Pond Level Trumps Cranberries For John’s Pond Estates Residents

     Residents were given a chance last Thursday night to weigh in on the Mashpee Conservation Commission’s upcoming decision on whether to re-lease the cranberry bogs on the upper Quashnet River or to restore the area to a more natural condition, and the few that spoke came out strongly against farming the bogs.
     About a half-dozen people attended the public hearing, and the four who addressed the commission, all of whom said they live in the nearby John’s Pond Estates neighborhood, said using the area for cranberry farming would have a negative impact on property values at homes around the pond and harm the environment in the area.
     The residents focused primarily on the cranberry growers’ water use and the effect on water levels in the pond.
     “The Quashnet River needs to be restored, not ignored,” said John O. Harris, who lives in the John’s Pond Estates neighborhood off Route 151, on the southwest side of the pond. “There is no advantage to the town in growing cranberries.”
     The residents represent the third and likely final voice heard by commission members in their deliberations on the future of the upper Quashnet River.
     A state fisheries biologist in May urged the commission to restore the river in order to revive its once abundant trout population. He said cranberry bogs and the treeless, swamp-like landscape they create are the opposite of the shady, cool, fast-flowing water needed for trout to thrive.
     Then Jeffrey B. LaFleur, executive director of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association, advocated for farming at a commission meeting in early July. Mr. LaFleur emphasized the tradition and heritage of cranberry farming in southeastern Massachusetts. He said he believes trout can survive in cranberry bogs.
     Both the state biologist and Mr. LaFleur said there is ample grant money available should the town pursue either habitat restoration or cranberry bogs.
     Commission Chairman John J. Fitzsimmons said the panel will likely be making a decision on the bogs at its next meeting, on August 7. Noting the importance of the issue and the strong emotions it has stirred in some, Mr. Fitzsimmons said the commission should go into executive session to discuss it.
     However, Town Manager Joyce M. Mason said this week that she is not aware of any valid reason, such as potential litigation or personnel and contract matters, why the commission should discuss the issue in executive session.
     Reached by telephone on Wednesday, Mr. Fitzsimmons said the commission had not yet decided whether it would hold executive session, and that he hoped to discuss the matter with Conservation Agent Andrew McManus. “I wanted to, as they say, ‘run it up the flagpole and see who salutes,’ ” Mr. Fitzsimmons said.
     The upper section of Quashnet River, which runs out of the northeast side of Johns Pond and down toward Quashnet Valley Country Club, was previously leased by the town to cranberry growers, until in the late 1990s when the area was found to be contaminated by a chemical leaking underground from a fuel spill on the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The bogs have been closed to production since. They were maintained until two years ago, when the contract expired and the conservation commission began its debate about the future of the bogs.
     At the public hearing last Thursday, the John’s Pond Estates residents offered a battery of arguments against re-leasing the bogs, many tailored to rebut Mr. LaFleur’s presentation of a few weeks ago.
     Michael Forde Jr., president of John’s Pond Estates Homeowners Association, said water levels have been an issue for property owners around the pond for decades, particularly because the cranberry growers can flood the bogs, draining several inches of water out of the pond, whenever they want and with no notice to the property owners. He said the growers have a right to the water that legally supersedes all but the need to provide sufficient water for herring to run up and down the river.
     Mr. Forde also directly criticized Mr. LaFleur, calling him a “lobbyist” in what appeared to be an attempt to discredit him.
     According to the Massachusetts Public Records Division, however, Mr. LaFleur is not registered as a lobbyist. Instead, the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association paid $4,200 to Henry S. Gillet, of the Fall River-based, primarily agricultural lobbying firm HSG and Associates, for services in the first six months of 2008, the latest period for which data were available. The cranberry growers’ association paid HSG $8,400 in 2007 for lobbying services.
     Reached by telephone this week, Mr. LaFleur said he is not a lobbyist any more than Mr. Forde is for the homeowners’ association.
     “I wasn’t there to sell cranberries. I was just saying, ‘These are your options,’ ” Mr. LaFleur said. “That is why they invited me to come before them with that information.”
     Mr. Forde said that Mr. LaFleur was promoting grants that may or may not be available to the town, including a United States Department of Agriculture grant received by Pembroke earlier this year. Mr. Forde said that if Mashpee were to receive the same amount of money per acre as the $1.4 million Pembroke did for its 125 acres of bogs, Mashpee would get about $112,000 total, an amount of money he said should be viewed in the context of the property taxes paid by the 40 waterfront homes in John’s Pond Estates.
     Mr. Forde also asked how the town would pay for a consultant to monitor the grower and the crop to ensure propriety, an expense Conservation Agent Andrew McManus has said will be necessary if the commission pursues the cranberry option.
     Mr. Harris similarly challenged Mr. LaFleur’s statements, including questioning whether Mashpee would be able to secure a better contract than Falmouth, which will not see any income from leasing its bogs until after 10 years, when 10 percent will be turned toward municipal revenue.
     Fishing and bogs are not compatible, he said.
     Like Mr. Forde, Mr. Harris also focused on the pond’s water level, arguing that low levels create poor water quality. “This contaminates drinking water and is harmful to anyone or thing that uses the pond,” he said.
     Mr. Harris said the recent report by the Silent Spring Institute finding trace amounts of several hormones and pharmaceutical products in six Cape Cod ponds was connected to failed septic systems and low water levels. The Silent Spring report, however, made no mention of the contaminants being the result of failed septic systems. Even fully functioning septic systems operating in optimum conditions do not remove the contaminants, according to the report.
     When the bogs were in use, there were several instances when the dam was left open for days at a time, dropping the water level upward of six inches, Mr. Harris said.
     “It has proved impossible to maintain the proper pond level when the cranberry grower has authority to control the flume and pond level,” he said.
     Two other John’s Pond Estates residents also issued complaints about the water levels.
     Mr. LaFleur said the water use by the grower is allowed under state law, and the bogs are flooded usually just two or three times a year. The pond level is one of several issues the commission needs to consider in its decision, he said.