Herring River Restoration Project

Seashore mandate

In July 2019, Brian Carlstrom, the Cape Cod National Seashore superintendent, met with Susan Baumgarten and me to discuss our concerns about the Herring River Restoration Project. In a follow-up email, he elaborated on a point he made during our discussion – that he had a mandate to clean up the Herring River, which runs through the National Seashore.

"In 1985, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries classified shellfish beds in the river mouth as "prohibited" due to fecal coliform contamination. In 2003, water quality problems caused the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection to list Herring River as "impaired" under the federal Clean Water Act, Section 303(d) for low pH and dissolved oxygen, high metal concentrations, and fecal coliform bacteria both in the river itself and for discharges to Wellfleet Harbor."

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