Three Bays Preservation, Inc.

CONTACT:

864 Main Street, PO Box 215
Osterville, MA 02655
508-420-0780
www.3bays.org

Lindsey B. Counsell, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

West Bay, North Bay and Cotuit Bay in Barnstable County are monitored and protected by Three Bays Preservation (TBP), founded in 1996 by concerned residents who wanted to swim, fish, and drink from, the bays. TBP volunteers monitor water quality, providing samples and data to the Massachusetts Estuaries Project. Its Shellfish Preservation Action for Tomorrow (SPAT) program locates fluorescent white dyes found in most laundry soaps to pinpoint septic leakage that interferes with shellfish propagation. From 1998 to 2002,TBP dredged Cotuit Bay, moving nearly 230,000 cubic yards of sand and other bottom material to Dead Neck Island—effectively flushing the bay and improving the shellfish beds, while restructuring the Island as a barrier for storms and a nesting site for the piping plover and the least tern—both endangered birds. And together with Barnstable’s natural resources staff, TBP purchased a system to grow quahog seeds, a food source for shellfish—serving both to replenish shellfish stock in the area and cleanse the water, removing excess nitrogen. All of this in TBP’s first eight years! How much more can they do with your support?

(2004: NATURE: Environment: Land, Air, Water, Climate)