Scientific Information and Resources

The Massachusetts Estuaries Project:

• Massachusetts Estuaries Project Linked Watershed Embayment Model to Determine Critical Nitrogen Loading Thresholds for Rushy Marsh-Executive Summary Report-April 2006
• Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, The School for Marine Science and Technology- Popponesset Bay: Result of Pilots Modeling Scenarios - March 2006
• Basis for Development of Total Maximum Daily Load of Bacteria. Prince's Cove/ Three Bays Watershed, Town of Barnstable.
  Final Report - August 2005
• Linked Watershed-Embayment Model to Determine Critical Nitrogen Loading Thresholds for Popponesset Bay, Mashpee and Barnstable, Massachusetts.
  Final Report - July 2004
• Embayment Restoration and Guidance for Implementation Stratagies.
  2003

Dead Neck/ Sampson's Island:

• Dead Neck and Sampson's Island 2006 Shorebird Nesting Report
• Dead Neck Beach Nourishment Monitoring and Data Analysis- May 2006
• Dead Neck Beach Nourishment Monitoring and Data Analysis-February 2005
• 2005 Shorebird Nesting Report
  Mass Audubon Coastal Waterbird Program
• 2004 Shorebird Nesting Report
  Mass Audubon Coastal Waterbird Program

Informational Brochures:

• Organic Land Care

  • A brochure by the Northeast Organic Farming Association.
    Please consider Organic Land Care this season!

Reports:

• Natural Attenuation of Nitrogen in Wetlands and Waterbodies
  Bibliography
  Bibliography Spread Sheet
  by WoodsHole Group - April 2007
  
  
• Scroby Sands Offshore Windfarm-Coastal Process Monitoring(Final report for the Department of Trade and Industry July 2006)
  
• Popponesset Bay Total Maximum Daily Loads for Nitrogen-April 2006
  
• Linked Watershed Embayment Model to Determine Critical Nitrogen Loading Thresholds for Popponesset Bay, Mashpee and Barnstable- July 2004
  
• Embayment Restoration and Guidance for Implementation Strategies-
  2003
  
• Feasibility Study to Improve Tidal Circulation in Windmill Cove-
  April 2002
  
• Fecal Coliform Testing and DNA-Based Microbial Source Tracking in the Three Bays Estuarine System-Spring 2001

  Red Tide in the Three Bays - September and October 2001

  • A Report by Donald E. Schwinn, P.E.

• Water Quality & Habitat Health of the Three Bay Estuarine System

  • Progress Report from the 1999 Field Season, by Dr. Brian L. Howes and George R. Hampson, of the Coastal Systems Program, Center for Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

• The Contribution of Lawn Fertilizer to Nitrogen Loading of Cape Cod Embayments (pdf file.   Requires Adobe Reader)

  • A Thesis submitted by Lisabeth M. White, in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Marine Affairs.. University of Rhode Island.  2003

Maps:

• Bay Street Channel Dredging
• Town of Barnstable Watersheds

Mass Department of Environmental Protection

The following two reports have been issued as required by the EPA Federal Clean Water Act section 303d.  A TMDL establishes a maximum amount of pollution that a water body can accept and still meet water quality standards. Frost Fish Creek is listed on the 2002 Massachusetts Integrated List of Waters (Category 5) as impaired for Nutrients and Pathogens while Muddy Creek is listed as impaired for Pathogens.

MA DEP has prepared Draft TMDLs for controlling bacteria.  The primary source of this contaminant is stormwater runoff and wildlife.  The goal for these two waterbodies is to achieve state water quality standards for Class SA waters.  The Massachusetts Surface Water Quality Standards-314 CMR 4.00 state that Class SA waters shall have a fecal coliform bacteria concentration not exceeding a geometric mean of 14 organisms per 100 mL, nor shall more than 20 percent of the samples exceed 43 per 100 mL.

• Draft Bacteria TMDL for Frostfish Creek (Chatham) (pdf file. Requires Adobe Reader)

  • Released Oct, 2004
     

• Draft Bacteria TMDL for Muddy Creek (Chatham and Harwich)  (pdf file. Requires Adobe Reader)

  • Released Nov, 2004