2.6 Wildlife and Plant Habitat
Vegetation
“The township is naturally divided into two parts by a large tract of wood, which is chiefly in the centre. This wood consists of a little white oak, of some red and black oak, but principally of pitch pine.”
–”A Description of Dennis, ” Massachusetts Historical Society, 1802.
”…the forests, which in Dennis extend along the road in one place three miles, are low and unthrifty…the surface destitute of beauty.”
– Timothy Dwight, “Travels in New York and New England,” 1822.
“Indeed, that part of Dennis which we saw [Northside] was an exceedingly barren and desolate country, of a character which I can find no name for; such a surface, perhaps, as the bottom of the sea made dry land day before yesterday.”
– Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, 1864.
In 1620 the Mayflower Pilgrims described Cape Cod’s lofty forests of “oaks, pines, sassafras, juniper, birch and holly.” 61 As the population developed, residents decimated the woods to build wharves, ships, houses, salt vats, fences, windmills and for the prodigious amount, by far, of firewood consumed by the colonists’ open fireplaces. 62 By the 1800s, much of the settled parts of the town was denuded of woodland, which Thoreau remarked left a “barren and desolate country…such a surface, perhaps, as the bottom of the sea made dry land day before yesterday.” 63 Unchecked forest fires claimed some of the remaining forest stands.64
By 1890, as the town’s population dwindled and farms collapsed, the forest crept back and an observer reported that the “intervening region of land [between the Dennis villages] of four or five miles is densely covered with oak, pine, birch, cedar and other woods.” 65 This type of forest community is ascendant yet today.
Because the opportunistic species of pitch pine and oak are not of millable quality (and pitch pine is essentially ignored as a fuelwood) the new forest of Dennis does not face the same commercial threat that the original one did. Today, the threat to forestland is primarily from displacement by residential development. If Dennis can be said now to exhibit a suburban pattern of development, perhaps the pivot point was around 1982, when urbanized acreage (land used for residential, commercial, industrial, transportation and waste purposes) finally outstripped forest land. In the past 45 years, Dennis has lost more than half of its forested acreage, as shown in Table 2.6.1.
Table 2.6.1 Forestland vs. Residential Acreage, Town of Dennis 66
| FORESTED | URBANIZED | |
| YEAR | ACRES | ACRES |
| 1951 | 8253 | 1889 |
| 1971 | 6774 | 3869 |
| 1980 | 5799 | 4871 |
| 1984 | 4520 | 5926 |
| 1990 | 3979 | 6440 |
| 2008 | 3663 | 6756 |
Despite its paucity of rich and varied soils, Dennis still supports some interesting plant communities in addition to the typical pitch pine and oak (red, black, scrub, pin oak, scarlet oak) association found throughout Cape Cod. There are areas where white pine (Pinus strobus) predominates and even some small plantations of red pine (Pinus rubrum). Other tree species found scattered throughout town include red maple (Acer rubrum), black cherry (Prunus serotina), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), gray birch (Betula populifolia), tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) and American beech (Fagus grandiflora).
A 1995 study of the four miles of Route 6A in Dennis indicated its variety of trees:67
Of all the towns along Route 6A, the town of Dennis contains the greatest diversity of tree species. The western portion is primarily pines and oaks…The Tobey Farm area consists of primarily Catalpa and English Oak…[The very dense canopy near Scargo Lake] is created by norway and sycamore maples and tupelos. Dense understory in this area adds to a sense of enclosure while traveling along this section…
The same study recommended vista pruning along Route 6A near Scargo Lake and Sesuit Creek and enhanced tree plantings at Player’s Plaza and the Yarmouth town line.
The predominant pine/oak forests, by themselves, are often considered of limited value from a wildlife standpoint because of their short height, crown density and the poor quality of the dominant soil association. When a wetland, cranberry bog or power line plant community occurs adjacent to the woodlands, the wildlife value of both the open and wooded areas is greatly enhanced for many species. “Forest-interior” species (those that depend upon large blocks of unfragmented woodland, such as neotropical migrant breeding songbirds) will be satisfied with few areas in fragmented Dennis, except perhaps in the large, flat pine/oak forest east of the powerline in the High Pines Wellfield along the Brewster town line.
The habitat significance of the woodlands of Dennis primarily lies in its ability to provide migratory corridors and refuge for wildlife from the heat and openness of the beaches, marshes and the built-up environment. The recreational value of these wooded areas for humans is remarkably similar. For much of the off-season, the great recreation areas of the beaches are not as popular as one might expect because of the exacerbated cold there. Woodlands offer important shelter and relief from the bitter winds off the Bay and Sound.
Rare plants in Dennis protected under the 1991 Massachusetts Endangered Species Act include those listed as Endangered, Threatened and Species of Special Concern, in descending order of rarity. Pondshore species comprise the primary rarities, including Special Concern species, such as Plymouth gentian (Sabatia kennedyana), Wright’s panic-grass (Dichanthelium wrightianum), and Thread-leaved sundew (Drosera filiformis). Coastal or brackish plants include the Special Concern Salt reedgrass (Spartina cynosuriodes).68 State regulations prohibit the taking or habit alteration of these species without a state permit.
In fact, several of Dennis’ coastal plain pondshores are among the top priorities in the state for rare species habitat. Of the seven top-ranked (B2) pond sites on Cape Cod, two are in Dennis: Aunt Pattys Pond and Run Pond, both north of Setucket Road. These ponds are rated most highly in need of protection. Fortunately, all of the shoreline of these two ponds is owned by the Dennis Water District and, therefore, protected from development. It was determined during permitting that there would be no impact on these ponds and no restrictions were placed on the well sources in these areas. In fact there are no restrictions on any of the ground water sources in the Town. This allows the District to withdraw water from a larger network of wells, lessening any questionable impact on a resource.
Fisheries and Wildlife
Dennis is located at the juncture of two major wildlife zones: the Virginian and the Acadian biogeographic regions. Cape Cod separates the warm Gulf Stream waters of Nantucket Sound (northern edge of the Virginian zone) from the cold Labrador Current coursing down through the Gulf of Maine into Cape Cod Bay (southern edge of the Acadian zone). Marine species composition, from seaweed to squid to marine mammals, is different between these two sides of Dennis. In many ways, it is the marine life of Dennis which is more diverse and interesting than its terrestrial fauna. Dennis’ Cape Cod Bay shoreline is the innermost area of critical habitat for the federally-endangered North American right whale.
The waters of Dennis also support a wide array of pelagic birds, such as fulmars, gannets, shearwaters and alcids (guillemot, murre, razorbill) all attracted to the abundant baitfish. The Chase Garden Marsh is part of one of only five Cape embayments identified as important wintering areas for black ducks, a National Species of Special Emphasis.70 Shore birds include terns (common, least and an occasional roseate) and piping plovers, all listed as protected rare species in Massachusetts. In 1996, a plover nest on Chapin Beach was deliberately destroyed. The West Dennis Beach area has been the site of one additional accidental loss of a plover chick since 1996. The Dennis Natural Resources Department employs a monitor every summer to identify nests. The monitor is also charged with monitoring hatches, survival and fledging. The Department of Natural Resources orders area closures as necessary per state and federal regulations to protect the terns and plovers. The Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Coastal Waterbird Program notes that West Dennis Beach is the town’s most important tern nesting habitat, and that natural disturbances, not human ones, seem to cause the most problem..71
While a complete inventory of birds is not available for Dennis, other important or interesting breeding birds include osprey, northern parula warbler, pine warbler, orchard oriole, eastern bluebird, savannah sparrow, sharp-tailed sparrow, eastern meadowlark, red-tailed hawk, killdeer, woodcock, horned lark, ruby-throated hummingbird, eastern phoebe, great horned owl, willet, and mute swan.72
Rare species found in Dennis include the Eastern box turtle, which prefers woodlands with access to water, and threatened and rare invertebrates, such as dragonflies (comet darner), damselflies (New England bluet, barrens bluet), and moths (water willow stem borer).73 The University of Massachusetts Natural History Collection includes an inventory of 8,000 herpetolical species in the state. The herpetological atlas for Massachusetts, should be consulted for additional information.
Mammals in Dennis include the common assemblage of adaptive species: red and gray squirrel, white-tailed deer, raccoon, red fox, rabbit, skunk, otter, opossum, shrew, muskrat, bat, weasel, woodchuck, mice and voles. In recent years, a top-of-the-food-chain predator, the eastern coyote, has extended its range throughout all of Cape Cod and is seen throughout Dennis, particularly along salt marsh edges, where they stalk mice and voles.
Wildlife corridors enable animals, particularly upland mammals, to migrate to new territories in search of food or breeding grounds. Biologists estimate that undisturbed linear areas of 300 feet in width are necessary for many species to feel comfortable moving undetected through an area. Owing to the dispersal of residential development throughout the town and its continuing saturation, wildlife corridors are fewer and more narrow than perhaps they should be. Important wildlife corridors in Dennis run east-west along the hilly kame, east-west through the wellfields from Flax Pond to the High Pines area, and north-south along the outwash channel wetlands along the Southside.
Dennis has about 800 acres of productive shellfish beds.75 Species harvested recreationally include soft-shell clam, quahog, sea clam, blue mussels, oysters and, intermittently, bay scallops. Commercial permits (average about 15 permits per year) are issued only for quahogs, soft-shell clams and scallops and blue mussels. About 500 recreational permits have been issued in recent years.76 The number of permits issued has dropped over the past decade, by ½ for commercial shellfisherman and by 200 permits for recreational fisherman. In addition, the town currently grants about 30 aquaculture licenses in the publicly owned Crowe’s Pasture flats area.
Because shellfishing is a popular pastime, there is always pressure on the shellfish supply. The town has tried to enhance natural sets of shellfish by raising feedstock in two upwellers and broadcasting quahog (1 million seed) and oysters (90,000 seed) (primarily in Bass River).
Swan Pond is the only shellfishing area which is indefinitely closed due to bacterial contamination. Other areas are closed during the summer or immediately after rainstorms which wash pollutants into the waters. Stormwater runoff remediation is underway to correct some of the non-point pollution problems. A remediation effort, directed towards improving flushing of Swan Pond through dredging, should help restore that area to shellfishing in the future.
Estuarine animals were very important as a historical food source:77
There are sea perch in Bass River. Bass enter this river in November and remain there and in Follen’s Pond through the winter. Eels may be caught in all the creeks, but they are found in the greatest abundance in Follens Pond and Bass River. Clams are plenty, particularly on the south shore where quahaugs are also found and a few good oysters. About 100 barrels of alewives are taken in a year.
Indeed, anadromous/catadramous fish runs (species, such as alewives, which live in saltwater but spawn in freshwater) are a part of Dennis’ history. A major settlement in town coincided with the upper reaches of the Bass River. From 1640 to 1841 fish traps or weirs were employed in this area to harvest the abundant fishery, including small striped bass, in addition to blueback herring and alewives, fish that migrated up the length of Bass River to spawn in the fresh headwaters. The tremendous gale of October 3, 1841 silted up the Bass River to such an extent that the commercial fishery here was extinguished.78
Today, the major “herring run” exists in the Sesuit Creek (to Scargo Lake) and Bound Brook (to the Reservoir), both renovated by volunteers. A smaller run, stocked in the late 1970s, is presumed to exist from Weir Creek to Kelley’s Pond in West Dennis. Herring and alewives are significant as the primary forage fish for other important sport and commercial species, such as striped bass and bluefish, which enter nearshore waters. White perch and sea-run brook trout are other anadromous fish found in Dennis streams.
Revised November 20, 2011
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61 “Mourt’s Relation”, cited in Leona Rust Egan, Provincetown as a stage: Provincetown, The Provincetown Players and the Discovery of Eugene O’Neill, p. 45.
62 “A typical New England household probably consumed as much as thirty or forty cords of firewood per year, which can best be visualized as a stack of wood four feet wide, four feet high, and three hundred feet long; obtaining such a woodpile meant cutting more than an acre of forest each year,” William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, (Hill and Wang, NY) 1983, p. 120.
66 William MacConnell et al, University of Massachusetts, Land Use Update for Cape Cod and the Islands with Area Statistics for 1951, 1971, 1980, 1984 and 1990.
70 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Concept Plan for Preservation of Black Duck,” cited in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Priority Wetlands in New England,” September 1987, p. 55.
75 Marine Research, Inc., “Shellfish Management Proposals for Barnstable County, Massachusetts,” 1981, p. 103.
