Losing Cape Cod: Sea Level, Salt Marshes, Wastewater, Land Use & Climate Change

Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm
Location: Snow Library, Orleans, MA (67 Main Street)
Price: Free

This forum, organized by CIRenew, focuses on recent and possible future changes to Cape Cod due to human activities, as well as local efforts to understand and mitigate adverse impacts due to sea level rise and severe storms. Maps from the “Losing Cape Cod” project, which provide vivid evidence of rapid change, will be featured.

Featured speakers will be Tom Stone, research associate at the Woods Hole Research Center; Alison Leschen, manager of the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve; and Mark Robinson, executive director of The Compact for Cape Cod Conservation Trusts.

“Losing Cape Cod,” is a mapping project that has revealed the rapid decrease of open space on Cape Cod over time and now provides attention-getting evidence of the possible local effects of sea level rise and severe storms. Alison will share results of the Reserve’s greenhouse gas audit, which encompasses not only the carbon emissions attributable to its buildings and vehicles but also carbon cycling and storage through its nearly 1300 acres of land. She also will introduce innovative research that is providing insights on how nutrient loading due to wastewater and other sources may degrade the carbon storage and ecological function of salt marshes. Mark will discuss the importance of land preservation and management in helping to protect habitat, enhance carbon storage, absorb flooding, and provide resiliency in the face of climate change.

For more information contact
Chris Powicki
President, CIRenew
2042 Main Street
Brewster, MA 02631
774-487-4614