so please reserve your place identify the organisms and work with the run again this spring. Volunteers are by going to the HPWA website state, town etc. to control them. It is asked to count herring during a 10- www.TheHerringPondsWatershed.org the intention of the committee to minute time slot, one or more times per and clicking on the ‘March 20 Coyote determine the extent of invasive plants week, from April - May 2017. Time slots Ecology’ button. This event is and animals in our watershed and seek will be 11-1, 1-4, and 4-7. We need lots sponsored by the Herring Ponds methods of control. I am in the of volunteers to cover all the time slots process of contacting individuals from Watershed Association, and funded to obtain meaningful data. A half-hour the state, town and education facilities in training will be provided. To volunteer by a grant from Direct Energy Solar. our region to provide training and or learn more email Brian at assistance in dealing with this issue. [email protected]. Lawn and Garden Tips I will be calling a meeting of the Invasive This effort builds on a project of the By Geri Williams Committee as soon as some of our state DMF which operates an automated Americans spend $40 billion annually on members return from their winter herring counter close to the point where the upkeep of their lawns, with much of activities. If this committee is to be herring enter the Herring River at the the money spent on the overuse of successful in protecting our valuable Cape Cod Canal. We are hoping that our fertilizers and pesticides. There are, watershed we need additional volunteers counts will provide an understanding of however, better ways to grow green to take an active role in our what proportion of these herring enter lawns. The easiest, safest and cheapest committee. No experience is required; into Great Herring Pond. Our project solution is to avoid synthetic chemicals we will educate you. Please contact will also be a comparison point to a and use alternative lawn-care methods, Jerry at [email protected]. number of similarly managed projects at such as applying organic fertilizers, We live on and around a precious other points of the Massachusetts coast. composting, cutting down on watering, resource, let’s get together and protect it. 2 Watershed Water Quality – of Directors has approved the purchase. data and making it more meaningful to Jack Kedian will oversee frequent DO our readers.