ConCom Looks For More Detail In Plan For Farming Bogs

By MARTHA V. SCANLON
In March 1971, The Falmouth Enterprise reported on the town’s acquisition of 126 acres of land along the Coonamessett River for conservation.
“Now, 37 years later, we’re still talking about conserving it,” Falmouth Conservation Commission member Edward H. Schmitt said Wednesday night, while looking at goals for the cranberry bogs along the river created by the commission’s farm plan subcommittee.
The draft document was created to guide the new farmer for those bogs, Fred C. Bottomley, when he creates a farm plan later this year with a representative from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the US Department of Agriculture.
But according to Mr. Schmitt and some other commission members and town residents, those goals have already been established, and the document should be a detailed outline of what needs to be done and how long it will take, who is responsible for each step, and where the money will come from. “That’s what I call a farm plan,” Mr. Schmitt said.
Commission member Peter L. Waasdorp Jr. agreed, calling the questions brought up by Mr. Schmitt “basic” and citing a 1970 letter from the commission to the Department of Environmental Protection that states that the fishery and river are the top priority, and cranberry growing is second.
“The river comes first historically, and I think we need to look at these historical documents because they’re part of our charge,” he said, adding that the Coonamessett River Working Group developed a resource inventory in 2005 that should be utilized along with Town Meeting’s numerous votes on the issue.
Though subcommittee Chairman Courtney F. Bird Jr. recommended strongly that the working group take on the challenge of developing that detailed plan for the rest of the river because they have “done a lot of the legwork,” Mr. Waasdorp said that it is the commission’s responsibility because it is the steward of the land. “We have to take into account what other [groups] want, but we’re in charge,” he said.
Linda A. Deegan, a commission member who is also involved with the Coonamessett River Coalition, echoed Mr. Schmitt and Mr. Waasdorp’s urgency for continuing the restoration as quickly as possible.
With the time frame for installing berms still uncertain, the issue of separating the bogs from the river by a natural buffer, or no-grow zone, was one of her main concerns, she said.
“What we need are buffers. Just stop cultivating in these areas. It’s as simple as that,” Ms. Deegan said. “The most fundamental and important thing that we can do is start this river restoration from stem to stern.”
While Mr. Bird confirmed “the importance of a buffer,” he said that he was concerned that it would just be ruined when the actual berms were installed. “As a contractor, I don’t agree with moving forward when maybe three years from now it could get trashed,” he said.
Ms. Deegan replied that an engineer told the working group in the past that it would be possible to bring the berms in without disturbing the wetlands.
She also emphasized the importance of ensuring that the river is free-flowing, not only for the important herring stock, but also for the smaller animals for which it is an essential habitat. One aspect of that, she said, is using the money provided by the US Air Force Center for Engineering & the Environment to install wells to “wean off” using the river water for irrigation.
If these things cannot happen, she said, “we will be in the exact same place as 40 years ago.”
The commission agreed, in Mr. Bird’s words, to “chew on” the document and readdress it at its meeting on Wednesday, September 3.