Tribe and Aquinnah receive $275,000 EPA grant

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Jay Smalley, left, watches tribal natural resources department director Bret Stearns clear debris from the culvert opening which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy in the spring of 2016. — Bret Stearns

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the town of Aquinnah a $275,790 grant that will be used to fund a project to replace a failed culvert on Lobsterville Road and stabilize the dune area around the culvert. The damage was a result of Hurricane Sandy. The project lies on tribal and town land.

“The culvert has deteriorated considerably from the subsequent storms, and has become a priority concern for both road integrity and adequate drainage of the commonland area,” the tribe said in a press release.

According to the press release, the project, funded by the EPA’s Southeast New England Program (SNEP), is part of the EPA’s coastal watershed efforts in Rhode Island and Massachusetts that promote new regional approaches in critical areas such as water monitoring, watershed planning, septic management, and protection from climate change.