Herring River Restoration Project

• Until 1987, state and local authorities were focused on repairing or replacing the Chequessett Neck Road dike and adjusting the tidal flow, not restoring tidal flow to clear the estuary of pollution and restore the Herring River salt marsh.

Chequessett Neck Road dike:


• 1987 – CT Roman (Rutgers University) completed "An Evaluation of Alternatives for Estuarine Restoration Management: The Herring River Ecosystem (Cape Cod National Seashore)".
• 1988 – Friends of Cape Cod National Seashore hosted a presentation of Roman's Evaluation of Alternatives for Estuarine Restoration Management."
• 1990 – Mill Creek study recommended that this tributary be diked to prevent golf course flooding with Herring River restoration.
• 1991 – USGS study determined that tidal restoration is no threat to private wells near the river.
• 1993 – Discussions began with private property owners about possible National Park Service (NPS) acquisition to allow future tidal restoration.
• 1995 – Charles Roman, Richard Garvine, and John Portnoy published "Hydrologic Modeling as a Predictive Basis for Ecological Restoration of Salt Marshes," which concluded that "restoration is an appropriate management goal for the now degraded Herring River ecosystem."
• 1999 – Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) Superintendent Maria Burks and John Portnoy met with the Board of Governors of Chequessett Yacht & Country Club (CYCC) to discuss increasing tidal flow in the Herring River.

• 2004 – "Sedimentation Concerns with Proposed Restoration of Herring River Marsh" by Amy Dougherty, Association of Women Geoscientists Fellow, was presented to Wellfleet Shellfish Advisory Board.
• 2005 – Wellfleet Board of Selectmen voted to write to potential restoration-funding agencies stating that the board agreed in principle that Herring River restoration would be beneficial to public interests and the environment.
• 2005 – CCNS and Wellfleet signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a process and framework to determine whether restoration of the Herring River is feasible and to develop a conceptual plan.
• 2006 – Herring River Technical Committee met in January to approve its report to the Wellfleet Select Board.
• 2006 – The Technical Committee submitted its Full Report to the Wellfleet Select Board, which voted unanimously to endorse the committee's recommendations that tidal restoration is both feasible and in the public interest and that the TC proceed with the development of a management plan for restoration.
• 2007 – The Technical Committee met with Mill Creek abutters with a focus on water-supply wells.
• 2007 – Wellesley College sampled sediment particle size on flats and shellfish grants below the dike.
• 2007 – CCNS and the select boards of Wellfleet and Truro signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU II) accepting the Technical Committee's Conceptual Restoration Plan.
• 2008 – Agencies met with the Chequessett Yacht & Country Club (CYCC) to plan options for wet fairway relocation.
• 2016 – CCNS and the select boards of Wellfleet and Truro signed a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MOU III) to ratify the Detailed Restoration Plan (DRP) set forth in the Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FEIS/FEIR) for the restoration of the Herring River estuary.
• 2018 – Truro withdrew from the Herring River Restoration Project because of concern about liability.
• 2019 – CCNS and the Wellfleet Select Board signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU IV) to acknowledge Truro's withdrawal from the project and define the Herring River Executive Council and Herring River Technical Team.
• 2019 – The town of Wellfleet submitted an application for approval of the Herring River Restoration Project as a development of regional impact (DRI).
• 2020 – The Cape Cod Commission approved the Herring River Restoration Project as a DRI.
• 2021 – The town of Wellfleet submitted an application for a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) Program Action Grant of $700,000 to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
• 2022 – Based on a Wetlands Restoration Program (WRP) Project Nomination submitted to the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management in 2004 [sic], the town of Wellfleet was awarded $22,670,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, Division of Ecological Restoration towards the Herring River Restoration Project. (See note below.)
• January 2023 – The Herring River Restoration Project began when AmeriCorps volunteers started clearing shrubs and brush with hand tools along the Herring River on the eastern edge of Duck Harbor.

Proposed Chequessett Neck Road bridge:


• February 2023 – Construction began on the $31 million Chequessett Neck Road bridge that will eventually control the restoration of tides in the Herring River estuary.

Note: The link between the 2004 MVP grant nomination and the 2022 award is explained in an email responding to my public records request for a copy of the grant application.

Many of the above events were extracted from IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF HERRING RIVER.