ORlEANS ANNUAl TOwN REPORt FOR YEAR ... - Town Of Orleans

PLEASANT BAY ALLIANCEThe Pleasant Bay Alliance is an organization of the Towns of Harwich, Orleans,Chatham and Brewster established to coordinate implementation of the Pleasant BayResource Management Plan. The plan incorporates the Pleasant Bay Area of CriticalEnvironmental Concern (ACEC) and the 21,600-acre watershed, which includesportions of all four towns. The Alliance develops public policy recommendations,technical studies and public education tools to support the Bay’s natural resources andthe public’s safe enjoyment of Pleasant Bay.Highlights from 2008 include:• The Alliance is grateful to the many volunteers in our water quality monitoringprogram for accomplishing the eighth successful season of water qualitymonitoring this summer.• The Alliance submitted the 2008 Pleasant Bay Resource Management PlanUpdate to the four Town Meetings for approval. All four towns adopted the PlanUpdate and authorized renewal of the memorandum of agreement forming theAlliance. The 2008 plan update includes a summary of accomplishments andfuture projects and is available online at www.pleasantbay.org.• The 2008 Summer Symposium featured the release of new data concerning thecondition of the Bay following the 2007 inlet formation. Presenters at thesymposium discussed a number of research efforts sponsored by the Alliance.Ted Keon provided an overview of physical changes in the system revealedthrough aerial photography. Dr. Graham Giese presented an analysis of tidegage measurements. John Ramsey of Applied Coastal Research andEngineering presented changes in flushing and associated nutrientconcentrations through an update of the Bay’s hydrodynamic and water qualitymodels. Dr. Bob Duncanson presented new water quality data collected by theWater Quality Monitoring Program.• Work progressed on a watershed fertilizer management study. The Alliancecontracted with Dr. Martin Petrovic, a national expert in nitrogen leaching todetermine an appropriate leaching rate for nutrients from fertilizers. This data willbe used to develop outreach and management measures to control fertilizer usein the watershed.• As part of efforts to coordinate local actions to achieve nitrogen thresholds(TMDLs) for Pleasant Bay, the Alliance sponsored three water quality modelingscenario runs to reflect boundary planning conditions. The data from the modelruns are available to all towns to assist local efforts to develop comprehensivewastewater management plans.• Conditions in Muddy Creek were the focus of two efforts. The Alliance submittedan application to Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Wetland RestorationProgram to study the feasibility of alternatives to increase flushing at the Route28 culverts. A study of resources conditions and potential impacts in MuddyCreek resulting from a hypothetical dike installation to increase nitrogenattenuation also was concluded.• The Alliance hired Coastal Engineering to conduct hydrographic surveys oftraditional navigable channels to assess current conditions and provide abaseline for monitoring changes in shoaling resulting from the dynamic inlet andbeach configuration.178