Association to Preserve Cape Cod

06/20/2026

🌱 Helping Sesuit Creek take root.

This past week, AmeriCorps Cape Cod members joined APCC and SumCo Eco-Contracting for a hands-on service day at Sesuit Creek in Dennis, helping protect newly planted native marsh grasses during one of the most vulnerable stages of restoration.

Young grass plugs have small, fragile root systems and can be pulled from the mud by Canada geese before they have a chance to establish. To give the plants a better shot at survival, the crew installed temporary goose-exclusion fencing around planted areas using wooden stakes and crisscrossed jute twine.

Planting is only the beginning. Follow-up work like this helps young vegetation survive grazing, erosion, flooding, wave action, and other early stressors long enough to take root, spread, and begin stabilizing the shoreline naturally.

At Sesuit Creek, those roots matter. Healthy salt marsh grasses help hold sediment in place, reduce erosion, improve water quality, provide habitat for wildlife, and strengthen the marsh’s ability to buffer flooding, storms, and the impacts of sea level rise.

By helping these grasses take root, we are supporting the long-term recovery of Sesuit Creek’s salt marsh and the natural protection it provides to the surrounding coastal community.

Thank you to our project partners and funders, including Americorps Cape Cod, the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration, MassBays National Estuary Partnership, SumCo Eco-Contracting, and private foundation funders.

06/18/2026

Yesterday, Team SOS members came together—from every corner of the Cape—to organize for permanent land protection.

We heard from people who've already helped win protections and advocate for the environment in Falmouth, Brewster, Orleans, Harwich, Mashpee, and Provincetown. We mapped out what's next.
And we left more ready than ever.

This is The Cape We Shape.

If you missed the rally, there's still a role for you. Join Team SOS: thecapeweshape.org

Thank you to our participating land trusts: Harwich Conservation Trust, Orleans Conservation Trust, The 300 Committee Land Trust, Barnstable Land Trust, Brewster Conservation Trust, Chatham Conservation Foundation, Inc., Wellfleet Conservation Trust, Provincetown Conservation Trust, and The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts Inc.

06/17/2026

The Cape belongs to the fisherman and the shop owner. The grandparent and the kid in waders. The year-rounder and the person who drives down every August and exhales for the first time all summer.

What threatens it threatens all of us. What protects it protects all of us.

People from every town on the Cape are choosing to show up for it. Join them to advocate for permanent land protection.

Sign up for Team SOS: thecapeweshape.org

06/16/2026

If you can, give a call, or fill out the form through the link provided by Mass Audubon in this post to ask that the amendment .

You just need to fill out your contact info and add anything you want to the email message. The form automatically sends the email to your legislator when you hit send message. (The form only works for Massachusetts residents.)

Action Alert 🚨

Today, June 17, the House of Representatives is taking up the Mass Ready Act, and Amendment #10 would phase out the use of anticoagulant rodenticides statewide.

Across Massachusetts, thousands of beloved pets and wildlife, including owls, hawks, and foxes, are being poisoned by these toxic rodenticides. And many die after suffering prolonged, painful deaths from ingesting rodenticides through contaminated prey.

Make your voice heard!

Contact your representatives today and urge them to support this amendment. We need them to hear from as many supporters as possible before they vote on June 17.

Speak up: https://web.massaudubon.org/site/Advocacy?page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=377

06/16/2026

In case you haven't heard it yet on WBUR, here's the read about the revegetation project at Sesuit Creek, Dennis. Thank you Barbara Moran and WBUR!

The Sesuit Creek salt marsh restoration project in Dennis has spanned nearly two decades and is now in a race against time, as sea-level rise driven by climate change threatens to wipe it out. Workers and volunteers are planting 90,000 plugs of salt marsh grass to jump start the wetland’s recovery...

06/15/2026

Fireflies, an amazing insect that needs your help.

💡Reduce outdoor lighting, change to yellow or red bulbs for lights you must leave on, but best to go dark. Outdoor lights prevent fireflies from seeing each other’s flashes, which makes it difficult for them to communicate, defend their territory, and find mates.

🌎Go chemical-free in your yard and skip the lawn treatments because fireflies are insects that depend on the ground, soil, and fallen leaves during various stages of their life cycle. Firefly larvae, which live one to two years, eat critters like snails, slugs and caterpillars: they are free pest control!

✂️Mow higher and/or less frequently. Fireflies are attracted to high grasses and rest on tall blades of grass or shrubbery. Lawns mowed at 3.5 or 4 inches are better for fireflies yet also may produce a healthier lawn.

🌿Leave patches of wild areas on your yard--as much as you have the tolerance for.

🍂Leave the leaves where you can.

🌱Plant more native grasses and shrubs. Great native choices include Pennsylvania sedge, little bluestem, and switchgrass.

06/15/2026

It's not too late to register for the Team SOS Rally!

🛟Wednesday, June 17th, 8:45-12

On Wednesday morning, Team SOS members from across the Cape come together for the first time—in person—to organize for permanent land protection.

You'll hear directly from people and land trusts who’ve helped protect land in Falmouth, Brewster, and elsewhere: how they did it, what it took, and what's possible in your town.

Register now: https://thecapeweshape.org/the-cape-we-shape-rally/

06/14/2026

Salt marshes are built, shaped, and sustained by sediment.

As part of APCC’s salt marsh restoration monitoring work, Salt Marsh Specialist Molly Autery visited the UMass Amherst Sediment and Coastal Dynamics Laboratory () to calibrate turbidity sensors that will be deployed at Oyster Pond in Falmouth and Weir Creek in Dennis.

These sensors help answer a deceptively simple question: how much sediment is moving through the marsh?

APCC will place sensors upstream and downstream of undersized culverts at both sites to better understand how tidal restrictions may be affecting sediment delivery. In the lab, sediment samples collected from each site were used to connect field sensor readings to actual suspended sediment concentrations.

In simpler terms, the calibration allows APCC to turn “how cloudy is the water?” into “how much sediment is moving with the tide?”

That matters because sediment movement plays a major role in whether salt marshes can maintain their elevation, recover from past impacts, and keep pace with sea-level rise. This work brings together field monitoring, lab science, and restoration planning around one essential question: how can we help Cape Cod’s salt marshes persist into the future?

This project is supported by a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection () Salt Marsh Restoration and Monitoring Grant awarded to APCC.