About CPWB
Our mission
Citizens for the Protection of Waquoit Bay is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration, preservation, and protection of Waquoit Bay and its estuaries through research, advocacy, stewardship, education, and coordination with local, regional, state and federal stakeholders.
Our objectives
- Improve and preserve water quality. We advocate for better management of all factors affecting water quality: sewage treatment, advanced wastewater systems, stormwater management, and ecologically responsible land use.
- Educate and partner. We publish newsletters, maintain a web and social media presence, and partner with like-minded environmental organizations to advance our mission.
- Identify and evaluate threats. We fund and promote studies of water, sediment, and habitat degradation. We seek grants and other funding to hire experts, understand problems, and share results.
- Support compatible uses. We support commercial and recreational activities that depend on a healthy bay without undermining restoration efforts.
Our history
Concern for Waquoit Bay’s future goes back decades. A 1968 report documented the Bay’s ecological resources and the threats they faced. In 1979, the Conservation Commissions and Boards of Selectmen of Falmouth and Mashpee successfully nominated Waquoit Bay as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, one of the first such designations in Massachusetts.
CPWB was founded on December 1, 1981, when neighbors packed a Falmouth Planning Board hearing on a plan for about 50 private estates on Washburn Island. Waquoit attorney Winnifred Woods and Deborah Moore Williams led the group, and on the promise of a $2,100 loan they hired an environmental lawyer to fight the plan. CPWB incorporated on May 12, 1982. The state took South Cape Beach in December 1982 and Washburn Island on June 14, 1983, and that August CPWB received the first annual Secretary’s Commendation from the state’s Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. CPWB went on to play a key role in founding the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in 1988, one of only 30 federally protected estuarine reserves in the country. Read the full story in Saving Washburn Island.
In 1987, under the leadership of Matt Patrick and Donald Bourne, CPWB assembled a group of civic and environmental organizations known as the Quashnet Coalition to convince the Commonwealth to acquire the Quashnet River Valley, where a large condominium project had been proposed. CPWB became one of the founding sponsors of the Coalition for the Cape Cod Commission, the regional land use authority.
Today, under a reinvigorated Board of Directors, CPWB is focused on the root cause of the Bay’s decline: nitrogen pollution. Working with professional consultants, university partners, and state agencies, we have developed a restoration plan for the Moonakis River, pressed for a Red Brook restoration that also cuts nitrogen, engaged in Title 5 regulatory proceedings, and built coalitions across Cape Cod.
Officers
- Maggie Megaw, President
- Patty Waltner, Treasurer and Clerk
Contact
Citizens for the Protection of Waquoit Bay
P.O. Box 3021
Waquoit, MA 02536
Send us a message