b'C H A P T E R F I VEChatham had earned the distinction of being the first town in the Commonwealth to win approbation of a harbor management approach. Calling Chathams concept a bible and the result of visionary thinking, Ms. Coxe said, This is important encouragement to other communities that are only now launching this effort. You really have a lot to be proud of, and a lot to teach others throughout coastal towns in Massachusetts.Chronicle reporter Tim Wood made clear what FCWs role had been in moving the process to conclusion that August afternoon. The Friends group, he wrote, was responsible for launching the plan six years ago and providing funding and volunteer help to keep it aliveReporting for The Chronicle, during a prolonged bureaucratic review period. Tim Wood had followed the evolution of the Stage Harbor Margaret Brady, director of Massachusettsplan for years.Looking back, Coastal Zone Management, joined Ms. Coxe inhe observed that FCW had been praising the commitment of FCW to the project,responsible for launching the as a model public/private partnership. plan . . . and providing funding and volunteer help to keep itIn drafting the Chatham plan, participantsalive .Gordon Zellnerincluded some provisions that differed from state regulations; either the local clauses were morestringent than the states, or amplified them. These aspects included on-foot passage, public rights to waterways, access to town landings, mooring assignments, and dredging and resource protection. Another requirement obliged the selectmen to name a committee to carry out the plan. That step was finally formalized late in 1995, another reminder to citizens that their government tends not infrequently to proceed cautiously with reefed sails.Without the water.Without the water, said Richard Batchelder in January 2001, we could be in Montana. But Chatham has water in an amazing variety. And in the summer of 1994, it finally had a Commonwealth-okayed plan to manage a unique segment of its waterways, stretching in an ungainly U from Little Mill Pond on the northeast, down Mitchell River into Stage Harbor, through the Oyster River as it snakes northwest, then northeast, into Oyster Pond.74'