Herring River Restoration Project

There is cognitive dissonance between theory and practice when it comes to governance of the Herring River Restoration Project

The 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU III) between the town of Wellfleet and the National Park Service defines the governance of the Herring River Restoration Project that the Herring River Executive Council (HREC) is responsible for making all substantive decisions about the project. The minutes of the HREC do not reflect that.

For example, the HREC minutes for its meeting of December 2022, the month before the project began with vegetation clearing in January and construction of the new $31 million Chequessett Neck Road bridge starting in February, followed this agenda:

Herring River Restoration Project Update
Permitting Update
Fundraising Update
Construction Update
HREC Member Announcements
Public Comment
Next Meeting Dates

The minutes document no decisions made by the group purportedly responsible for making all substantive decisions about the project, which was about to begin.

Similarly, minutes of the other three HREC meetings in 2022 and all except one of the seven HREC meetings in 2020 and 2021 document only administrative decisions made by the group. The most substantive decision, made in July 2021, was to comply with an administrative need and was based on a PowerPoint presentation given by a member of the Herring River Technical Team. He explained that the executive council's approval of the project's tide gate management was needed for the Notices of Intent to be filed with the Wellfleet and Truro Conservation Commissions. No formal vote was taken. Rather, the decision was recorded by the project coordinator as follows:

Ms. Ridley noted that all members expressed support for each of the three components and asked if the members agree that there is consensus on the initial tide gate management policy being limited to three years, achieving a 1.8 ft average tide in year 1 and maintaining a 1.8 ft average tide in years 2 and 3, with ongoing monitoring and data collection, as presented in Mr. Smith's PowerPoint. All five members verbally assented that this was the consensus position.

The executive council's primarily ceremonial role was recognized by a sharp reduction in the number of meetings held annually. Eight meetings were held in 2020, while thereafter, no more than four meetings have been held annually.

So, if the executive council's decisions are not governing the Herring River Restoration Project, who or what is. The best educated guess is that the Herring River Technical Team is making all substantive decisions. The 2019 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU IV) between the town of Wellfleet and the Cape Cod National Seashore specifies:

The HRTT does not possess any authority to make decisions that bind the Project, Wellfleet, the CCNS, or the Project Partner Agencies; is not empowered by any Party to act collectively; and does not have any power to take actions for the Project. The Parties disclaim any intention to create in the HRTT a public body for purposes of the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law or the federal or Massachusetts Public Records Act.

MOU IV's specification that the Technical Team does not have any power to take actions for the project may be technically true, but that group is qualified to make scientific decisions while the Executive Council is not. (See Governance in Theory .) Of additional concern, the Technical Team is working outside the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law and thus outside public view and without public oversight.

The project's governance in practice appears to be very different than its governance in theory.

Return to Home page
Return to Governance in Theory
Top of page

Herring River Restoration Project

Governance in Practice