 Map of Impaired Ponds in Brewster On The Point, WCAI's Mindy Todd hosts a discussion about the health of area ponds and challenges to pond restoration. Guests on the program are: Sue Leven, Brewster town planner; Chris Miller, director of the Brewster Department of Natural Resources; Tom Cambareri, watershed management director at the Cape Cod Commission; and Mark Nelson, senior hydrologist with the Horsely Witten group. Due to a technical glitch, Board members of the Brewster Ponds Coalition who were prepared to participate in the discussion, were unable to connect via telephone on this day.
Click here to listen. More than one-hundred children and adults explored the question “what is a health pond?” in variety of creative ways at the Brewster Ponds Coalition’s What is a Healthy Pond Art Fest held last Saturday at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.
Professional and amateur artists—including Breten Bryden, Michael Call, Julie Cumes, Zoia Rocker, Paul Schulenburg, deer Sullivan, and BPC Board member and Education Work Group Creative Director, Dawn Walnut—presented their visual interpretation of healthy ponds in drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculpture. School children’s pond-related art projects adorned the museum stairway walls. Author Susan Anarino read selections from her soon-to-be published book, Cape Cod Ponds Day by Day while BPC board member, Gwen Pelletier read Michael Rosen’s book, All Eyes on the Pond to children. Creative pursuits included poetry writing with deer Sullivan, Director of Children and Youth Ministries at First Parish Brewster and nature journal design with Susan Baur, author of The Turtle Sisters of Cape. Science-based exploration included viewing cyanobacteria through a microscope with BPC Board member and past President, Karen Malkus-Benjamin or observing turtles and other pond creations up close from the CCMNH’s fresh water tanks with aquarist, Doug Smith. All-in-all, it was a fun-filled, informative day. Thank you to everyone for participating!  See pond creatures up close. Craft your own Mighty CYNOBACTERIA! Discover how to create a nature journal. Enjoy storytelling from a ponds-eye view. Learn what makes a pond healthy. You'll find this and more at the “What is a Healthy Pond Art Fest” - a FREE creative arts event for all ages taking place on Saturday, March 12, 2016 at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, 869 Main Street, (RT 6A) Brewster, from 11AM – 2PM. The days events include an exhibit of submitted artwork as well as a number hands-on activities – ideal for families with children ages 3-12. For full information about the days activities click here or telephone 508-258-9801. The First Membership Appreciation Breakfast was held on Saturday, February 27th. About forty members and their guests attended. After fueling up with breakfast and coffee, Tom Vautin, BPC President, kicked-off the meeting with a brief presentation about current goals and upcoming activities. Next, Board member, Dawn Walnut, led the group through a brainstorming exercise to discuss ‘What can (and should) the Brewster Ponds Coalition do?”
First everyone worked alone, listing their ideas on a sheet of paper, and then cut their ideas into strips. Then, each table reviewed and sorted their ideas, and a representative shared their table’s top three ideas with the group. Dawn jotted all the ideas on a flip chart, and finally everyone voted for their three favorite ideas with sticky notes. The most popular entries had an educational theme: - Publish a good pond practices booklet for Brewster property owners - Post informational signage at town landings - Create more education and outreach programs These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. There are a multitude of suggestions—7+ pages of notes for the board to consider! A number of members volunteered for various activities from the membership work group, and pond testing, fundraising—just to name a few. If you have not yet done so, you can volunteer online by clicking here. Thanks to those who attended! It was to fun to meet everyone and get valuable input about the Coalition’s direction. |
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