GOSNOLD – The Buzzards Bay Coalition will move forward with a project to protect Cuttyhunk Island thanks to support from Elizabeth Island residents.
At the Gosnold town meeting on May 20, residents voted unanimously to contribute $400,000 toward the coalition’s Cuttyhunk Conservation Project.
The contribution provides 6 percent of the total funding needed to complete the project.
The town’s share includes grants from Naushon Island’s Beech Tree Trust and from the Gosnold Fund at the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts.
The project will place 67 acres of Cuttyhunk’s natural landscape under permanent protection.
It includes the land atop Bayberry Hill and Haps Hill, which are the highest points on the island and an important rainwater recharge area for the town’s public drinking water wells.
Along the shoreline, the project will protect Barges Beach, Church’s Beach and Copicut Neck.
The project has also received a total of $700,000 in state grant funding, $1 million from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and $1.7 million in private contributions.
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