Altered routes for over-sand vehicles and restrictive new dog policies are among changes in the offing for Chappaquiddick beaches owned and managed by the Trustees of Reservations.
A legal effort by two Chappaquiddick landowners to block oversand vehicle (OSV) access to the tip of Cape Pogue for the 2022 season has been denied by a Massachusetts Land Court justice.
A couple who own property at the extreme northern tip of Chappaquiddick are suing the Trustees of Reservations in an effort to stop the organization from selling oversand vehicle permits at Cape Pogue, a remote 400-acre wildlife refuge.
Oversand vehicle trails on Chappaquiddick have been partly reopened after a weekend of closures to protect nesting piping plovers, the Trustees of Reservations announced. All trails to Cape Pogue remain closed to vehicles.
The Wasque Reservation sandplain curves downward to the dunes disappearing into the indigo waves of Katama Bay off Chappaquiddick. The white-crested breakers recede into fog above the ocean. A large pick-up truck, which has been converted to a safari vehicle, rumbles along sandy roads and onto the beach, past Wasque Point toward Drunkard’s Cove. Its riders are jostled about in the back. They bump shoulders and exchange good-natured smiles, their fingers wrapped tightly around their binoculars. Five-year-old Anna Brody thinks the ride in the safari truck is the best part of the trip.
The new Dike Bridge is complete and now open for pedestrian traffic. Gates are being installed today and in a week, the bridge will be open to limited off-road vehicle use.
“They’ve done a great job,” said Edgartown highway superintendent Laurence A. Mercier. “The contractor G. M. Berkley did excellent work. We had a state inspector down on Wednesday and he said there are no problems. The bridge will be open soon.” The bridge was built at a cost of $182,256 and paid for by the state. It passes over Poucha Pond.
The Cape Pogue beach - two miles of it - including virtually all the strip with the ocean on one side and Cape Pogue Bay on the other, has been given to the Trustees of Reservations by Charles Sumner Bird and Oliver P. Filley, Chappaquiddick summer residents who acquired the beach some years ago.
The strip is one of great natural interest and beauty - often of windswept beauty - embodying the unaltered character of so much of the exposed shoreline of the Vineyard.
The Edgartown shellfish committee will shelve for now a plan to expand oyster farms to Cape Pogue Pond, amid conflicting opinions about protecting the bay and a desire to build on aquaculture.
A large project to remove World War II-era munitions from Cape Pogue is scheduled to resume this month, with additional work required because of the large quantity of practice bombs found in the area.
