SPB Wins MA Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Coastal Resilience Grant!

Save Popponesset Bay (SPB) is the proud recipient of a Coastal Resilience Grant from MA Coastal Zone Management (CZM). This generous award for $426,000 will fund up to 15,000 cubic yards of trucked sand and beach grass for the Spit to be completed over this coming winter.

A condition of this Grant is that SPB MUST provide $186,000 in matching funds. We need your support NOW. This grant supplements donor contributions but does not replace your donation. Your annual donation is critical to our implementing this project as this grant work must be complete by Spring 2021, but the funds must be raised before the end of the year. Please DONATE and support our initiatives today to make your annual donation so that we can capitalize on this exciting Grant opportunity CMZ has provided us.

SPB is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1987 for the purpose of protecting and enhancing Popponesset Bay and the Popponesset Spit, the barrier peninsula and wildlife preserve that protects the Bay and surrounding communities in Mashpee and Cotuit. For more than 30 years, SPB has been managed and operated by a Board of neighborhood volunteers and supported by a wide range of stakeholders and partners including local government, businesses large and small, Mass Audubon Society, and many valued consistent donors.

Due to our strong partnerships and community relationships, SPB has worked to dredge sand to keep key navigation channels open, improve water quality, and protect and restore the Popponesset Spit. This dune restoration project will help mitigate barrier beach storm damage protection, help protect Popponesset Bay and surrounding properties, protect the inner channel system, enhance habitat for endangered species such as piping plover and least terms, and improve recreation.

This CZM Grant marks a major milestone in SPBs 6-year initiative to rebuild the Spit and expand the Outer Channel. Since 2014, the Spit has been in a dangerously critical condition. This funding will allow SPB to make significant progress towards expanding the Spit in advance of the Outer Channel expansion project. This is the second grant SPB has secured from MA CZM.

Outer Channel Expansion Project – Longer, Deeper, Wider
SPB continues to make progress towards our goal of expanding the Outer Channel leading from Popponesset Bay to Nantucket Sound. The goal is to extend the Outer Channel 250 feet while making the channel 2 feet deeper and 50 feet wider while also adding a catch basin to extend the channel life during the summer season. We hope to receive the final permit approvals by year end.

The Outer Channel dredging project will provide over 40,000 cubic yards of sand to be placed on the Spit to expand the outer beach and provide significant additional protection for the Spit dunes, channels and bay during storms and extreme high tides.

This dredging project will benefit all aspects of SPBs mission! Maintenance of the Spit with the dredged sand, safer waterways navigation, support for the Mashpee clean water initiative, and increased habitat for endangered species.

Thanks to our supporters, we have already received contributions earmarked for this dredging project, but we need to raise much more. If you would like more information about becoming a part of our Outer Channel Project, or are ready to become a contributor please contact Bob Hughes @ rwhughes00@gmail.com.

Thank you all for your continued support as we enter this exciting next phase of our mission.