This is a celebratory annual meeting.  The National Park system is having it's 100th anniversary this month, FHR and the Herring River Restoration Committee (HRRC) are moving from environmental preparation to permitting  preparation, and a new book has been published.

*  The Flyover Video will be shown and narrated in order to help you follow the path of the drone over all sections of the estuary.  This is a remarkable view from the air.  You will know some sections and others will be new to you as they are so inaccessible because of the growth of woodland on much that was formerly marsh.

*  When the boundaries of the CCNS were drawn they included land that extends from the Atlantic coastline, west to Cape Cod Bay, including most of the Herring River Estuary. The rest of the CCNS land is only on the Atlantic side of the Cape.

*In addition, Don Palladino will give an update on the the key milestones and major events that have led to the conclusion of the environmental work and the beginning of the permitting process. Permitting is expected to take about 18 months to complete.  

*Authors of the new book "Tidal Waters: A History of Wellfleet's Herring River" will give an introduction to their work and have a book signing and sale. Authors are Barbara Brennessel, Alice Iacuessa, and John Portnoy. 

The Herring River Estuary originally encompassed five islands, that is, land masses that have island names -- Bound Brook Island, Merrick Island, Griffith's (or Griffin) Island, Great Island, and Billingsgate Island, all on the West side of Truro and Wellfleet.  Did you ever wonder why they were called islands? Also, there were Great Beach Hill, Little Beach Hill and Hopkins Islands just above the dike (so named on an 1848 map), and then there were the peninsulas of Coles Neck, Pamet Point, Holbrook Neck (where Great Pastures subdivision is now).  The estuary, now largely obscured and degraded by a tangle of woodland trees and vines, was an extensive and productive 1100 acre salt marsh.  At high tide, each of these bodies of land were surrounded by tidal water creating "islands".   At high tide, horses pulling wagons would be up to their bellies in water at some of the marsh crossings.  The new history of the Herring River was named "Tidal Waters" because of the great amount of water once visible in and around Wellfleet and Truro.

We ask a great deal of our volunteers and friends.  We can never say thank you enough!

*  FHR's parade entry won FIRST PRIZE in the 4th of July Parade in Wellfleet in the non-commercial division. Thanks to the stalwart Americorps team of five who provided the legs of our American eel for the 4th of July Parade and all our our walkers. Thanks to Eben Portnoy for his inspiration to build the eel with his father John.  We made the front page of the Provincetown Banner in a large color photo.

*   Thanks also to the folks who made excellent presentations for our summer seminar series held at the Wellfleet Public Library.  Mike Long, from Audubon who spoke on horseshoe crabs, Steve Broker who spoke on rare birds of the Herring River Estuary, Tim Smith who spoke of current and planned monitoring of the estuary, John Portnoy who spoke on the meeting of salt and fresh water in the estuary, and the authors of "Tidal Waters."  

  Sora at Herring River Estuary - photo by Steve Broker

We have put on more than 20 public programs in the last two years and have been invited to consider a series at the Truro Public Library.