Herring at the Old King's Highway Culvert
FRIENDS OF HERRING RIVER
   June, 2014     
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Friends of Herring River
P.O. Box 496
Wellfleet, MA 02667

Masthead photo by Lisbeth Wiley

Chapman
Friends of Herring River prepares for the Fourth of July parade entry, updates you on the Herring Count this spring, and discusses grants.
 
Lisbeth Wiley Chapman, Editor
JOIN US FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE

We need you to make a great showing for Friends of Herring as an entry in the Wellfleet Fourth of July parade. Please plan to join us at the corner of Holbrook and Main Street no later than 9:45 AM, where we, as a walking entry, will likely lead the parade again.  

     If you watch the parade from Holbrook or Commercial, you won't see us. We have young marchers and strollers, so we  march from the corner of Holbrook and Main to the Congregational Church parking lot.  It was a lot of fun last year, and our School of Herring was very enthusiastic.    School of Herring

MAKE YOUR HERRING HEADBANDS AND DORSAL FINS AT THE WELLFLEET PUBLIC LIBRARY, 3-5 PM SUNDAY, JUNE 29.

The headbands with herring eyes and the dorsal fins are our costumes for the parade.  All the crafts material will be provided and if your little ones love glue and glitter, there will be a lot of it on hand.  Please come, bring your children or come to make costumes for your grandchildren if they are not here yet, and join us in the parade on July 4th. 

TEACHING ENVIONMENTAL RESTORATION TO THE NEXT GENERATION IN TRURO
John Way, ranger at the Salt Pond Visitor Center, working with the Friends of Herring River, spent a day (May 30th) at the Truro Library with 95 students from Truro Elementary School. The students were introduced to salt marshes and the importance of the Herring River Restoration Project. They then conducted a modeling activity simulating the restoration project. Water flow with a barrier in place was measured; a second measurement was taken with the barrier removed; a third taken to reflect high tide.  Thanks to Alice Iacuessa for all her work on this.

UPDATE ON GRANTS

* Friends of Herring River awarded a contract to Stantec Entineering using a $20,000 grant from Massachusetts Bay Program. Stantec will develop plans for replacement of seriously degraded culverts at Old Kings Highway and Patience Brook.  Both culverts are in the upper reaches of the Herring River.  Slade Associates is conducting topographic surveys. 

* The conceptual design of the Chequesset Neck Bridge with tide control gates to replace the existing dike is being developed by Fuss & O'Neill, an engineering firm.  This is sponsored by funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Massachusetts Environmental Trust.  The design will be presented at our Annual Meeting on August 19th.

* The geotechnical investigation of the proposed site for the dike across Mill Creek is nearing completion.  This will be the basis for the design of the dike to be developed in the coming year.  The purpose of this dike is to protect private properties in the Mill Creek basin. 

ANNUAL MEETING, TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 4-6 PM
WELLFLEET SENIOR CENTER
You will not want to miss this meeting.  New bridge schematics for the Chequessett Road dike replacement will be introduced by engineers from Fuss & O'Neill. In addition, Dr. Barbara Brenessel, a member of the Board of Directors of Friends of Herring River, will speak on river herring.  Her most recent book on herring will be published this fall.
HERRING COUNT UPDATE
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!
John Riehl reports that our 6th Annual Herring Count yielded some interesting data this year.  Sponsored by the Friends of Herring River and the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), the goal was to monitor this key species before restoration to help provide data to the Division of Marine Fisheries for species conservation.  We counted river herring, both alewives and blue-backed herring and saw some elvers from our count site at the corner of Old Kings Highway and Black Pond Road.  
     We had over 25 volunteers who counted for more than 300 volunteer hours. The total was 4900 fish, more than double any previous count.  APCC takes the data and extrapolates what the likely final run estimate will be, more than 50,000 fish. Again a record for us.
POACHING ELVERS WILL SOON CARRY $10,000 FINE.
Great story in the Cape Cod Times by Doug Fraser this week about poaching of eels and elvers.  This fishery is believed to be under duress.  Sarah Peake has filed a bill to raise the poaching fine in Massachusetts from $1000 to $10,000 to discourage poaching in Massachusetts rivers.  She does not expect opposition to its passage.
 

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To reach Friends of Herring River, Contact Don Palladino -- Don@friendsofherringriver.org
 
To reach this newsletter editor, Lisbeth Wiley Chapman -- Beth@friendsofherringriver.org
 
For more informaton:  http://www.friendsofherringriver.org