Free, Guided Walks!
Botany, Birds, Butterflies

Sponsored by Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) and thanks to the volunteer time and expertise of our knowledgeable walk leaders, we’re offering a variety of fun & educational walks during the spring/summer season.

Explore the world of botany with environmental reporter Rich Eldred at HCT’s Cold Brook Preserve, Sand Pond Woodlands, and Coy’s Brook Woodlands. Join Eve Martin’s “Cane Gang” at the Bells Neck Conservation Lands. Watch for nesting shorebirds along Nantucket Sound with Assistant Town Conservation Agent Nicki Smith. Learn about birds & butterflies with Town Conservation Administrator Amy Usowski at town-owned Thompson’s Field. Stretch your legs, enjoy the fresh air, and learn about the plants and animals with which we share this special corner of Cape Cod.

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3rd Annual
Tour de Trash

On behalf of the staff and Trustees of the Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT), the Town Conservation Department, and the Tour de Trash Committee, thank you to all of the volunteers who helped support the 3rd Annual ‘Tour de Trash’ town-wide spring clean-up!

Ninety volunteers fanned out across town on Saturday, April 29th to remove several hundred pounds of trash and about an equal volume of recycling from our roadsides!  The majority of trash items were cigarette butts and nips (especially Fireball).  There were also many returnable/ recyclable bottles.  Of the unfortunate things we found were needle syringes.

Some of the sites that were cleaned include:  beaches, Queen Anne Road, East Harwich Four Corners (Rts. 137 & 39), Community Garden, the Bike Trail, and portions of Route 39.  The Tour de Trash Committee hopes this event inspires a sense of stewardship for our environment and encourages all residents to clean up local neighborhoods, parks, and beaches whenever possible. 

The Tour de Trash Committee thanks all of its  partners, including Town Highway, Fire, and Police Departments, and the Community Center.  They also thank event sponsors:  Hot Stove Saloon, Nauset Disposal, and East Harwich Stop & Shop.  Watch for the return of Tour de Trash in the spring of 2018!

HCT Takes the Next Step
in Planning Cold Brook
Eco-Restoration Project

The Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) and Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration have selected Inter-Fluve, Inc., an engineering firm based in Cambridge specializing in river and wetland restoration, to complete the ecological restoration design and begin the permitting process for HCT’s Cold Brook Eco-Restoration Project in Harwich Port.

The goal of this project is the comprehensive ecological restoration of 66 acres of former cranberry bogs and adjacent lands including the rehabilitation of more than 0.75 miles of stream channel and associated floodplain as well as the restoration of habitat and fish passage for a number of species of migratory fish and wildlife including the American eel (Anguilla rostrata).  The project will remove several water control structures associated with retired cranberry bogs; reconstruct stream channel and flood plain, re-establish wetland hydrology in former peatlands, and remove barriers to fish migration at the head of tide. 

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17-acre Muddy Creek
Headwaters Project:
Land Stewardship

Great news! On March 2nd, the 17-acre Muddy Creek Headwaters landscape was purchased from the Marini family by The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, Inc. on behalf of HCT. The Compact’s “buy-and-hold” role allows HCT to raise the remaining funds necessary to remove a dilapidated house and derelict tennis court, restore disturbed areas, enhance meadow habitat, establish a parking area and trailhead as well as create a new walking trail loop. The site is not yet open to the public until we complete these various land stewardship steps. Stay tuned for updates. The photo above of Muddy Creek looking west from Rt. 28 was taken by David Colantuono of The Cape Codder.