Fish And Wildlife Leases Office Space From Conservation Foundation

CHATHAM – It’s been five months since the visitors center at the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge on Morris Island was demolished. While the agency is still searching for a permanent location for its staff offices, it has recently secured temporary space.

 The agency has a five-year lease on a single-family home in West Chatham where staff will work and which also may serve as housing for summer interns.

 The three-bedroom house in West Chatham was donated to the foundation by Tom Devine six years ago, according to Conservation Foundation Executive Director Lauren Arcomano. It sits on three acres of land and has a two-story barn and storage space. It was previously used to house members of AmeriCorps Cape Cod.

 The storage space will come in hand, since the only buildings left on the Morris Island Fish and Wildlife property on Wikis Way are a couple of sheds. All of the other buildings that once sat on the parcel — including a 100-year-old former Coast Guard garage that served as a dorm for interns for decades — were demolished over the past two years due to erosion, which has eaten away hundreds of feet of the bluff overlooking the Atlantic. One strip of parking remains, with much of the land cordoned off by a split rail fence. Signs warn of the dangers of erosion beyond the fence.

 The foundation spent a considerable amount of money maintaining the West Chatham house, and the new lease with the USFW will allow continued maintenance without burdening the nonprofit land trust’s budget, Arcomano wrote in an email.

 The house will be used primarily as office space, according to Grace Bottitta-Williamson, project leader of the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. It also has the potential to house the refuge’s summer interns, she said.

 Much of the work of the refuge’s staff and interns happens on South Monomoy, where a camp is set up to monitor the large tern colony. The island’s historic lighthouse and keeper’s house also provides shelter if needed. This summer, the refuge’s three staff members worked remotely when not on the island, while interns were able to stay in a summer rental when not on the island, Bottitta-Williamson said.

 The arrangement did not have a negative impact on the refuge’s main work of monitoring the island’s shorebirds, she added.

 “It was more difficult for folks to do, but we were still there,” said Bottitta-Williamson, who was in town this week for the removal of dead trees offshore from the refuge’s Morris Island hiking trails.

 The agency continues to search for a permanent site for offices, a visitors center and possibly housing. Two properties in Chatham have been appraised in the past few weeks, Bottitta-Williamson said, but analysis of the results is outside of her purview. She did not identify the properties.

 While the Conservation Foundation’s main focus is on protecting environmentally sensitive land and open space, acquiring land on which buildings sit is always considered, Arcomano said. 

 “There is a move here on the Cape (as well as in other highly developed areas) to re-wild property by removing structures and letting nature become re-established,” she wrote. “Neighboring land trusts, including Harwich, Orleans and Brewster all have done this successfully.” 

 Having housing options available for staff and interns “will be critical in the future as we grow our capacity,” she added. 

 Owners interested in gifting property, with or without homes on them, to the foundation can contact Arcomano at 508-945-4084 or executivedirector@ccfinc.org.

 She called the arrangement with the Fish and Wildlife Service a “win-win” for our environment and our partners here in Chatham.”