The first unintended consequence of the Herring River Restoration Project that caused harm began in April 2023 with the clearing of dead vegetation in the Duck Harbor floodplain with heavy equipment. This process subjected animals nesting in trees and on the ground to shredding and crushing, respectively.
The shredding was caused by the blades of a full-tree mulcher that could reduce small trees to wood chips in a few seconds. Adult birds could flee from the mulching blades, but their chicks, eggs, and nests could not have escaped. (Click here to watch a video of the full-tree mulching in Duck Harbor.)
The crushing was produced by the wide pontoon treads of the mulcher as it navigated to clear-cut all standing freshwater vegetation. The Herring River project has a written turtle protection plan, but it covers only construction sites and imposes no restrictions on the clearing of vegetation.
Faun Koplovsky, who has been clearing shrubs and trees in Duck Harbor, described his use of the whole-tree mulcher pictured here in an April Provincetown Independent article. A colorful character, he informed the reporter: "I built my machine to not have a limit. There's no limit to what it can mulch. I can mulch every single thing." So, without any regulatory restrictions, Koplovsky has apparently been mulching bird nests in the trees he has been shredding, as well as rolling over turtles on the woodlands floor traversed by his wide-track mulcher. 
Ironically, in deference to the return of the endangered Northern long-eared bat from winter hibernation, Kowalski's mulching in the Herring River area paused from the middle of April to November 2023 during the bat-roosting season. (What animals are protected and how seems arbitrary.)
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