Yearly Archives: 2016

20 March 2016: IFW Commissioner Opens Fishing Season Two Weeks Early

DSC_1146From the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife webpage:

“Effective Thursday, March 17, the 2016 Open Water fishing season began, two weeks earlier than usual, per an amended rule by the Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.”

“The amended regulation allows bodies of water that were closed to open water fishing until April 1, 2016 to become open to open water fishing effective March 17, 2016.”

“Anglers throughout the state may now get a chance to enjoy the early spring by fishing on their favorite waterway earlier than usual.”

The two men who hit Clary Lake last Friday (picture above) no doubt wish they’d waited for warmer weather! The wind coming down the lake was very strong and bitterly cold, causing them to quit fishing early. The waves were breaking over the back of the boat as they were trying to maneuver it onto the trailer. At least there was enough water for them to launch and retrieve their boat.

15 March 2016: The Story of a Performing Arts Community on Clary Lake

The Whitefield Historical Society and the Jefferson Historical Society are putting on a program this coming Sunday, March 20th at the Whitefield Townhouse on Townhouse Road in Whitefield. Below is the cover illustration of the Whitefield Historical Society’s latest newsletter.

WHS-circle-of-friends

A performing arts community settled at the eastern end of Clary Lake beginning in the early 1900s. Clockwise from 12 o’clock: Ann Ward; Lucy Lee, a reader; Percy Hunt, baritone, and his wife, Katherine Ridgeway, a reader performed together on the Redpath Lyceum circuit; France King Ward, Crawford Peffer and his wife, Ella Harding, soprano; F. Morse Wemple and George Fergusson, baritones, who taught voice with Percy Hunt at the New England Conservatory. Mr. Peffer owned the New York and New England Redpath Lyceum and Chatauqua Circuits. Katherine Ridgeway and Ella Peffer went on to establish the Katherine Ridgeway Camp for Girls on the northern side of the lake. Descendants and people who knew them are encouraged to come and share their memories

George Fergusson, pictured above at 11 o’clock was my grandfather. He came to Maine and bought our property on Clary Lake in 1922. I well remember from my childhood days visiting with Percy Hunt and his sister Lucy Lee who lived across the road from the Highland Cemetery in a house now owned by Fasano, the Ward Sisters whose house and property on North Forty Lane is now owned by the Relyea family, and Morse Wemple whose property at the east end of Clary Lake was owned for many years by the Stickney family and is now owned by Glenn Bruce MacDonald. I never knew the Peffer family but understand their property was located just north of the Wemple property. The Robbins property on Clary Lake is part of the old Peffer place. They probably owned that nice red cape out in the field just up the hill from the Wemple place.

My sister and I have worked closely with Marie Sacks this past year to help her collect the information and materials she’ll be using in her presentation. I’m really looking forward to this!

13 March 2016: Time Lapse Video of Clary Lake Ice Out, Spring 2016

Last spring I made time lapse video using campics from the original ClaryCam showing the 2015 ice-out event. I decided to do that again, because I can. This video actually covers 2 days, March 12 and 13 with most of the night time images NOT included, because boring. Not much happens on the first day but the wind really picks up midday on the 13th:

13 March 2016: Ice Out on Clary Lake

campic1-ice-out-3-13-16

Clary Lake Ice Out 3-13-16

David Hodsdon usually makes the official ice-out determination but I haven’t heard from him today and according to my precise calculations, today Clary Lake became completely ice-free. The northwest end of the lake from the outlet around the point at the end of Duncan Road has been ice-free for some days but the southern side which gets less direct sunlight was still mostly iced in until yesterday. Today’s high winds (see above) rapidly broke up and dispersed the remaining ice sheets. Today marks the earlier start of the open water season on Clary Lake going as far back as 2001, when our records start. The criterion for ice-out is when the lake is sufficiently free of ice that one can boat round the lake within a few feet of shore (essentially completely free of ice).

According to the Clary Lake Water Level Order, at ice-out the lake level should be at or very near the “normal historical high water mark” of the lake which has been determined by DEP survey to be at an elevation of 151.2′ which corresponds with the top of the dam. The lake level is supposed to be maintained at that elevation or as close to it as possible through the end of July to provide a stable water level to maintain fish and waterfowl breeding habitat. Unfortunately, the lake level is currently a little more than 2 feet below that elevation and falling and with no snow pack to provide spring runoff, we’re entirely dependent on spring rains to keep the lake level from falling too far, too fast. I’m not very optimistic.

I’ll post a time lapse video of this year’s ice-out shortly. I can’t wait to get my boat in the water.

Avian Haven’s 2015 Year End Report Now Available

America Bittern

American Bittern

[dropcap]The[/dropcap] Avian Haven Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center’s 2015 Year End Report is now available and has been posted on the Avian Haven website. The report is packed with pictures and fascinating stories of their rescue efforts through the year and makes for a very enjoyable read. The picture at left is of a juvenile American Bittern from their website. Avian Haven has been in existence since 1999 and are currently handling about 2000 rescue cases a year, making them one of the largest rehabilitation practices in New England. Avian Haven is a non-profit organization located on the Palermo Road in Freedom, Maine. They’re great folks, doing an amazing job caring for sick and injured birds of all sorts. In addition to the Avian Haven website, you can also follow them on their Facebook page. Enjoy the report!

05 March 2016: Law Court Dismisses PPM Appeal

The appeal filed with the Law Court back in late February by counsel for Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) was dismissed last Tuesday, March 1st because the appeal was deemed to be “interlocutory” which is a term referring to an interim ruling issued before the conclusion of a suit. While it is certainly good news, one shouldn’t try to read too much into this decision: it is not uncommon for a Law Court to dismiss an appeal of a lower court ruling while the underlying suit is still being heard. Consequently, this dismissal isn’t really unexpected but it is interesting that the dismissal was issued so quickly. PPM’s Motion to Stay the appeal, filed last Monday, February 29th, has also been dismissed as moot.

So what all this means is that when the appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order in Superior Court resumes at the conclusion of the current stay on March 26th, it will proceed without the benefit of Paul Kelley/PPM being a party to it.

Things do seem to be proceeding at a fast pace.

03 March 2016: PretiFlaherty Files Motions for Stays of Suits

[dropcap]Last[/dropcap] Monday, February 29th attorneys representing Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) filed motions requesting a Stay of Proceedings in two pending suits, the February 2014 Water Level Order appeal in Superior Court (No. AP-14-1) and the recently filed appeal of the recent lower court’s ruling in the Maine Supreme Court (No. LIN-16-63). The stay requests are for 30 days and end on March 26th. The Law Court action was initiated when Pleasant Pond Mill LLC appealed the January 25th Superior Court ruling granting the State’s motion to dismiss (see PPM Appeals Superior Court Ruling on Motion to Dismiss).

Stay tuned.

01 March 2016: ClaryCam1 Back in Service

Clary Cam 1 - 2016-03-01 15.51.00ClaryCam1 is back in service thanks to a free replacement IP camera that arrived by Fedex today. You’ll find current webcam pictures for both cameras on the Clary Lake Webcams page again! I even managed to take a selfie while installing. I didn’t know my nose was so big.

For those of you who connect to the ClaryCam1 and ClaryCam2 for real-time video (you know who you are) I’m experimenting with a new DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service) server which hopefully will be more reliable than the service offered by Foscam which we have been using. For now they should both work. The service is free and for now only ClaryCam1 is using it but if it works out OK I’ll help David H. set it up for his camera too.

You’ll find instructions for connecting in a post from last October: Realtime access to Clary WebCam video now available.

Here are the new DDNS links for ClaryCam1. You’ll also find them on the ClaryCam1 page:

For use with a web browser:

http://clarycam1.ddns.net:88

For use with a VLC app:

rtsp://guest:123abc@clarycam1.ddns.net:554/videoMain

February 2016 Water Level Chart Archived

2 waterlevelchart_February2016I’ve archived the February 2016 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature is that the lake level stayed in a fairly narrow range around an average of -34.5″ belog the top of the dam, for all but the last 5 days of the month when the level rose to within touching distance of where it should be this time of the year, around -24″ below the top of the dam. This was by chance and not design because the gate has remained wide open since January 4th.

Another factor contributing to a (relatively) stable lake level is that between precipitation events, the lake level dropped an average of only 0.6″ per day, considerably less than the 1″ per day we would expect. This is likely due to frozen ground and warmer than usual winter weather resulting in increased snow melt and runoff. Recall this table which I first compiled back in 2012:

Lake level in inches below top of damRate of fall in inches in 24 hours
0" to 36"1"
36" to 48"3/4"
48" to 62"1/2"
Below 62"1/4" or less

We received a total of 3.26″ of precipitation in February or 0.82″ more than the average of 2.44″ for the month. Most of the precipitation was in the form of rain and/or ice. If it had all been snow we’d be in record territory but as it is, snowfall for the 2016 winter is well below average. This is likely attributable to the El Niño phenomena that is affecting everyone’s weather this year. The lack of significant snow pack does not bode well for spring runoff and lake levels this coming spring.

28 February 2016: Ice Boating on Clary Lake

A friend of mine loaned me his “Lockely Skimmer” ice boat to use. It has been quite a few years since I had an ice boat out on Clary Lake. I’d forgotten how much fun it can be. The conditions are near perfect.

And this one taken from the driver’s seat:

DSC_1044DSC_1030I’ve posted a few pictures in the Winter 2016 photo gallery. Had a minor glitch when the left rear runner dropped through a crack in the ice. That was fun.

25 February 2016: Webcam Update

campic2-2-25-16Foscam has said they’ll send me a replacement F19803P camera to replace the one that died and I hope to get ClaryCam1 back up and running within the week. Some  of you will have noticed that ClaryCam2 was offline from about 10 PM last night until around 3 PM this afternoon. Turns out the 12 volt power supply died, I gave David my old one. Also the IP address changed so we had to bring the camera inside for a while to get it reconfigured.

Those of you who have been connecting to the ClaryCams in real time and found them b0rken will find ClaryCam2 is now accessible at the old address. Will be adding a different, hopefully more reliable DDNS service later this spring.

19 February 2016: Update on LD 1566 “An Act Concerning the Establishment of Water Levels”

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] am pleased to announce that at a work session held earlier today the Legislature’s Environment & Natural Resource Committee voted unanimously Ought Not To Pass on LD 1566 “An Act Concerning the Establishment of Water Levels.” In it’s place, DEP will add a requirement to their rules pertaining to water level petitions for a public informational meeting including notices in local papers, a mailing to all lake front owners, the dam owner, and the town(s) in which the impoundment resides. The purpose of the meeting is to inform everyone of the requirements of the law governing water level petitions and the actual petition and adjudicatory hearing processes, and to encourage people to find a negotiated solution to their water level issues.

Many thanks to all the people who advocated against this legislation including the Clary Lake Association, the Branch Pond Association, the Midcoast Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, the Maine Lakes Society, the Maine Audubon and others parties.

 

23 February 2016: Medius L3C changes Registered Agent (again)

[dropcap]For[/dropcap] those of you keeping track of such things, be advised that Medius L3C has changed Registered Agents again. The change was not unexpected and I’ve been checking the State’s Interactive Corporate Services website a couple of times a week in anticipation of it occurring, with the only question really being who they would choose? Well now we know: the new Registered Agent is Wiscasset attorney William Logan who interestingly enough was the Registered Agent for the Clary Lake Association at the time of our incorporation back in 1995. Small world.

Mr. Logan is the 3rd Registered Agent to represent Medius L3C since last October, the other 2 being Merritt Carey and most recently, Public Information Resource, Inc.

17 February 2016: PPM Appeals Superior Court Ruling on Motion to Dismiss

[dropcap]On[/dropcap] Tuesday PretiFlatherty attorneys filed in Superior Court an appeal of the Order issued by the Court back on January 25th approving the State’s Motion to Dismiss (see: “Superior Court grants State’s Motion to Dismiss“). The granting of the State’s Motion resulted in Pleasant Pond Mill LLC being removed from the proceedings. The granting of the State’s motion also made moot the Petitioner’s pending motion to amend their petition. The Court gave lawyers for Aquafortis Associates LLC 21 days to file a new, amended petition. That deadline was last Monday which turned out to be a holiday, so the filing was made yesterday. I picked up a copy this morning.

I am not surprised that they have decided to challenge the lower Court’s decision by appealing it to the Maine Supreme Court, and I expect they intend to appeal every unfavorable ruling that the Court hands down in this case. Classic delay tactics. This how the game is played. What will be telling is how quickly the Court acts on this. At least the filing is mercifully short:

14 February 2016: What’s Happening?

[dropcap]It’s[/dropcap] been over 2 weeks since the foreclosure/auction of the Clary Lake dam allegedly took place and we still don’t know who the new owner is, or if a transfer took place at all. Nothing has been recorded in the registry of deeds, and DEP has not to my knowledge been notified that there is a new owner of the dam. And Butch Duncan isn’t talking. So what are we to think? I have been getting calls and emails from people wanting to know what’s going on but sadly, I don’t have any answers. I could speculate, but I won’t. I must admit I expected we’d have heard something by now, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by what is happening.

It seems Medius L3C is the key to sorting all this out, but good luck trying to contact them for answers as the company has no mailing address or phone number, and no contact name. This is no doubt by design. The current registered agent, a reputable company in Readfield by the name of Public Information Resource Inc., is owned by a man named Ken Keene. When I asked him for contact information for Medius L3C he gave me the name and address of Ms. Merritt Carey who was the former registered agent. However, if you contact her she claims to have nothing to do with the company any more and refers you back to Mr. Keene. You end up chasing your tail. In short, nobody including the registered agent knows who owns Medius L3C or how to reach them. Apparently the only way to contact Medius L3C is via their email address: mediusl3c@gmail.com.

Continue reading →

10 February 2016: ClaryCam1 Out of Order

Schedule_20160108-115600ClaryCam1 stopped working yesterday morning. It remained online but was uploading it’s pictures to a non-existent directory… I rebooted it yesterday afternoon but it did not come back to life and is now unresponsive. This afternoon I’ll bring the camera inside, plug a network cable into it, and see if I can figure out what’s wrong with it.

The Clary Lake webcams are a pretty popular feature with website visitors and get a lot of traffic. I bought this particular camera last fall, it cost about $90 and was paid for with a donation from a Clary Lake Association member who wishes to remain anonymous. If I can’t get this camera working again, I’ll start saving up to buy a new one. Stay tuned.

06 February 2016: Maine Lakes Society Issues Alert on LD 1566

I received the following email from the Maine Lakes Society regarding the upcoming 10 February 2016 public hearing on LD 1566 “An Act Concerning the Establishment of Water Levels.” The Clary Lake Association will be testifying in opposition to the bill at the public hearing. A copy of the prepared testimony will be presented here at a later date.

Many impounded Lakes Will Be Affected by the Outcome of LD 1566 to be Heard this Wednesday before the Environment and Natural Resources Committee
Maine Lakes Society
Fluctuating lake water levels affect a host of stakeholders.
Water Level Bill Raises Concern
Water level issues on Maine’s great ponds raise major concerns for a long list of stakeholders. These include lake shorefront property owners and lake associations, state agencies, organizations and individuals concerned with maintaining navigable waterways and habitat for fishes, birds and other wildlife in and on surface and coastal waters, anglers, hunters and other recreationists, municipalities dependent upon lakefront property tax revenues to provide needed services, the Departments of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Resources, and Environmental Protection which is charged with maintaining water quality standards and the designated uses of great ponds existing as of 1978 under the anti-degradation clause of the Clean Water Act, as well as all Maine citizens – to whom these waters belong.
 
LD 1566, An Act Concerning the Establishment of Water Levels, seeks to change Maine’s existing water level law by requiring 3rd party mediation before the Maine Department of Environmental Protection MEDEP) holds the required adjudicatory hearing to settle such water level disputes.  LD 1566 also introduces a new and substantial cost for such a hearing of up to $20,000. 
 
We oppose LD 1566 because the high cost of mediation and newly monetized adjudicatory process effectively cancel the right of citizens to petition the state for redress of environmental harm. The current, entirely satisfactory, law assures the constitutional right of citizens to equal protection under the law because it requires MEDEP Commissioner  to hold adjudicatory hearings when petitioners seek redress of environmental harm, and it should not be altered to lessen those rights. LD 1566 effectively removes those rights by imposing such a high cost barrier as to nullify citizens’ ability to exercise them.  This will negatively impact the voluntary grassroots lake associations dedicated to protecting lake water quality, wildlife habitat, and the social, economic and recreational benefits of Maine’s great ponds.
 
LD 1566 will be heard by the Environment and Natural Resources Committee on February 10 in Room 216 of the Cross Office Building, Augusta.  If water levels concern you, if you don’t want the water level law changed, if you wish to protect citizens’ rights to petition the state for redress of environmental harm, please write to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee via the Clerk of the Committee or testify in person.  You can also follow the hearing live on Wednesday Morning.
Maine Lakes Society Reports on Lake Policy and Issues
This is the first of several 2016 legislative reports from the Maine Lakes Society.  Check here to see other issues we are following this winter and to share this service with friends, neighbors and colleagues
Maine Lakes Society| info@mainelakessociety.org 

03 February 2016 Lincoln County News: Result of Clary Lake Dam Auction Unknown

Jefferson resident and Clary Lake waterfront owner Butch Duncan submitted the only bid at the auction for the Clary Lake Dam Jan. 29. (Abigail Adams photo)

There is a fascinating article in this week’s Lincoln County News by staff reporter Abigail Adams about the recent foreclosure and auction of the Clary Lake dam. I’ve read it several times and keep finding new things to ponder.

The big question of course, namely who is the new owner of the Clary Lake dam, remains unanswered. The article states that auctioneer Greg Dorr had indicated that the property would be awarded on Monday, February 1st. However, as of press time, neither Butch Duncan or Paul Kelley had been informed of the result of the auction and we’re left guessing as to who now owns the dam. The auctioneer was supposed to drop the bids off at the Yarmouth office of Medius L3C but it appears they never got there. What happened to Butch Duncan’s bid?

Having been involved with numerous real estate transactions and more than just a few foreclosure/auctions over the years in my role as a Professional Maine Land Surveyor, I can safely say that this situation is rather unusual.

Anyways, enjoy the article: