Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program

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Buzzards Bay Watershed Definition

Sub-pages:   Changes in Watershed Definition

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Jurisdictional Interests of the Buzzards Bay NEP

This page was created to define the programmatic and jurisdictional interests of the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program. See also our page describing the changes in the Buzzards Bay watershed definition over the years.

When the Buzzards Bay NEP joined the National Estuary Program in 1987, its interests were identified as protecting and restoring water quality and living resources of Buzzards Bay, and managing pollution inputs and human perturbations in the surrounding watershed. This watershed incorporated the true hydraulic watershed of Buzzards Bay, including relevant portions of Cape Cod. This watershed definition was codified and adopted by both the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the US Environmental Protection Agency in the 1992 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) for Buzzards Bay.

When the Buzzards Bay NEPs began implementing the Buzzards Bay CCMP by providing grants and technical assistance, the Buzzards Bay NEP adopted these policies to assist towns with portions of their corporate borders outside the Buzzards Bay watershed.

Interesting correspondence on definition of the boundary of Buzzards Bay and its watershed.
700 kb pdf file, graphics degraded to allow smaller file size.

Funding

For Buzzards Bay NEP municipal grants derived from Section 320 (National Estuary Program) federal funds, projects must be located wholly or principally in the Buzzards Bay watershed. For projects with multiple sites, preference will be given to those sites within the watershed, but companion sites outside the watershed will be considered if it is intrinsic to the success of the project as a whole. Projects that have town-wide benefits (e.g. recycling programs) will be considered if the benefits within the Buzzards Bay watershed are demonstrable. Funding awarded from non-section 320 funds may be spent outside the watershed boundary as allowed, required, or defined by the funding source.

Technical Assistance

Technical assistance will be provided to the Buzzards Bay watershed municipalities to the maximum extent feasible. For town's that straddle the Buzzards Bay watershed, the Buzzards Bay NEP will assist on projects outside the watershed if they have town-wide or bay-wide benefits (e.g. policy or regulatory implications throughout the town or watershed). The Buzzards Bay NEP from time to time also provides technical assistance to other Massachusetts municipalities outside the watershed in the spirit or technology and information transfer, as required by state or federal grants, and subject to staff availability.

Aerial Map of Buzzards Bay Watershed



Topographic Map of Buzzards Bay Watershed

Detailed Road Map of the Buzzards Bay Watershed
This map can be greatly enlarged in Acrobat Reader.

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