From the Mashpee Enterprise · June 19, 2026 · By Lauren Surbey
On June 16 Mashpee’s Community Preservation Committee unanimously approved $35,000 for the Friends of Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge to develop a conceptual design for a visitor and information center at 475 Nathan Ellis Highway. The town bought the nearly seven-acre, deed-restricted property, which has about 400 feet of frontage on Johns Pond in the upper Waquoit Bay watershed, with Community Preservation funds. The Friends would use three of the four units in the existing building and start with a small greenhouse and raised beds; no construction is proposed yet.
The group is negotiating a license with the town manager, because a lease is not allowed on this kind of protected land, and money will not be released until that is signed. A working group with conservation, recreation and public works staff will draft a site plan, and any project needs Conservation Commission review.
This is CPWB’s summary of a news article. The full article and its photos are published by the Mashpee Enterprise.
Drafted with AI assistance from the linked source.
