Nearly 80 volunteers gathered at Lobsterville Beach Saturday morning to take part in dune restoration efforts led by the Natural Resources Group of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).

French Impressionist Edgar Degas was a great painter, but I have reason to doubt that he could fully appreciate a New England beach in early June.  

Some Island beaches are getting plenty of attention.

Over a hundred volunteers gathered on the Oak Bluffs side of the Joseph Sylvia State Beach on Saturday morning to plant beach grass, part of an ongoing effort to stabilize one of the most popular beaches on the Island.

Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to come back to South Beach and to Chappaquiddick for a large-scale cleanup of leftover World War I and World War II ordnance. Their work will begin April 1, according to Chris Kennedy of The Trustees of Reservations.

An engineering report examining the stability of scenic East Chop Drive in Oak Bluffs concludes the fragile coastal slope is extremely unstable and showing signs of distress and imminent failure.

The eight-page draft report from the firm of Stearns and Wheler recommends that the town repair the bluff as quickly as possible by both reshaping the coastal bank and installing stabilizing materials such as a concrete block system, heavy riprap, sheet piling or a specially designed mechanically stabilized earth wall.

Passing through the second electronic security-armed gate on the way to Squibnocket it begins to dawn on you: This place is important.