The Clary Lake Association Board is pleased to announce that after careful consideration, many meetings, and much discussion over the winter, plans have been made to finally complete repairs to the Clary Lake dam that we were only able to start when we bought it back in 2018. If you will recall, when we bought the dam in October of that year, it was in rough shape with severe leakage through a gaping hole in an old concrete plug in the middle of the dam. There was also significant leaking from seams between the stones along the full length and breadth of the dam. The dam literally didn’t hold water. We hired Rick Pease of PCS Specialty Contracting to repair the hole by digging out the rotten concrete plug and constructing a weir on the top of the dam, and sealing the leaks between the stones with Gunite. Because of the time of year (November/December) what with fall rains, a rapidly rising water level, dropping temperatures, he was only able to seal the leaks on the top half of the dam. Fortunately they were able to pour the concrete for the weir on December 14, 2018 and they then built a tent over it and used a kerosene space heater to keep it warm while the concrete cured. These initial repairs were sufficient to allow us to restore the lake to it historical level, but we knew that some day we were going to have to complete the repairs, especially addressing issues with the existing gate.

Well that time has come. Leaking has become a serious problem, primarily through the gate but also through seams between the stones in the bottom half of the dam which gaps have increased both in number and severity of leakage. Leaking has gotten so bad that for much of the year, we’re really unable to manage the lake level as we should. Combine this with ever more frequent drought conditions and it’s a recipe for disaster. When leaking is excessive, not only does the lake level suffer, but water quality declines as well. Last year you may recall the lake level was down over 1.5 feet by end of August and many people’s docks were high out of the water (see chart at left). Mine was, and by late summer I had trouble tying up my boat to it due to shallow water. In spite of the dam’s gate being closed all summer, by the end of October the lake had fallen to a little over 2 feet below the high water mark, a violation of our Water Level Order. What’s worse, the low lake level in July and August contributed to significantly declining lake water quality over the summer resulting in an intense algal bloom early last fall (see picture at left). Granted, it was a dry summer and fall, and evaporation contributed to the water loss, but you can be sure we didn’t evaporate 2 feet of water, or anything close to it. Most of it leaked out. And the gate remains fully closed since last summer in an effort to preserve our spring high water. This in itself is highly unusual and a clear indication of both how droughty this area is, and how much the dam is leaking.

We are happy to report that we have once again contracted with PCS Specialty Contracting to complete desperately needed repairs to the dam this summer! As in 2018, thanks to Section 480-Q of the Natural Resources Protection Act, no State or Local permitting is required for us to fix our dam. Nonetheless we did run our repair plan past DEP and they are totally on board with what we are planning to do. We are only required to release minimum flows during the work and to do that work within the so-called “Stream Alteration Window” which runs from July 15th through September 30th. Obviously normal soil erosion and sedimentation control measures will also need to be in place, as needed. To facilitate the repairs we plan to draw the lake down approximately 1 foot by the 15th of July and I expect the work will start shortly thereafter. We hope that’s as low as the lake will get this summer season. The project is expected to take about 1 month to complete. We’re actually still finalizing a few aspects of the work to be done so I won’t provide any details of what we’re planning to do at this time, or discuss project cost but I can tell you we will need to raise some additional money to pay for the repairs. To that end our Fundraising Committee is already busy coming up with plans to do just that. Stay tuned!

Simply being able to make this announcement means a great deal to me. This has been a long, long time coming and having a repaired and fully functional dam is something I’ve been dreaming of for years! Many of you can remember the trials and tribulations we went through just to get to the point where we were able to buy the dam. What a struggle! There were times when I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen at all. But it finally did happen, and it has only been with your support, your generosity, and your continuing participation through the years, helping to grow our membership to something sustainable and vibrant, affording our Association the opportunity to give new voices a chance to help guide our decisions, that has brought us within striking distance of our goal. We will keep you apprised of the progress and rest assured there will be pictures and comments as work gets underway. Stay tuned and thank you! It was worth the wait and we hope that you will continue to help us protect and preserve (and enjoy!) Clary Lake for years to come!

George Fergusson