Cape Cod's National Seashore Advisory Commission, six years dormant, revives
While still only ‘advisory,’ making arguments for engaging
“I’m thrilled to call to order the 309th meeting of the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Committee,” announced Rich Delaney, well-known in these parts as head of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, well-known elsewhere for many years in and around state government and the international environmental movement.
There was celebratory applause at Salt Pond Visitors Center in Eastham; the 308th meeting of the committee convened in 2018, so that’s a real hiatus. The group was disbanded early in the Trump term, becoming a symbol for those who believed grassroots participation was not high on that administration’s priorities.
“Seems fair to say there’s something pretty cosmic happening here,” Delaney smiled, not meant as hyperbole about the commission’s resurrection; the meeting started at 1 pm on April 8, and by 2 pm the eclipse had begun, so the group took a break to check out the darkest moment, then reconvened.
At the table were representatives of all six town with National Seashore holdings, representatives from county and state governments, plus new Seashore Superintendent Jennifer Flynn.
After Biden’s election, Congressman Keating, Senators Markey and Warren pushed for the Department of Interior to reconstitute one of the oldest advisory commissions in the country. Even after success, it took nearly another year for the Department to vet and approve a list of nominees (many of whom were at the table seven years ago, including Chair Delaney), then a lengthy prerequisite to announce a meeting and agenda on the Federal Registry.
Given “advisory” status, the obvious question is whether this group has real clout. Delaney argues that suspending cynicism is important:
“Look at the structure,” he says. “The commission integrates four levels of government; federal, state, county, and local officials. I don’t know where else that happens. So it’s integrated vertically, but also horizontally, geographically, with every town from Provincetown to Chatham. Everyone’s at one table.
“So yes, it’s advisory. But where else can you have these discussions publicly, in front of anyone who’s interested?”
In the group’s long history, contentious issues have come up; off-road vehicle access, piping plovers, jet skis, dune shacks — some believe that if the commission had existed during the latest dune shack controversies, an ugly process could have been improved if not avoided.
Bigger policy questions have emerged as well; trying to align local zoning with Seashore practice, beach access balancing local and national constituencies, water and wastewater challenges, coastal erosion and climate change, housing and leasing Seashore properties, calls to shut down the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant (arguing that no feasible evacuation plan for Seashore visitors could exist should Pilgrim melt down).
Issues become thornier because this National Seashore, created in 1961, was superimposed on towns with deep histories and cultural roots, fishing traditions, private homes, economies. Just one example:
Where else exists a commercial airport like Provincetown’s within a National Park? Answer: Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The airport needs a long-term federal lease to continue operation, but despite assurances, a deal has been up in the air (so to speak) for many months and locals are nervous.
Sounds like a good topic for an advisory commission to highlight.
Delaney posited that our communities face triple crises:
Very little affordable housing, compromised water quality and wastewater demands, perched at the cutting edge of profound climate change impacts. No entity is better positioned, with more resources (natural and otherwise) to take on all three than the Seashore, and unite six towns in the effort.
This has been true for a long time, but doesn’t mean the Seashore has been proactive about town partnerships. Often the intent is there, along with lip service, but when push comes to shove things go sideways or bog into federal quicksand.
Sometimes that’s because the Park Service’s overarching mission is specific to land protection and public access, sometimes because Park bureaucracy finds it impossible to be nimble, let alone creative.
Can a Seashore carve out a parcel or two (or three) from vast holdings to create affordable housing?
Can a Seashore allow towns to develop public water supply wells in near-pristine areas long-protected from pollution, or would this be deemed “development”?
These and other ideas for using a National Park as a community resource don’t easily fit under an umbrella of conservation and recreation, but are well worth exploring.
So the advisory commission has a potential full plate.
As if to illustrate structural challenges facing this well-intentioned group, when time came to set their next meeting, a problem arose:
Superintendent Flynn reported that before they could reconvene, an agenda would need to be sent to the Department of Interior to be reviewed, maybe/hopefully approved, then posted in the Federal Register with yet another 15 days’ notice.
“Many, many people have to touch it,” she explained.
Best case? No way the commission could meet again for at least eight weeks, more like 10.
Grudgingly, they set the next session for July 1, hopefully bundling notices and agendas to get a cluster of monthly meetings approved through October.
So it goes with feds, but still it’s fair to celebrate that a local forum has revived, Lazarus-like.
In some accounts, the Biblical Lazarus was resurrected but never returned to true health, while others say he did. Here’s hoping the risen commission flexes with fully restored, renewed vitality and impact.
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From "bog into federal quicksand" to "impossible to be nimble" (when have I last seen that word nimble in printi) it's a pleasure to read your coverage of the revival of this crucial advisory board...including the longed for marginally optimistic possability of stronger relations with our new NSP
Director, Jennifer Flynn in place. Thanks, Seth.
Hadley crow studio has designed affordable houses and sites in Wellfleet, Orleans and Truro. It is central to our ethic. Yet let’s not forget what a gift the seashore has been and what it would look like had development been allowed.
Let’s also not forget how overtaxed the natural resources all over the cape have become, especially since the pandemic.
As a landscape architect I think any development or use of the aquifer is a betrayal of the seashore. It’s best use is providing a refuge for all people.