BPC Annual Meeting Offers Insight Into Cyanobacteria Outbreaks

BREWSTER – The Brewster Ponds Coalition will once again be offering an educational resource to residents at its annual meeting, this time about the increase in cyanobacteria outbreaks across Brewster ponds. 

Slated for Aug. 9, the BPC annual meeting, sponsored by Agway of Cape Cod, will feature keynote speaker Julie Hambrook Berkman, the project director of the pond and cyanobacteria monitoring programs at the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), where she specializes in environmental research surrounding vulnerable ecosystems. 

Berkman is set to deliver a presentation about cyanobacteria and how it affects ponds, including the potential causes and preventative measures. She will address the biology and ecology of the organisms associated with the outbreaks, discuss how the algae blooms are produced and go over the processing techniques the APCC uses. She will also talk about the risk levels. 

Over the last year, a number of cyanobacteria advisories have been issued for ponds across the town including Upper and Lower Mill Pond, Schoolhouse Pond and Seymour Pond. 

The algae blooms can be harmful to people and animals and have led to, at minimum, two-week suggested restrictions on public access to the ponds. 

Berkman has a wealth of knowledge beyond cyanobacteria. She has a Ph.D. in biological sciences, a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in botany. In her doctoral program, her environmental research spanned ecosystems in coastal Venezuela to freshwater studies on Baffin Island and the Alaskan North Slope. She worked with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment Program from 1992 to 2009, evaluating the biological health of rivers and streams in relation to water chemistry, physical habitat and watershed land use. As a senior aquatic ecologist, she published methods for algae collection and algal biomass indicators, provided training and organized a symposium on “algae as water quality indicators past, present and future” that included a press conference on algal toxins.  

On Cape Cod she is a member of Mass. Audubon, the Botanical Club of Cape Cod and the Islands, Falmouth Art Center, The 300 Committee Land Trust, and is an active Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage member, collecting trash to improve Cape Cod ponds’ health.

In addition to the presentation, the annual meeting will include a summary of this year’s events, a brief business meeting and an awards ceremony. 

The meeting, taking place at Cape Cod Bible Alliance Church in Brewster, will be held from 8:30 to 11 a.m. and is free for members. Non-members are invited to attend as well, with a $10 suggested donation. Breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m. and the meeting will begin at 9 a.m. 

To register, visit brewsterponds.org and navigate to the annual meeting page.