APCC launches "Cape We Shape" campaign urging urgency on protecting the Cape's remaining lands

Andrew Gottlieb, director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), presented the nonprofit's "Cape We Shape" campaign and urged a sustained, regional approach to protecting remaining natural-resource lands.

Gottlieb said Cape Cod's development history has left roughly 86% of the region either developed or under some protection and that the remaining 14% includes most of the priority natural-resource lands (drinking-water recharge areas, priority habitats, flood-prone buffer areas). "If the remaining 14% gets developed the way the first 86% was developed, I don't think there's any particular reason to think that the trajectory of challenges is going to change radically," Gottlieb said, and he argued that the campaign aims to raise awareness, provide educational modules for civic engagement and create locally based "Team SOS" chapters in each town.

Commissioners and town officials acknowledged housing and wastewater pressures and discussed the campaign's goal to avoid a false dichotomy between conservation and housing. Commissioner Sheila Lyons stressed the Cape's seasonal population increases and fragile water balance: conserving key lands, she said, is part of sustaining the economy that relies on a natural tourist setting. The board and presenters talked about regional shared-services approaches (procurement, engineering capacity, shared housing initiatives) to help towns address infrastructure without sacrificing priority natural lands.

APCC intends to roll out awareness and education modules this spring and summer and maintain a resource hub at thecapeweshape.org; Gottlieb asked the county and towns to consider collaboration on public forums and local teams that would use town-specific data on vulnerable lands to guide local conservation priorities.