Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Inc

APCC is dedicated to the protection, preservation, and restoration of the natural resources of Cape Cod.

Lean, nimble, and rooted in science, APCC understands how local, regional, state, and federal government policies affect the environment. Since our inception in 1968, we have been firmly grounded in Cape Cods social, economic and environmental fabric. Our insights into the challenges facing the environment here are formed by paying close attentionin the field as well as in the halls of government at the local, state, and federal levels. We are staffed by an interdisciplinary team of professionals who are engaged in anticipating, diagnosing, and solving Cape Cods evolving environmental problems through knowledge, advocacy, collaboration, and education.

Our strategy captures our key programs, strategies, and growth opportunitiesmany of the latter will be advanced through the planned opening of the Koppel Center to Preserve Cape Cod in 2024.

Our strategy is intended to guide our judgment as we consider whatever new environmental challenges are around the corner and to help us prepare for, and define our role in, meeting them.

APCC's strategic priorities address:
- Water quality and nutrient management
- Land protection
- Climate change

APCCs highest priority is to improve water quality. We will do this by working to:
- Advance municipal wastewater management projects.
- Secure the money to fund municipal-scale water resource restoration projects.
- Advance better land use practices by homeowners.
- Promote necessary local, state, and federal legislation and rulemaking.

To promote land protection, APCC will focus on:
- Preserving critical habitats.
- Expanding the number of acres that are permanently protected.
- Directing future development to areas already disturbed or underdeveloped, and which are supported by modern wastewater infrastructure.
- Restoring the ecological functionality of altered or degraded wetland resources.
- Promoting and encouraging better stewardship, especially among property owners, to support a healthier environment.

Cape Cod is already feeling the effects of climate change in the form of warmer water temperatures promoting cyanobacteria blooms and stressing cold water species, increasing sea levels accelerating erosion and degrading salt marshes, and more intense precipitation events degrading water quality. APCCs response will focus on:
- Preserving and restoring salt marsh habitat through our Ecosystem Restoration Program.
- Promoting the development of alternative energy at the industrial scale as well as supporting policies that promote adoption of solar capacity with homeowners.
- Ongoing environmental monitoring to maintain our knowledge and understanding of the
changes in baseline conditions.

Research and knowledge are critical to understanding, and developing solutions to, the Capes environmental threats. APCC invests heavily in increasing its knowledge. For example, we are advancing our organizational understanding of the freshwater environment by monitoring for toxic cyanobacteria, reviewing standard water quality parameters, and continuing to assess the well-being of river herring populations. APCC is also working with a broad spectrum of partners, from citizen scientists to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to understand the current state of environmental quality on Cape Cod. We will continue to work with partners and share information to understand the impact of climate change on resources of concern, and to inform our approach to restoration, climate resilience, and general advocacy.

Because so many of our strategic opportunities have in common the need for appropriate space, 2024 will see transformation of the historic barn at our headquarters in Dennis into a modern facility that also respects its original character. Our new state-of-the- art Koppel Center to Preserve Cape Cod, in addition to providing new workspace for APCCs growing staff, will support a wide variety of activities foundational to our evolving mission, including:
- A fully equipped water quality monitoring facility.
- Convening space to support conferences and collaborations.
- Room to showcase Cape Cods rich environment and the challenges we face inprotecting it.
- Space to exponentially expand our education program, promote eco-friendly landscaping, the use of native plants, and environmental stewardship.
- Space to expand our seasonal intern program, the engine of our pond monitoring and eco-landscaping programs.
- Space to provide for expansion, as needed, of staff.

The Koppel Center to Preserve Cape Cod will be environmentally friendly, fully powered by solar energy with vehicle charging stations powered by the sun. The use of composting toilets will eliminate impacts to groundwater. The historic appearance of the building will be preserved, and original wood will be reused and redeployed wherever possible. In that way, the Center will embody its purpose and encapsulate APCCs mission: respecting, preserving, and adapting the historic Cape for a bright, healthy future.

Cape Cod Water Protection Fund
APCC championed the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund which was signed into law as part of the short-term rental tax bill by Governor Charlie Baker in December 2018. The enabling legislation for the Cape Cod and Islands was signed into law by Governor Baker in March 2019. It is expected that the fund will provide $1 billion toward the $4 billion cost of wastewater treatment.

Future Cape Cod
As a follow up to the passing of the legislation establishing the Cape Cod Water Protection Fund, APCC, the Chamber of Commerce, Cape & Islands Association of Realtors, and the Housing Assistance Corporation came together to ask communities to adopt a model bylaw that would create a town-managed fund, controlled by each town for projects it chooses.

Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative
APCC is a founding member of the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative established in 2016. The Collaboratives mission is to bring the region to net zero carbon emissions by uniting available knowledge, resources, talents and tools and working with various networks representing sectors such as the faith community, transportation, education, the built environment and others.
The first Cape & Islands Roundtable was held in 2018, bringing together over 125 invited leaders from around the region to provide input on an action plan for reducing regional carbon emissions. A second roundtable event was held in 2019. APCC serves on the Collaboratives board of directors and steering committee.
Going Solar
In early 2020, through a solar challenge grant from Tern Foundation, APCCs office went solar. Our solar installation includes a battery backup which also helps the grid in peak demand, while providing power to the office during outages.

Support of Vineyard Wind
In 2018, APCC was the first environmental organization in the nation to voice support for the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project south of Marthas Vineyard. In 2019, APCC convened a gathering of environmental and civic nonprofits and regional leaders in a public show of support for Vineyard Wind when the project was stymied by federal review.

Speaking Out
APCC continues our over five decades of vigilance in speaking out against threats to the environment. Lately, much of our efforts have been focused on assaults on the environment on the federal level. Weve weighed-in proposed leasing of critical habitat area off the Massachusetts coast to offshore oil drilling the same fight APCC undertook in the 1980s.

State of the Waters Cape Cod
A multi-year project was undertaken by APCC in 2018 to assess existing water quality data and to convey the findings to the public. The results can be found on a dedicated website, CapeCodWaters.org. This project continues with annual updates with funding from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust.