More than $8 million in Great American Outdoors Act funds will be used at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts to demolish unnecessary structures and restore landscapes to their natural contours.
The work to demolish derelict structures is scheduled to begin this year and includes multiple structures in various locations throughout the park. Site preparation work for the project will begin early this year, and the majority of the hazardous building material remediation, construction waste recycling, and demolition will be completed between spring 2023 and spring 2024.
“The funding we have received from the Great American Outdoors Act will allow us to proactively manage excess structures that would otherwise be costly to maintain and present persistent challenges,” said Leslie Reynolds, the seashore’s acting superintendent.
The structures to undergo demolition include 44 non-historic structures that are derelict and dilapidated and which pose serious threats to public safety as they contain hazardous building materials or are substantially deteriorated. The structures are exposed, their structural deterioration is accelerating, and some are heavily vandalized, while others are collapsing.
Many of the structures were transferred to the National Park Service when the former North Truro Air Force Station was decommissioned in the 1990s. The remaining structures were acquired by the National Park Service as Cape Cod National Seashore was established in the 1960s and 1970s. Two of the structures lie within the Herring River floodplain and their demolition will advance the multi-agency collaborative effort to restore the Herring River estuary.