Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge’s barrier beaches, islets and shoals stretching out off of Cape Cod are a spectacular sight. But spend enough time here, and you’ll witness a landscape in motion.
Rapid and intense coastal erosion – a natural process boosted by the effects of climate change – has forced Service staff to make difficult decisions, preemptively removing structures on the property before they’re claimed by the sea. This month, its final building, the headquarters and visitor center, was removed.
Having carefully considered all options for a path forward, the Service decided not to try and stop Mother Nature, but to adapt. Even as the landscape changes under their feet, staff at the refuge remain steady and agile, ready to show up each day for wildlife. Read the story:
Cape Cod has an erosion problem. The Atlantic Ocean is ravenously gnawing at the shoreline bluff of Morris Island in Chatham, Massachusetts, home to the headquarters of Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. On the Cape’s southernmost point, erosion has taken between 30 and 45 feet of land every year f…
