Mission & Information
To serve as an information resource regarding the condition, development, preservation and enhancement of Chatham’s waterways and adjoining lands, and to take action on these issues.
A primary interest is ensuring that the management of Chatham waterways for recreational and commercial purposes is accomplished in ways that are compatible for the conservation of the community’s natural resources and the character of the area.
In addition, we define issues of public concern for public discussion and debate, prepare informational materials, sponsor public forums, monitor and work with town agencies to achieve common goals. We express FCW positions at public hearings and town meetings, and take such other actions as our Board of Directors determines to be necessary to support our mission.
Information – A listing of some of FCW’s work since 1983.
- Drafting Chatham’s mandatory sewage disposal system inspection at the time of transfer of real estate. This preceded the State’s adoption of Title V by many years and became a bylaw model for other Cape Cod towns.
- Getting a Town Meeting vote for the town to buy the Old Mill Boat Yard on Stage Harbor for the Harbormaster’s Office and a public boat launch ramp.
- Lobbying for the removal of the decommissioned Coast Guard Boat House’s marine railway and dock off Stage Island that blocked shell fish beds and inner Stage Harbor navigation.
- Financing the Stage Harbor System Management Plan. Chatham was the first town in Massachusetts to have a Federal and State-approved plan that is now Chatham’s South Coastal Management Plan.
- Sponsoring an all-day Quality of Life seminar in 1998 at which more than 200 were invited, including Chatham property owners, businesses and town officials. This was preceded with interviews and followed-up with a report on what steps needed to be taken to preserve our Quality of Life.
- Drafting zoning bylaw amendments to protect land uses that would have harmful impacts on water resources. These included limiting the ratio of structures to land area, establishing the same setbacks from inland waters as required for coastal embankments, setting criteria for new construction on nonconforming properties.
- Publishing the first and only compilation of NOAA charts and notices, through June 1999, that covers all of Chatham’s bays and inlets. Waterproof Chart #50E: waterproofcharts.com.
- Purchasing the town’s first unit to test nitrogen levels in its embayment’s.
- Recruiting and training volunteer ‘Water Watchers’ to monitor water quality and collect water samples for nutrient analysis. Data obtained from 1999 to the present, allowed Chatham to be the first Massachusetts town to have total maximum daily limits (TMDL’s) for nitrogen set for its marine waterways.
- Planting a demonstration xeroscape garden in Oyster Pond Park with flowers and shrubs that can survive without irrigation and insecticides.
- Providing education grants to Chatham school teachers for local environmental projects from which students can gain hand-on experience that can lead to an appreciation of nature.
- Lobbying the town to apply for the Federal designation “No Discharge Area” for Stage Harbor
- Purchasing the town’s first portable boat pump-out equipment.
- Recruiting and training volunteer Chatham Beach Profilers to monitor selected beaches for shoreline erosion.
- Organizing annual Coastsweeps for Chatham’s south coastal shores
- Providing tuition scholarships to college students in their junior and senior years that are pursuing studies leading to careers in environment related fields.