The Trust's first land donation in 1990 was a pondfront building lot on Mill Pond. Over the years, the Trust has helped protect over 38 acres with 3,200 feet of frontage on six ponds. The goal of the Priority Ponds Project is to provide landowners with land conservation options that help protect pond water quality and wildlife habitat. The Priority Ponds Project is a campaign under the Trust's broader Save Land - Save Water Initiative to save lands that help protect water resources.
The Trust's Priority Ponds Project is important since according to a two-year regional study called the Cape Cod Priority Ponds Project (www.compact.cape.com, click Regional Projects) conducted by The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, a land trust service center, many Harwich ponds are at risk. Capewide, The Compact identified 200 high priority pondfront lands, which, if acquired as open space, could help protect water quality, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. Harwich holds 10% of the total Capewide priority acreage. Lands are strung across 14 ponds in Harwich, tied with Barnstable for the most ponds with priority parcels. With its Priority Ponds Project, the Trust hopes to protect some of these sensitive ponds.
The most recent Priority Ponds Project success occurred in the fall of 2005 when one-half acre with an estimated 200 feet of frontage on Katie's Pond was donated by Sumner and Lila Tye of Boynton Beach, Florida. The land is north of and adjacent to the William D. & Barbara Lang Hacker Wildlife Sanctuary on Katie's Pond, 8.7 acres purchased and preserved in July 2002 with part of the generous bequest received in year 2000 from the sanctuary's namesakes. The sanctuary provides an estimated 600 feet of frontage on the pond and 791 feet buffering the Cape Cod Rail Trail bikepath. The Tye donation brings the total contiguous pond frontage protected by the Trust to approximately 800 feet.
The Trust has helped conserve sensitive pond resources throughout Harwich:
- as HCT's first land donation) 0.33-acre building lot with 95 feet of frontage on Mill Pond in 1990;
- 5.9 acres with 775 feet of frontage on Sand Pond in 2001 (purchase);
- 8.7 acres with 600 feet of frontage on Katie's Pond in 2002 (purchase);
- 5.3 acres with 660 feet of frontage on Long Pond in 2002 (privately owned with a conservation restriction held by HCT);
- 5.2 acres with 483 feet of frontage on Hinckleys Pond in 2003 (privately owned with a conservation restriction held by HCT);
- 13.3 acres with 600 feet of frontage on Walkers Pond in 2003 (HCT holds a
conservation restriction over the Town Land Bank purchase, which enabled the Town to qualify for and receive a $250,000 State Self-Help Grant that reduced the Town's cost from $725,000 to $475,000) [Note that Walkers Pond is a coastal plain pond, a globally significant habitat harboring rare plant species].
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