Save Popponesset Bay -
Spring 2011 update  
 
Update
April 2011 

2011 sees a second dredging project for the Popponesset Bay 


The 1916 channel project was completed in January, 2011 and you can tell by walking on the Spit how much wider the Spit has become. Boaters will surely be able to tell the difference once out on the water.  

 

Dredging of the outer channel was completed by Wayne Jaedtke and the County Dredge this past week.  There was some ice in the Bay this year after the cold snaps in January, but there was no ice to impede the operation by mid-March.  The project, to deepen the channel from the Popponesset Bay out to Vineyard Sound, had only one day of really bad weather during the 10 days in the Bay.  This dredging project extracted sand from the channel that has drifted eastward from the Spit and other areas replenished by New Seabury.   

County Dredge in Popponesset Bay
The County Dredge was stored in the Bay at the end of each day. Photo by Lily Smith

More sand was pumped onto the Spit and graded, enhancing the barrier beach that protects the Bay and east-facing homes on Popponesset Island from storms and waves.  Now, as April begins and the weather improves, the weather will warm up and we'll all see the benefit of these two big dredging projects this winter.

Sand pumped out near the State-owned stairs
Sand pumped out onto the Spit. It looks better after it dries...Photo by Lily Smith

 

pipe running length of the Spit
The dredge pipe will be removed from the Spit in a few weeks when the County Dredge does another local operation. Photo by Lily Smith

Mashpee Waterways Commission
Thanks to Ken Bates and the Mashpee Waterways Commission for organizing and authorizing the outer channel dredging project.  Thanks also to Wayne Jaedtke and the County Dredge team for the dredging and the grading of the sand on the Spit afterwards.  

 
   

Closing notes 

 

With the completion of two major dredging projects this winter, Popponesset Bay is ready for the spring and summer seasons.  

 

Remember to mark your calendars for the summer kickoff dinner at the New Seabury Country Club on Friday evening, June 24, 2011.  We've lined up the Cape Cod Slackers for after dinner to play Jimmy Buffett, Beach Boys and other summer tunes.  The kids will be out of school and the summer will be ready to get under way.  It'll be here before you know it.   

 

Mike Oleksak
Save Popponesset Bay, Inc.
781-729-1008

new mailing address:
P.O. Box 66
North Attleboro, MA 02716

What is SPB?
Popponesset Bay (Dawn Peterson)
Save Popponesset Bay, Inc. is a 501 c 3 organization with the mission of keeping the waterways in and around Popponesset Bay safe and navigable and to protect the Popponesset Spit, an endangered species habitat.

Photo by Beverly
 Myers Bailey
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