Occasionally for members we post items for sale. This is one of those occasions!
1978 O’Day Javelin, with trailer. Excellent lake sailer, great in Clary’s light or gusty winds. Seats 4-5 comfortably, wide beam very stable. All lines replaced a few years ago. Recently re-varnished rudder. Needs some work, but currently very sea-worthy. $1000 OBO. 207-838-6519
I have archived the June 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). June was a dry month, until it wasn’t. Things were getting pretty dry by the 19th of the month, having received only 1.15 inches of rain up to that point. Then the sky opened up! Over the next 10 days we received an additional 6.90 inches or rain bringing us to 8.05 inches for the month, making June the second rainiest month of the year so far, only inch and a half behind March (see chart below). This brings us to 32.11 inches for the year, 
close to a foot more than normal. The lake level, which had been gently falling for the first 20 days of the month, spiked at 0.15 feet ABOVE the HWM on June 25th, flooding a few docks around the lake and making many others perilously close to flooding- including mine. Only some hasty gate adjustments kept the lake from getting even higher. It’s not that we were caught napping, the problem was that the three biggest rain events, while anticipated, far exceeded the forecast amount of rain.
Outflows from Clary Lake in 2024 (chart at left) remain the highest of the previous 5 years, though 2023 flows are not far behind. To date, 1.6 lake volumes of water have passed through the lake and headed downstream to the Sheepscot River. Keep in mind that the published ANNUAL flushing rate for Clary Lake is only 1.8 lake volumes and with the year only about half over, we’re almost there already. It is pretty clear that we’re going to exceed that published figure this year, perhaps by a lot. The impact of all this flushing on our lake water quality still remains to be seen. There are some indications and some historical evidence to suggest that a high flushing rate good thing. Normally however, high outflows imply high inflows which usually bring sediment, Phosphorus, and other nutrients into the lake, feeding algae growth. So far this year however, lake transparency has remained high: our last secchi disk reading on June 16th was 4.73 meters (15.5 feet) which is very good for early summer, and much better than this time last year. It is however still early in the summer season but for now, it’s looking good.
The 5th Annual 4th of July Clary Lake Boat Parade is on! It starts at the State boat launch at 2PM. This event is not a Clary Lake Association event, it’s a Clary Lake event and we support it. Everyone is welcome. It’s organized by Jason and Shanna Pease (pictured above in 2020). Word has it the extraordinary fireworks display is also on, scheduled for 9 PM. Have a happy, safe, and fun 4th!
With the arrival of the Summer Solstice, Summer here in the northern hemisphere has official started. Technically the Solstice occurred today at 4:51PM EDT On this day, the Sun rises the furthest North that it gets in it’s trip around the ecliptic. Until today, sunrise has been creeping to the left (north) as seen on Cam3 (above). It will now start moving back, to the right, towards the south. Today marks the longest day of the year and the shortest night. From now on until the Winter Solstice in December, days will be getting shorter again. Astronomically, the Summer Solstice is when the Sun in it’s path along the ecliptic reaches the furthest point north of the celestial equator. Also ironically, the Summer Solstice marks the point in the earth’s orbit around the sun when it is the furthest from the sun; the earth’s closest approach to the Sun occurs at the Winter Solstice.
Our usual Clary Lake Association Summer events have been scheduled, a little later perhaps than we’d have liked but hopefully still in time for you to fit them into your busy summer schedules! We only have a few “standing” summer events. Summer is busy enough without us adding to it! We’ll post notices here, and send around an email or postcard prior to each event as a reminder. You’ll also find these events and more on our Event Calendar.
The Whitefield 4th of July Parade which coincidentally takes place on July 4th in Kings Mills, South Whitefield. Dave Knight will be once again towing his boat in the parade, decorated with flags, CLA banners, and his granddaughter Kastle. There’ll be room on the boat for more kids! Come down and enjoy the show and buy some food to support the Whitefield Volunteer Fire Department! I also assume the Clary Lake 4th of July Boat Parade will be happening later that same day. It usually starts at 2PM at the east end of the lake by the State Boat Launch. The boat parade is organized by Shanna Pease. The boat parade is not a Clary Lake Association event, we just like to publicize it, and of course, to participate in it!
Our Ice Cream Social is back this year, scheduled for Saturday July 20th at the Clary Lake dam. It will be preceded by a BYOK Marsh Paddle (Bring Your Own Kayak) which will take place in the morning. The Ice Cream Social will follow, at its usual time of 1PM. People who wish to participate in the Marsh Paddle should arrive at the dam by 10AM and bring appropriate clothing, water, and perhaps a light snack. The plan is to leave the dam around 10:30AM and paddle out to the lake, explore the floating bog and then return to the dam 1PM, just in time for ice cream. The ice cream is free but donations are gratefully accepted.
We’d like to have an idea of how many people are planning to paddle so if you’re planning to participate, please let us know by emailing the secretary@clarylake.org.
The Clary Lake Association Annual Meeting is going to be August 17th at 2PM at the home of Gareth & Beverley Bowen at 739 Gardiner Road in Jefferson. All are welcome. Please check out the meeting announcement for more details. The Picture above is of our 2017 Annual Meeting coincidentally held at what it now the Bowen residence.
Finally, to wrap up the summer, we’re resurrecting the Coffee Klatch out on Clary Lake which first happened back in 2019. A number of water craft tied up out on the lake and shared coffee, donuts, and laughter for a while. It was a lot of fun and it was going to become an annual event, and then COVID happened. Details of this event are still unclear. We’ll post an update when plans have coalesced. Exactly where on Clary Lake the boats should rendezvous will depend on the wind: if it’s windy we’ll be looking to nestle into a lee shore where there’ll be calmer water.. We’ll provide the coffee and donuts. You provide the laughter.
If you’d like to help out with any of these events, send an email to events@clarylake.org
The Summer 2024 Clary Lake Association Newsletter went in the mail a few days ago and it is now now available for download from our Newsletters page. Feel free to grab a copy and share it with your family and friends! Dues envelopes were included in the mailing, and I expect dues to start arriving soon. I’ll be updating the “Next Year’s 2024/2025 Membership List” as money arrives. This year we met our Membership goal of 175 Members. Our Membership goal for the coming year includes a modest increase. You can help us reach (or even exceed!) our goal by becoming a member today! Visit our Benefits of Membership page for more information about why you should join the Association, and how to do it. Incidentally, the sunset photograph above was taken by Danny Bell and was used as the banner image in this year’s newsletter. Continue reading
I always marvel at how the character of Clary Lake will change over time. The lake has moods, almost like people do. The moods are reflected in the lighting, the clouds, the wind, the water. Sometimes it’s sad. Sometimes it’s angry, or laughing, or thoughtful. Or mysterious. Margaret and I were sitting on my dock the other evening, watching a storm pass by to the north. We could see rain off in the distance. This storm had just passed over Augusta and was harassing Three Mile Pond in China with wind, rain, and lightning. I always love the way the late afternoon sunlight slips in under an ominous, cloud-filled sky to illuminate the far shore…
This is why we conduct Courtesy Boat Inspections! Dave Knight found this fragment of Common Bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris) on a boat at the State Boat Launch last Saturday morning during his 2 hour shift (picture above and at left). The boat had previously been in Duckpuddle Pond in Nobleboro. There are no known invasive plants in DuckPuddle Pond (one of the questions we ask boaters is what body of water was their boat in last). This particular plant is a native, non-invasive aquatic plant and we already have it and another variety of Bladderwort in Clary Lake (Floating Bladderwort, Utricularia gibba), but there IS a variety of Bladderwort that we don’t have called “Swollen Bladderwort” which has only recently been designated as invasive. Swollen Bladderwort looks a lot like Floating Bladderwort. This particular plant fragment was mostly dried out but it might have lived and continued growing if put back in the water. Continue reading
I have archived the May 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). May’s rainfall was more or less normal for a change, we received 3.55 inches of rain, only 0.16 inches less than the normal 3.71 inches. This allowed things to dry out a bit and resulted in a very stable water level right around or slightly above the top of the dam for most of the month. The biggest rain storm of the month occurred on the 27th and 28th of May, dropping a total of 1.35 inches of rain and gently pushing the lake level to just 0.01 feet shy of the “official” HWM elevation (established by DEP back in 2014) of 151.17 feet. I consider the “practical” HWM to actually be 0.22 feet lower, at 150.95 feet (which we’ve adopted from the USGS National Map, see below) which is effectively at the top of the dam; at that elevation, there’s just a wee bit of water dribbling over the dam in a couple of spots, as you can see in this chart from May 5th when the water level was at 150.95 feet: Continue reading
A sunrise on our Clary_cam1 webcam was featured on the WMTW Channel 8 Weather this morning, though you had to get up pretty early to see it. I received an email yesterday from WMTW Meteorologist Ted Mcinerney seeking permission to highlight our webcams during their news forecast. Of course I gave permission! This morning I got an email from Ted with a couple of screenshots (above, and at left) from this morning’s 4:30 AM forecast (I believe the woman anchor in the picture is Meghan Torjussen, someone correct me if I’m wrong). Ted commented “These cameras are great!” I agree, and others agree as well: our webcams generate the most website traffic. Many thanks to Ted and WMTW!
Kelsie French and I resumed our water quality monitoring efforts for 2024 on Sunday May 5th, a little earlier than in recent years. The lake is still largely homogenous with a surface temperature of 13.3°C (55.9°F) and 11.2°C at 8 meters. Surface DO was 11.3 mg/L and 8.4 mg/L at 8 meters. The Secchi disk reading was 3.55 meters (11.6 feet) which I guess is about normal for this time of year, but nothing to write home about. You can see where it lands on the chart at left (the sole data point, far to the right, in the 2024 column right below the red trendline). You can see a subset of water quality data including transparency going back to 2001 on our Clary Lake Water Quality Monitoring Data page. Today the water was kind of murky. Despite being early in the season, there’s already phytoplankton, primarily diatoms, populating the lake. As the water warms up, the diatoms will mostly die off to be replaced by green and blue-green algae later in the season. It’s really the blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) that we’re worried about. Blue-green algae is mostly a late summer and fall phenomena. Continue reading
After much planning and preparation, the 2024 Clary Lake Watershed Survey went off today without a hitch. Bolstered by strong coffee, homemade breakfast burritos, and donut holes, five survey teams headed out to inventory non point source pollution sites around Clary Lake’s 10 square mile watershed (picture at left). The survey was completed by early afternoon. Next steps include the preparation of a survey report and based on that, a Watershed Management Plan. It’s going to be a busy summer!
I’d like to thank DEP’s Greg Beane (center, above) for conducting and helping plan this survey and the other Team Leaders for their help today. We’d like to thank all the Whitefield and Jefferson property owners who cooperated in this survey by letting us onto their property. We would also especially like to thank the 17 Clary Lake Association members who volunteered their time today in furtherance of this important project; in no particular order: Brian Vogel, Charlene Andersen, Cheryl Smith, Daniel Burns, Dave Knight, Dee Ann Grazioso, Eric Sroka, George Fergusson, Margaret Fergusson, Mary Gingrow-Shaw, Julie Cowles, Steve Cowles, Kathryn Ference, Malcolm Burson, Megan Breece, Carolyn Curtis, and Paul Devlin. Thank You!
Usually the header image/banner on the website rotates randomly. Once in a while I highlight a new banner image for day or two. It’s actually been quite a while since I posted a “Banner Highlights” post. Danny Bell sent me a panorama photo he took of the sunset from what used to be the Antognoni camp on the south shore of Clary Lake. It was banner worthy. The picture at left is a full sized image of that same sunset.
I have archived the April 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). April was another wet month, though not nearly as wet as March had been: we received 4.62 inches of rain, 3/4 of an inch more than the 3.87 inches we’ve received in a “normal” year, whatever that means. Most of that rain fell by the 12th of the month, only a little over a half inch fell during the rest of the month. This allowed the ground was to dry out a bit. For the year we’re at 20.58 inches of precipitation, a little more than 7 inches above average for this date. This bodes well for ground water supplies later this summer. All this water has kept the lake level generally higher than we like: March actually ended with the lake level 0.31 feet above the High Water Mark or fully 6 inches ABOVE the lowest spot on the top of the dam. When the lake is that high, there is a real risk of shoreline erosion in areas around the lake that are not protected by a rocky shoreline. However, managing the dam to maintain a specific lake level is a real challenge and the response to a change in gate opening or weir height can be maddeningly slow. It’s too easy to over shoot the mark, or fall short of it. Therefore, we try to avoid large gate and weir adjustments and take some time to bring the lake level up or down where we want it. Continue reading
Clary Lake Association member Alan Clark spends his summer’s here in Maine helping out with our Courtesy Boat Inspection program, the rest of the year he lives Utah. He was recently boating on Lake Powell on the Utah/Arizona border and sent me these pictures of an Aquatic Invasive Species decontamination station. Here on Clary Lake we’re primarily concerned with Aquatic Invasive Plants, but in Utah, they’re also on the lookout for invasive animals, particularly Quagga Mussels and Rusty Crawfish. It is only a matter of time before we too will be on the lookout for invasive animals, and we’ll likely have similar decontamination facilities installed at Maine boat launches. There’s plenty to be on the lookout for; here’s a link to the Maine DEP Advisory List of Invasive Aquatic Species.
Plans for the 2024 watershed survey are well underway. We applied for a grant from Maine Lakes and Lake Stewards of Maine to help cover the cost of the project and yesterday we received a nice letter (at left) and a $350 check from them. We’re especially grateful for the support of these two organizations; the total cost of the project is expected to be around $2000 so this financial assistance is most welcome. If you have trouble reading the letter, here’s a link to a PDF.
We have approximately 15 volunteers gearing up to assist with the survey; they’ll be undergoing training in the next couple of weeks. The survey itself will be conducted on Saturday, May 4th and letters have already been sent to approximately 350 people who own land in the Clary Lake watershed describing the project and giving them an opportunity to opt out of the survey if they wish. As stated in the letter, our volunteers are only interested in locating and documenting areas of significant non-point source pollution within our lake watershed. Once the survey is completed, a report will be prepared and recommendations made regarding how to fix the problems we have found. If necessary, we will work with landowners to find reasonable, cost-effective solutions. However, acting on our recommendations is completely voluntary and no one will be compelled to take any action. Information gathered in the survey will not be used for any regulatory purposes. We don’t expect many people to opt-out.
The featured image is a “Hillshade” image of the southeast end of Clary Lake. It shows ground relieve much better than aerial photographs. You can see several old gravel pits and gullies in stark relief. Images like this are being used to identify areas of interest in our watershed.
Many thanks to my friend Ross Swain for promoting this webinar. Ross runs Ellis Pond Sidekicks, a private Facebook group for people interested in Ellis Pond in Roxbury Maine. It’s a great group even if you don’t know where Ellis Pond is 🙂
A week from today Ellis Pond Sidekicks is sponsoring a free Zoom webinar presented by Scott Williams, a renowned lake scientist who has been involved in water quality issues at Roxbury Pond for over 30 years and state lake water issues for over 50 years. The webinar is called “Maine Lakes in the Era of a Warming Climate.” You don’t need to be a member of Ellis Pond Sidekicks to attend. The webinar will be on Friday, April 19 at 6:30pm. If you want to check it out you’ll need to register at this link. After you register, you’ll receive an email confirmation that includes a link to the webinar. The webinar isn’t going to be recorded.
I’ve known Scott Williams for many year and I consider him a personal friend and a valuable teacher, and I’m really looking forward to this webinar.
Register for the Maine Lakes in the Era of a Warming Climate webinar!
I have archived the March 2024 water level chart (above, and at left). The dearth of precipitation we saw in February did not continue into March. On the contrary, we ended up with 10.72 inches of precipitation making March 2024 the second wettest March on record, only slightly behind the 11.24 inches received in March 2010. “Normal” March precipitation in this area is around 3.77 inches but we received more than 2.8 times more than that. Even with the lack of rainfall we saw in February, we end the month with nearly 7 inches more annual precipitation than is normal for this date. March was also warmer and windier than usual which resulted in Clary’s ice cover melting off on March 8th, the earliest we’ve recorded since record keeping started in 2001. Continue reading
Lake Stewards of Maine has released the latest “Maine’s Most Unwanted Aquatic Invasive Plants” poster. The previous version pictured 11 plants. This new one has pictured 15 plants. You can right click the image to view and download a full sized image, or click the image to view and download the file as a PDF. You’ll also find it in our Maps Charts & Graphs gallery.
Maine Lakes is putting on a number of webinars this spring on topics of potential interest to friends of Clary Lake. The two that grabbed my attention (highlighted below) are one on PFAS in Maine Lakes and Rivers, and one on Maine’s Newest Aquatic Threats. You’ll find more of interest including a notice for the Water and Sustainability Conference on March 29th on the Maine Lakes website: https://www.lakes.me/
PFAS in Maine Lakes and Rivers
Tom Danielson, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Thursday, April 11 at 5 p.m. Register HERE.
You have probably read about PFAS in the news lately as it relates to contaminated farmland. Tom Danielson of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will present information about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals”, in Maine’s lakes and rivers.
Maine’s Newest Aquatic Threats
Brett Willard and Christine Guerrette, Lake Stewards of Maine
Thursday, April 18 at 5 p.m. Register HERE.
In early 2023, four new plants were added to Maine’s watch list for potentially invasive aquatic plants. Since their addition, three new infestations of one of these new invaders have been discovered in Maine lakes, with likely more to come. In this webinar the Aquatic Invasive Species team at Lake Stewards of Maine will discuss how to identify these four plants and their native lookalikes, how LSM is engaging with lake communities with active infestations, and how volunteers can become involved in battling aquatic invaders across Maine.
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