Newsletter: May 2025

The spring 2025 issue opens with President Rick Otis's letter on thick algal mats seen in the northern Bay and his last note as president. Glenn McCarthy reports Mashpee's May Town Meeting votes on a discharge site study and Mashpee/Wakeby Pond phosphorus projects. Maggie Megaw covers Falmouth's $60 million Great Pond sewer vote, what it means for sewers near Waquoit Bay, and the urine-diversion pilot. Bobye Anderson reports on the Source to Sea kickoff for three local river restoration projects, and Lisa Bonneau introduces the Cape Cod Freshwater Pond Buffer Guide. Also inside: summer programs at the Waquoit Bay Reserve, progress at 419 Waquoit Highway, and a talk on whether Waquoit Bay was the site of Vinland.

In this issue

• From the Board
  Rick Otis on algal mats in the northern Bay, a proposed Moonakis/Quashnet River Trust, the rebuilt website, the annual meeting, and his last letter as president.
• Mashpee Town Update – Waquoit Bay
  Glenn McCarthy on four clean water articles that passed at Mashpee's May 5 Town Meeting, including $200,000 to evaluate a wastewater discharge site, and on the Selectboard election.
• Falmouth Town Meeting and Update
  Maggie Megaw on the $60 million Great Pond sewer vote, the timeline for sewers near Waquoit Bay, the urine-diversion pilot funding and the Select Board election.
• Watershed Restorations in Our Back Yard
  Bobye Anderson on the May 3 Source to Sea kickoff for restoration projects on the Upper Quashnet River, Mashpee River and Red Brook, and how residents can take part.
• Cape Cod Landscaping – Using a Vegetated Buffer
  Lisa Bonneau on the Cape Cod Freshwater Pond Buffer Guide, what vegetated buffers do, native and invasive plants, and how the advice applies near saltwater.
• Waquoit Bay Reserve summer programs
  Family programs, a seaweed talk, the Block Party and Cookout on the Bay, a planned mishoon launch, volunteer openings and a change of CPWB liaison.
• 419 Waquoit Highway Project
  Maggie Megaw on the cleared site, five planned homes with nitrogen-reducing septic systems, and the nearly three acres of conservation land with a future trail to Bourne Pond.
• Vinland in Waquoit Bay
  A Falmouth Historical Society talk by Neil Good on his theory that Waquoit Bay was Leif Ericsson's Vinland, which CPWB shares without taking a position.