Last of Oil Spill Penalty Funds Help Protect Land along Slocums River
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Twenty acres of saltmarsh and forested upland habitat on the eastern shore of the Slocums River estuary are now permanently protected. |
For the past four years, the Coalition has worked diligently to direct the penalty funds from the 2003 Bouchard Oil Spill toward Buzzards Bay watershed land protection. This program, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), recently helped preserve more than a mile of shoreline along the Slocums River estuary in South Dartmouth. The Coalition partnered with the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust (DNRT) to permanently protect two waterfront properties totaling 107 acres.
The first property of 87 acres off Barney’s Joy Road, is now protected with a conservation restriction held by the DNRT. A conservation restriction is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values, such as critical habitat or endangered species. The property, known as Peleg Island, contains 35 acres of saltmarsh and 52 acres of forested uplands.
The second property, 20 acres of saltmarsh and forested upland habitat on the eastern shore of the estuary, off Rock O’Dundee Road, is also now permanently protected through acquisition by DNRT with assistance from the Coalition. The Coalition applied NAWCA funds toward this project, which includes more than 3,000 feet of shoreline on Peters Creek and the Slocums River.
Both properties provide valuable habitat for migratory waterbirds, including great blue herons, black ducks, buffleheads and scaups. The protection of natural lands in the watershed like these is critical to protecting water quality in Buzzards Bay. Healthy forests, wetlands and stream buffers serve a vital function as pollutant filters, absorbing as much as 90% of the nitrogen and other pollution generated by human activities before it reaches the Bay. Land conservation also benefits local communities by protecting drinking water, wildlife, aesthetic vistas, open space, rural character, recreational opportunities and the special places that people treasure.
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Peleg Island contains 35 acres of saltmarsh and 52 acres of forested uplands. |
“These projects represent a continuance of our growing and successful partnership with DNRT. We’re glad we had this opportunity to help DNRT expand land protection efforts, especially on the shoreline of this important embayment to Buzzards Bay,” said Director of Land Protection Allen Decker.
The NAWCA funds were derived from penalties paid by Bouchard Transportation Company for their 2003 oil spill in Buzzards Bay. Since 2005, the Coalition has spent more than $6.5 million of NAWCA funding around the watershed to permanently protect a total of 1,072 acres as open space.
“It is bittersweet to consider these funds were derived from the aftermath of the 2003 oil spill catastrophe. The protection of all these lands, which span the watershed from Westport to Falmouth, is just one of the achievements the Coalition has made in response to that terrible event. The acreage of this land is large, and the locations of these properties along the Bay are quite significant. Making these lands off limits to future development offers important permanent protection to Buzzards Bay moving forward,” said Coalition Vice President of Watershed Protection Brendan Annett.