Northeast Coastal Areas Study
Significant Coastal Habitats
Site 37 (MA)
I. SITE NAME: Hyannis Coastal Ponds Complex
II. LOCATION: The Hyannis Ponds are an assemblage of several Coastal Plain ponds located on Cape Cod, just north of the Barnstable Municipal Airport.
TOWN: Barnstable
COUNTY: Barnstable
STATE: Massachusetts
USGS 7.5 MIN QUAD: Hyannis, Mass 41070-63
USGS 30x60 MIN QUAD: New Bedford 41070-E1
III. GENERAL BOUNDARY: The general outline for this complex is shown on the accompanying map. It includes Lamson, Israel, Campground, Mary Dunn and Little Israel Ponds and adjacent uplands. This complex is actually part of an even greater regional complex of Coastal Plain ponds extending from Falmouth and Sandwich to Chatham and Orleans and in Plymouth Township.
IV. OWNERSHIP/PROTECTED STATUS: Much of the Hyannis Ponds complex is owned by an industrial park development company. Other owners include a private water company, the Town of Barnstable, and a church-operated cottage area.
V. GENERAL HABITAT DESCRIPTION: Coastal Plain ponds in this region occupy depressions, or kettleholes, on deep glacial outwash soils and sands that are directly linked to the groundwater aquifer. The pondshore communities that occupy the exposed shores of these ponds are typically composed of a mixture of herbaceous and graminoid species and are best developed along those ponds that are small in size, lie in shallow-sloped basins and have no surface inlet or outlet. These ponds are subject to both seasonal and annual water level fluctuations which serve to expose shores and provide the suitable habitat necessary for the full development of the characteristic pondshore plant community. The uplands surrounding the ponds and pondshores are primarily scrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia)/pitch pine (Pinus rigida) shrub and oak (Quercus spp.)/pine (Pinus spp.) woods.
VI. SIGNIFICANCE/UNIQUENESS OF AREA: The significance of the Hyannis Ponds cannot be characterized by any single measure. There is a remarkable rare species concentration: 15 nationally restricted, State-listed rare species are found together at these ponds, one of the richest rare plant communities in the region. Some of these rare species are found here in greater numbers than found anywhere else in the State or the world, and some have their most viable populations here. The Hyannis Ponds complex has great ecosystem integrity: the assemblages of rare species found at these ponds are indicative of the occurrence of viable ecosystems, rather than isolated, remnant rare species sites. Several of the Hyannis Ponds are among the least disturbed coastal plain pond natural community types remaining in the region. The Hyannis Ponds complex is quite literally one of the few areas in the region that is of great biological significance on a global scale. After over 10 years of biological inventory and research by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, this site has remained one of the three most important unprotected concentrations of biological diversity in Massachusetts. Some of the species of special emphasis and significance occurring in these ponds are: Plymouth gentian (Sabatia kennedyana), long-beaked bald-sedge (Psilocarya scirpoides), Barrens bluet damselfly (Enallagma recurvatum) and decodon borer moth (Papaipema sulphurata). Other pondshore species that are generally rare in the region but locally abundant in these ponds include thread-leaved sundew (Drosera filiformis), pondshore knotweed (Polygonum puritanorum) and inundated beak-rush (Rhynchospora inundata), among others.
VII. THREATS: Threats include destruction of plants and habitat by off-road recreational vehicles driving around the pondshores, permanently lowered water table, surface runoff from roads and parking lots, and nutrient enrichment of the water from septic tanks, cranberry bog production and waterfowl waste.
VIII. CONSERVATION CONSIDERATIONS: This unique and globally significant area is in immediate need of protection and management and should be given the highest priority for the development of cooperative agreements and conservation easements among the various private landowners and State and local governments and private conservation organizations. Other options for protection to be considered include zoning restrictions, adoption of strict regulatory guidelines and enforcement and acquisition of immediately threatened lands and ponds. There has already been considerable conservation activity in this area by the State, Town (Barnstable) and The Nature Conservancy, particularly in seeking acquisition opportunities and these should continue to be pursued.
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