With the American lobster in short supply in Vineyard
waters, the state and federal governments are in the early
stages of considering new minimum sizes and catch limits.
Hearings are planned for later this summer.
Felix Neck, Land Bank and Audubon Buy Moffet Land to Preserve
Sanctuary Borders
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
In a three-way partnership that will protect the last key piece of
undeveloped land at one of the oldest wildlife sanctuaries on the
Vineyard, the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, the Massachusetts
Audubon Society and the Felix Neck Wildlife Trust announced yesterday
that they will buy 34 acres from Lucia Moffet for $2.55 million.
Felix Neck Land Purchase Protects Eastern Flank of Nature Sanctuary
By JULIA WELLS
The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank, the Felix Neck Wildlife Trust
and the Massachusetts Audubon Society closed on a land purchase last
week that will protect the last key piece of undeveloped land at Felix
Neck.
For Conservation Commission, a Tangled Issue in Pond Docks
By MANDY LOCKE
The West Tisbury conservation commission must now act as judge and
jury for a key town leader - sorting through selectman Jeffrey
(Skipper) Manter's request to permit four docks in Tisbury Great
Pond that he has been using for years.
The verdict must come down within three weeks, and the conservation
commission - a board appointed by selectmen - isn't
quite sure how to sort through the mess.
Mitigation Plan Saves Rare Plants Alongside Purple Tiger Beetles;
Sandy Pathways Are Created Across West Tisbury Road
By James Kinsella Gazette Senior Writer
Consider the outlook of a purple tiger beetle living at the
Martha's Vineyard Airport.
For the beetle, life has been good. The climate is agreeable. Its
ancestors have made their home there for generations. Best of all,
there's been a nice sandy path where the beetle, a carnivorous
sort, can more easily spot its meals moving along.
On Saturday, Nov. 24, the Vineyard Open Land Foundation will hold the annual meeting of its board of overseers at the Mary P. Wakeman Conservation Center auditorium off Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven. The overseers will meet at 1 p.m. The annual meeting of the board of trustees will follow. At 1:30 p.m., the foundation will invite the public to a presentation of its activities over the past year.
As community preservation committees across the Island prepare their recommendations for the coming fiscal year, they report growing interest by Vineyarders in the possibilities offered by Community Preservation Act funding.
More than $3 million in requests are under consideration by preservation committees on the Island.
Town officials who oversee CPA funds have seen a surge in activity and applications.
A forum bringing together those for and against the controversial Cape Wind electricity project drew more than 120 people to the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Thursday night and generated far more light than heat.
The forum, organized under the auspices of the Vineyard Haven library lecture and workshop series, was intended to establish a factual basis for further discussion of the project rather than encourage debate, and by that measure can be counted a signal success.
Approval of a mussel farm permit this week may lead to a collegial effort to clean up Menemsha Pond.
In the process of approving Hollis Smith’s aquaculture permit request, conversation expanded to disclose informal discussions between Chilmark and Aquinnah town officials and Wampanoag tribal members to work together to clean the pond.
Menemsha Pond waters lie in both Chilmark and Aquinnah and have been separately maintained by each town historically. The pond has not been dredged since 1971 and “has been dying for 20 years,” Mr. Smith said.
A staff report released by the Cape Cod Commission this week gives a decidedly mixed review to the controversial plan by Cape Wind Associates to build 130 wind turbines on Horseshoe Shoal. The report finds that Cape Wind’s plan to connect the turbines to land in West Yarmouth through underwater electricity transmission lines meets only eight of 32 performance standards set by the commission.
In general, the staff report concluded, a good deal more information is needed in order to satisfy the requirements of the commission.