The Baker-Polito Administration announced on August 4, a $1 million grant to advance the Herring River estuary restoration, the largest tidal estuary restoration project ever undertaken in the Northeastern United States. The grant, awarded by the Department of Fish and Game's (DFG) Division of Ecological Restoration (DER) and funded by the Environmental Bond Bill, will complement another $1 million in newly-approved funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Restoration Center.  

"The Herring River restoration effort will improve water quality, increase climate change resiliency, boost recreation and tourism, and help sustain commercial and recreational fisheries," said Governor Charlie Baker. "I am proud that state and federal agencies could work together with the Friends of Herring River and other groups to make this important project possible."

"This funding will allow the Friends of Herring River and its project partners to continue the important engineering and design phase of this large-scale estuary restoration project," said EEA Secretary Matthew Beaton. "The Baker-Polito Administration is committed to building on partnerships like this one to conserve the Commonwealth's land, as well as proactively taking steps to increase our resilience to the effects of climate change."

The announcement ceremony was held at the current CNR Dike.  In attendance were Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton; Division of Fish and Game Commissioner George Peterson; Director, Division of Ecological Restoration, Tim Purinton; Mass. Environmental Trust Executive Director William Hinkley, and State Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) . Secretary Beaton took a canoe trip on the upstream side of the dike, with Director Purinton, Director Hinkley, together with John Portnoy and Don Palladino, from FHR.

In addition, FHR received $40,000 grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust to support studies of rare species in the estuary.  

Members of the Herring River Restoration Committee charged   with developing the project's design include the Towns of Wellfleet and Truro, National Park Service, NOAA Restoration Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the DER. Other project supporters include the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Cape Cod Conservation District, Massachusetts Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, Massachusetts Bays Program, Environmental Protection Agency, Marine Biological Laboratory, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Wellfleet Conservation Trust, Restore America's Estuaries, Conservation Law Foundation, American Rivers, Ducks Unlimited, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, and the Friends of Herring River.  

In the photos below, top to bottom:  Mass. Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Matthew Beaton, Division of Fish and Game Commissioner, George Peterson, Division of Ecological Research,Tim Purinton, State Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich), President of Friends of Herring River, Don Palladino.