Special Projects

The Coastal Resources Specialist of the Cape Cod Commission assists with project design and implementation, seeks out funding and supporting requests for projects with merit, and coordinates projects involving multiple stakeholders. Examples include:

• tracking the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's operation of an ocean discharge that releases an average of 370 million gallons per day of treated effluent into the waters of Massachusetts Bay. The Cape Cod Commission works with the Center for Coastal Studies and other highly regarded scientists interested in the possible effects of the outfall pipe on the bays systems and tracking nutrient inputs from the MWRA outfall.

• exploring the designation of Cape Cod Bay as a "No Discharge Area," ultimately to be made by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which could prohibit the discharge of treated and untreated boat sewage in Cape Cod Bay. More information is available on the Federal No Discharge Area program and on No Discharge Areas in Massachusetts.

• compiling and publishing the Cape Cod Atlas of Tidally Restricted Salt Marshes (2001), which identified salt marsh systems impaired by the restriction of tidal flow along the coast of Cape Cod. The scope was limited to sites where salt marshes were impacted by transportation-related facilities and the infrastructure built to support cranberry farming operations.

• publishing the Cape Cod Emergency Preparedness Handbook: A Guide to Natural Disasters and preparing a Map of Storm Shelters on Cape Cod. The handbook is a compilation of reference material from a variety of existing sources and is modeled after the 2003 All Hazards Guide from Collier County, Florida, with permission. The text is tailored to the risks and environment of Cape Cod.

• developing Risk and Vunerability Assessment Maps for Cape Cod towns and a Natural Hazards Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan for Barnstable County, approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 2004. Mitigation planning, outreach, and educational activities continue as funds allow and in coordination with the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee. The regional plan and nine FEMA-approved local plans are required to be recertified by March 2010; Cape Cod Commission staff have begun the update process.

• participating in the review of the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. The Massachusetts Oceans Act of 2008 requires the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) to complete a comprehensive plan to ensure long-term protection and sustainable use of ocean resources by the end of 2009. EEA released a draft of the plan in late June and held public hearings around the state in September. The Cape Cod Commission submitted a comment letter in October 2009. On December 16, 2009, the Barnstable County Commissioners nominated a District of Critical Planning Concern in anticipation of the state's release of the final Ocean Management Plan; see the site Ocean Management Plan DCPC.

• developing a Model Bylaw for Effectively Managing Coastal Floodplain Development, newly released in November 2009, for adoption by coastal communities. The peer-reviewed bylaw and technical report was developed by former Commission Coastal Resources Specialist Stacey Justus and former Woods Hole Sea Grant/Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Coastal Processes Specialist James F. O'Connell, now with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant Program.