Stewardship Plan - the Town of Dennis

I. Executive Summary
Crowes Pasture Conservation Area consists of seven parcels purchased over several years
through the receipt of a National Coastal Wetland Grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (obtained via the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation),
Massachusetts Self-Help monies, and the purchase of perpetual conservation restrictions by
the Dennis Conservation Trust. In addition, private funding and in-kind services were
contributed by Save the Crowe (a grassroots organization), the Association for Preservation of
Cape Cod, the Orenda Wildlife Land Trust, and The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation
Trusts.
The Crowes Pasture/Quivet Creek area, which includes properties preserved within the Town
of Brewster, encompasses approximately 570 acres of contiguous lands. Over 300 acres of
these lands have been classified as nationally declining wetland types. This area is identified
as a coastal barrier by the federal Coastal Barrier Resources System and is part of the
southern lobe of the Massachusetts Bay system and the National Estuary Program as
designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
Gulf of Maine Program identifies this area as having significant habitat for a number of species
of federal concern.
Management Plans have been developed for individual parcels as each piece was acquired. In
1998 a Management Plan was developed for ORV use on the barrier beach habitats. In 2003,
approximately 250 acres of the Crowes Pasture area was approved as a District of Critical
Planning Concern (DCPC). In 2004 the Sears Property and Coles Pond Management Plans
were finalized. Subsequently, a Baseline Documentation Report was completed for the
Department of Conservation and Recreation on 138 acres of the property.
There are significant water resource areas within the Crowes Pasture Conservation Area,
including both coastal and freshwater resources. Quivet Creek is located along the
southeasterly border. This creek system includes a large marsh area and a herring run to its
headwaters at Bound Brook Pond. Water quality in Quivet Creek is excellent. Freshwater
resources include Coles Pond and Little Coles Pond. These ponds represent ten (10) acres of
kettlehole ponds which support rare plant habitat. The ponds are solely dependent on
groundwater.
An ongoing restoration project to restore the open field/meadow habitat will continue but
management activities must be scheduled to avoid conflicts with hunters, hikers and bird
monitoring. Likewise, ORV beach use and dog walking must be balanced with piping plover
nesting activities. Input from the Crowes Pasture user survey and the Crowes Pasture Users
Group will be utilized to develop management guidelines.
This land stewardship plan will help guide the current use and future development of public
use facilities to balance the needs of the public while protecting the existing resources. Existing
uses will be maintained and management needs for each use will be defined.
The goal of the land stewardship plan is to identify the Crowes Pasture resources and to
develop ways to protect and restore those resources while insuring this Conservation Area will
be developed in accordance with the conservation restrictions. A management plan which