WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt announced today that Plymouth has been awarded a $2.25 million dollar grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) toward the preservation of the Center Hill Preserve on Cape Cod Bay.
"This is one of the most pristine and scenic areas in the state." Delahunt said. "I have been a strong supporter of this acquisition effort because throughout our region, we are losing access to special sites like this where families can visit and enjoy spectacular views of Cape Cod Bay.”
The 78-acre Center Hill Preserve is located in southeast Plymouth and includes 2600 feet of frontage on Cape Cod Bay, along with extensive dunes, coastal woodland, upland forest and dramatic bluffs. Long a preservation priority for the town, the effort to create the preserve brought together a coalition including the Plymouth Community Preservation Committee, The Wildlands Trust of Southeastern Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Office of Coastal Zone Management.
“Our success in securing this funding is a tribute to the hard work of Plymouth town officials, the Preservation Committee, and so many other organizations that share a passion for preserving our coast.” said Delahunt. “Without their dedicated efforts, this grant would not have come to fruition.”
Administered by the National Oceanic and Oceanographic Administration (NOAA), CELCP was created in 2002 to protect coastal lands and estuaries considered important for their ecological, recreational, historical or aesthetic values. The program provides state and local governments with matching funds to purchase significant coastal and estuarine lands, or conservation easements on such lands, from willing sellers. When the application was submitted to NOAA in 2006, the Center Hill Preserve ranked second out of forty nine projects chosen from throughout the United States, attesting to its outstanding natural resource values.
Plymouth initially sought to acquire the Preserve with $5,675,000 in Community Preservation Act funds. After obtaining $850,000 in state monies, the Plymouth Community Preservation Committee applied for a $2,250,000 CELCP grant in the hopes that this might fund an additional part of the purchase price. Congressman Delahunt, along with Senator Kennedy and Senator Kerry, fought to keep funding for CELCP in the 2007 Federal budget and strongly supported the Center Hill Preserve application. Since the State’s CPA Trust fund matches local Community Preservation Act funds, a further $1.2 million was brought to the project. The final cost to the Town will now be $1,300,000.
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