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PROVINCETOWN GUIDE
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| DIRECTORY |
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Provincetown :: Wednesday, July 23rd 2008
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Explore the Province Lands
The Dunes and Forests of Cape Cod
By Kahrin Deines
May 15th, 2008
Provincetown is renowned for its diversity. Over its history, the town has connected many different cultures, bringing together maritime communities with artist communities and, most recently, gay and lesbian communities.
| The Visitor Center also hosts exhibits, screens educational movies and offers ranger-guided tours. |
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The area’s diversity does not only apply to its peoples, though. In the nearby Province Lands of the Cape Cod National Seashore, many different land types are fused together in an interdependence characterized by both harmony and conflict.
Sands from the area's dunes and beaches attempt to edge their way into the Cape's few remaining forests, which in turn produce a dense canopy to deny dune shrubs the full sun they require. The forests also stand strong against the coastal winds, protecting interior ponds and cranberry bogs from the sand’s encroachment, while, for their part, the dunes shelter plovers, frogs, toads, and even, some very adventuresome humans. And both forest and dune, meanwhile, offer an aesthetic boon to visitors as their sun-struck tans and greens contrast with the ocean’s blue to create vibrant vistas.
Dunes, cranberry bogs, tidal flats, salt marshes, forests, and beaches – all these are present and connected, forming an ecological community that mirrors the diverse human community of Provincetown. And, at the center of all this diversity, stands the Province Lands Visitor Center, which is both the logical departure point for adventures into these landscapes and an entry point into understanding how they have affected the Cape’s many communities.
The Visitor Center, which opened for the 2008 season on May 1, offers a variety of resources to support explorations of the surrounding land area. The usual trail and park maps are available, and rangers are on duty to answer any questions.
In addition, the center also houses educational exhibits and screens short movies. The exhibits and movies deal with a variety of topics, from the local plant and animal life to the geologic formation of Cape Cod, maritime history, the early study of wireless technology on a Cape beach, and more.
The center also features an observation deck that offers a stunning 360-degree view of the Province Lands’ panorama, which includes both the town of Provincetown and the nearby Atlantic, and sometimes even a few spouting whales.
In addition to its on-site educational resources, the center hosts a number of ranger-guided walking and biking tours that explore the tidal flats, dunes, and bogs of the Province Lands. Frequently, there are also special programs about the area’s wildlife.
For more information about the Province Lands Visitor Center’s tours and programs, call 508.487.1256. The Province Lands Visitor Center is located off Race Point Road in Provincetown. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through October 31.
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