Harwich Conservation Trust To Purchase Pine Island

 HARWICH – Pine Island, a 2.5-acre island in the heart of the Herring River estuary, is destined to become a true wildlife refuge. That is the plan the Harwich Conservation Trust is working on as it raises funds to buy the property.  

 The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts has entered into a buy-and-hold agreement with HCT while the local trust raises the necessary funds for the purchase. The Compact purchased the island from longtime property owner Wayne Coulson, a member of the town’s conservation commission. 

“This is a special place,” Coulson said. “I’d rather see it preserved rather than someone build a big mansion up here.”  

 The island, connected to Lothrop Avenue by a causeway, was in the Coulson family since 1960. A small camp was constructed there for the family’s use during the summer. 

  “We’re studying options for removal of the causeway,” said Harwich Conservation Trust Executive Director Michael Lach. “We see this as a land preservation and ecological restoration opportunity.”

 Lach said the causeway blocks the natural tidal flow around the island. Removing the causeway would return the land to a “true island,“ said Lach. The goal is to restore the saltmarsh and allow tidal flow twice daily into that area of the estuary. 

The idea, Lach said, is to have the island serve solely as a wildlife refuge, a place where birds and other wildlife can find food, nest and raise young, a safe place for birds and other wildlife to “thrive and survive.” There would be no pedestrian access to the island, he added. 

The trust was scheduled to go before the conservation commission on Wednesday proposing to demolish the camp, which is within 100 feet of the saltmarsh, said Lach.

 Coulson is well known to HCT. In 2021 he donated a 10-acre parcel to the trust in memory of his parents, the late Arthur and Barbara Coulson. The parcel is located on the east side of Lothrop Avenue, in the area of Gilbert Lane and Six Penny Lane. 

 The Pine Island purchase price is $1.1 million. The trust is seeking to raise a total of $1.5 million to help fund the ecological restoration plan. The trust has so far raised $1 million and hopes to complete the fundraising campaign by the end of December and purchase the property from The Compact at that time.

 Lach sees the project not only as preserving a wildlife refuge but as a means of preventing further nitrogen contamination in the estuary if the property was sold for development.  

 “My folks bought it in 1960,” Coulson said, and after a few years they built a camp. In the mid-1970s his parents remodeled the camp and spent many years enjoying the island and the surrounding natural beauty. Coulson said other residents and visitors over the years have included deer, otters, foxes, ducks, geese and other wildlife. 

 “I was fortunate enough to spend many years enjoying the island as a kid,” Coulson said. “My best friend and I used to hunt all over the marsh, walking all over and going up the river in boats, doing all that great stuff.”

 It’s now time for wildlife to enjoy the refuge, said Lach.