Cape Cod Times
Gordon Peabody likes to say that his company, Safe Harbor, uses the power of the wind and waves to rebuild natural shoreline protections like beaches and dunes.
One technique involves placing thousands of slats in random patterns on a beach mimicking stalks of beach grass. In theory, they slow down wave velocity causing the sand it carries to settle out and bulk up a beach instead of destroying it.
If there s one trend Peabody has noticed in over 30 years of work, it s the raw power he thinks climate change has injected into storms. It s what he saw at Ballston Beach in Truro in 2013. A megastorm, one of several big powerful winter storms that have besieged the Cape in recent years, developed off the coast as arctic air collided with a warm southern air mass. The storm spun hammered the coastline with hurricane-force winds, breaching an offshore sandbar and overrunning a coastal dune.
THE ISSUE: Itâs Monday, the day we take a few moments to highlight the good news in Lancaster County. Some of these items are welcome developments on the economic front or for neighborhoods across the county. Others are local stories of achievement, perseverance, compassion and creativity that represent welcome points of light in a still-difficult time. All of this news deserves a brighter spotlight.
This weekâs good things revolve around Earth Day, which was last Thursday.
Throughout last week, coverage in LNP | LancasterOnline highlighted numerous inspiring stories and photographs of people being good stewards of the environment. Protecting Earth for future generations â humans, animals and plants â should be a shared goal that motivates everyone.
Chicopee plans to remove 2 dams in Szot Park, eliminating ponds
Today 5:55 AM
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CHICOPEE – The city is starting a three-year project that will change the look of Szot Park, eliminate a potential safety hazard to the community’s electrical system and improve water quality for the Chicopee River and Abbey Brook.
State and local officials recently unveiled a plan that will remove two dams that create the two ponds in Szot Park and replace the seriously-undersized culvert that runs under Front Street and leads to the Chicopee Electric Light property.
“It is returning the waterway back to its natural state,” said Ronald S. Amidon, commissioner for the state Department of Fish and Game.
Wicked Local
LITTLETON The COVID-19 pandemic, water quality concerns and health officials authority highlighted questions to Board of Health candidates at a recent forum.
The forum, held April 20 and sponsored by the Littleton Rotary Club, featured two of three candidates for two open seats in the May 8 election incumbent Kevin Baker and challenger Dan Kane.
Each seat has a three-year term.
The Board of Health race is one of three contests, including Select Board and School Committee, in this year s election.
Town Moderator Tim Goddard oversaw the forum. The candidates fielded questions including those submitted by the public.
The county s Planning and Development Services Department staff have been working with the conservation nonprofit Nokuse Education Inc. and affiliated organizations to assist their ongoing conservation efforts. According to information presented Thursday to the commissioners, the 6,948 acres were recently purchased by Nokuse Education Inc. through a Florida Forever grant award.
Florida Forever is a trust fund program of the state s Department of Environmental Protection with revenue funded with real estate taxes. Since the program s inception in 2001, the state has purchased more than 869,000 acres costing about $3.2 billion, according to the department s website.
The 59 parcels involved in the commission s decision are adjacent to or abut tracts already owned by Nokuse Education Inc. and affiliated organizations that already are designated as conservation parcels.