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Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

A Mass Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary

Wellfleet Bay provides peace and unmatched beauty on the hillsides and shoreline overlooking Wellfleet Harbor. Extensive trails bring visitors to a panoramic salt marsh, sandy barrier beach, and pine woodlands, each attracting a wide array of wildlife. Along with nature camps for kids and a variety of conservation work related to wildlife monitoring, research, and restoration, Wellfleet Bay led the way as Mass Audubon established its strategic and evolving Climate Action Plan.

In 2006, Wellfleet Bay expanded and renovated its nature center with the goal to meet the highest level of environmental and sustainability standards. Features include a rainwater re-use system, composting toilets, and a gray water bog garden. In 2008, the redesigned Wellfleet Bay Nature Center was awarded Platinum LEED certification—the highest rating available from the US Green Building Council.

Tern Foundation has collaborated with Wellfleet Bay on several projects through the TernSOLAR challenge grant program, including support of three solar installations at the sanctuary and the Solarize Wellfleet initiative.

As a participant in Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s (MassCEC) Solarize Mass program, Solarize Wellfleet stood out for its innovative approach to increase the adoption of small-scale solar electricity through aggregated homeowner buying power. TernSOLAR funding helped Wellfleet Bay to spearhead educational outreach in a unique collaboration with Mapdwell, an MIT start-up company that developed sophisticated software to map solar feasibility on roofs town-wide. The result: Solarize Wellfleet became one of the most successful initiatives in the state, with over 655 kilowatts of capacity installed.

Grant Amounts:

• $10,000 ground-mounted solar array, 2011

• $10,000 Solarize Wellfleet Initiative, 2013

• $10,000 solar array, Manager’s Building, 2014

• $60,000 solar array, Nature Center, 2018