Author Archives: George Fergusson

04 March 2020: Volunteer for the Maine Turtle Roadkill Survey

I received an email about an Interesting program from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. I’m always stopping to help turtles across the road. This is the first I’ve heard of this particular program!

Volunteer for the Maine Turtle Roadkill Survey

Our partner Maine Audubon is embarking on an exciting effort to identify where turtles might be at risk of harm from traffic as they move across the landscape during the active season, and we are hoping you will help! 

We are looking for volunteers who can commit to walking along pre-selected road segments, documenting any roadkill or live animals at risk of harm from the roadway. The routes are all less than one mile long, and we are asking for data to be collected once a month, at least 3 times during the active season of May through September. Continue reading →

2020 Clary Lake Ice Out Contest

I’ve wanted to have an Ice-Out contest for years but never found the wherewithal to actually do it. Until now. Guess the correct ice-out date and win a “We Give A Dam” tee shirt. FYI, the earliest the lake has been deemed completely free of ice was on March 13, 2016; the latest the ice has gone out was on April 24, 2001. Visit our Ice In and Ice Out page to see all our historical data back to 2001. Reviewing historical ice-in and ice-out data is NOT CHEATING.

We’ll close the contest some time before the ice actually goes out. And yes, you can submit more than one guess, but only your first guess will count. Or maybe your last guess 🙂

February 2020 Water Level Chart Archived

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February 2020

I have archived the February 2020 Water Level Chart (at left). The lake level was pretty sedate for most of the month, falling slowly and steadily from a high of -1.09 feet at the beginning of the month to a low of -1.52 feet on the 27th. On that date we received an inch of rain which melted a good deal of our snow pack and brought the lake up almost half a foot by the end of the month.

That last rain event brought our monthly precipitation total to 3.19 inches, 0.58 inches more than the February average of 2.61 inches. For the year to date we’re already 0.39 inches above average. The dam’s control structures (weir and gate) remained unchanged for the whole month with the gate open about 4″ and no stop logs in the weir. Minimum flows will rise from the current 11.3 cfs to 35.9 cfs on March 15th at which time we’ll open the gate some more to provide the increased outflows, and will probably start adding stop logs to the weir to start raising the lake level to normal spring levels. Continue reading →

28 February 2020 Event Reminder: Alewife, Eel, and Lamprey Program at Sheepscot General

We’d like to remind you of an upcoming event that we believe will be of special interest to not just Clary Lake Association members, but to all Friends of Clary Lake. The program is on Alewife, Eel, and Lamprey Ecology and will be held at the Sheepscot General in Whitefield (map) on Friday February 28th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. The program is free and open to the general public. The featured speaker will be Marine Resources Specialist Nate Gray with the Department of Marine Resources. Gray will discuss the important ecological role that river herring (alewives), eels, and lampreys play in Maine and why we might want to introduce them to Clary Lake. Have your questions ready!

If you’re interested in eating some of the fine food offered at the General, plan on showing up early!

The Hors D’oeuvre Party Was A Blast

20200201_201411The “We can’t believe it’s 48 days until Spring” Hors D’oeuvre Party, held on February 1st at the home of Beverley and Gareth Bowen was a great success! Twenty seven people showed up for the party which went for about 3 hours. The food was incredible and the conversation even better. Sorry it’s taken so long for me to post anything about the party, I’ve been unusually busy for a retired person in the Winter. While I’m apologizing, sorry for the sub-par photographs! Cell phones just don’t do all that well indoors in poor lighting conditions, but they are what they are. Some of them were taken by me, some by Dave Knight. Here’s gallery of the better pictures:

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[Show slideshow]

 

Ezelda “Pat” Prescott, April 19, 1930 – Nov. 26, 2019

I apologize for not posting this sooner, but I just learned of Pat Prescott’s passing the other day. I’ve known Pat for a long time, she’s been a lake shore owner forever, and was close friends with my parents. She was a faithful Clary Lake Association member for many years. She’ll be missed.

Ezelda Patricia Prescott

I’ve added her obituary to the Members No Longer With Us pages under the Membership menu.

12 February 2020: Kelley Bankruptcy Wrapping Up

Once the Clary Lake Association purchased the dam from Paul Kelley’s bankruptcy estate back in October 2018, I pretty much stopped paying attention to what was going on in those court proceedings. I have over the months however continued to receive various court filings, all interesting after a fashion, but some more interesting than others. Nonetheless I haven’t seen fit to share any of them with our readers, but today I received the Trustee’s Final Report which details how the $80,000 we paid for the dam was spent, and it’s worth sharing. Continue reading →

04 February 2020: Kennebec County Judge Rules In AQF Appeal Hearing

We’ve received word that Kennebec County Superior Court Judge William Stokes has issued his ruling on the January 10th hearing in regard the Aquafortis Associates LLC appeal of the Clary Lake water level order transfer. The Order, dated January 17th, DENIES AQF’s motion to supplement the record and GRANTS the Clary Lake Association’s motion to transfer the venue to Lincoln County. This is Good News. We’re hearing about it now because the Court mailed the Order to our lawyer’s old mailing address. Continue reading →

January 2020 Water Level Chart Archived

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January 2020

I have archived the January 2020 Water Level Chart (at left). Not a lot to say about this chart! The lake level remained a little higher than we want it this time of year, but not outrageously so. We’ve been trying to keep it down around -1.50 to -1.75 feet below the high water mark; the actual level has fluctuated from a low of -1.52 feet and a high of -1.09 feet, a range of only 0.43 feet. We received 3.00 inches of precipitation, a little shy of the average for January of 3.19 inches. Much of the precipitation was in the form of rain. Not a lot of snow out there.

Save the Dates: Two Upcoming Midcoast Conservancy Winter Programs

The Midcoast Conservancy is putting on a couple of informational programs this winter that look like they will be potentially of great interest to Clary Lake Association Members. The first program is on Alewife, Eel, and Lamprey Ecology to be held on Friday February 28th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the Sheepscot General in Whitefield (map). The featured speaker will be Marine Resources Specialist Nate Gray with the Department of Marine Resources. The other program is a ways off and still in development but I understand it will be on Climate Change and it’s impact on Maine Lakes. It is scheduled for Friday April 24th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, also at the Sheepscot General. I’ll post updates on these programs as more information becomes available. While they’re a ways off, I did want to put them out there so you could “Save the Dates.”

Sheepscot General is renowned for their food, especially pizza, so if you’re interested in making a night of it, arrive early and get something to eat before the program!

26 January 2020: Yes There Are Black Crappie in Clary Lake

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White Perch and Black Crappie photo by Joe Holland

We’ve known for some time that there were black crappie in Clary Lake, they started showing up back in 2015 as a result of illegal stocking (see: 28 May 2015: A Black Crappie caught in Clary Lake). They’re clearly now firmly established and it’s not at all uncommon to catch them! Jack Holland sent me this picture of some black crappie and white perch that his son Joe Holland (of The Jefferson Scoop fame!) caught last week on Clary Lake.

IF&W Fisheries Biologist Jason Seiders was not particularly happy to hear that there were Black Crappie being caught in Clary Lake when I spoke to him about it a couple of years ago. His recommendation was that if you catch them, keep them! I can attest, they are good eating, and fun to catch.

Maine CDC Adds New Radon Data Tool

The following press release from the State of Maine highlights a new tool from the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for tracking data on a variety of health-related issues in Maine including Radon levels, Arsenic levels, and Lead levels. The data is presented in a variety of ways, including tables, charts, and interactive maps. This valuable new data is well worth looking at. If you haven’t had your home tested for Radon, consider doing it sooner rather than later. Continue reading →

10 January 2020: Update on Aquafortis Associates Appeal

Superior_court-1-10-2020The first hearing on the AquaFortis Associates LLC appeal of the Maine DEP transfer of the Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association took place today. It lasted about an hour and a half. The picture at left, taken before the start of the hearing shows CLA attorney Randy Creswell (left) and Assistant AG Scott Boak discussing strategy. Aquafortis Associates LLC (and Richard Smith) were represented by attorney L. Dennis Carrillo. The Judge handling the case is Justice William Stokes. Continue reading →

Aquafortis Associates Appeal Hearing Reminder

The other day I emailed our Membership to remind them of the upcoming hearing on the Aquafortis Associates LLC appeal of the WLO Transfer, scheduled for 10:30 AM on Friday, January 10th. The hearing will be held at the Kennebec County Superior Court, 1 Court St Suite 101, Augusta, ME 04330 (map). I wanted to get notice out soon enough so those who would like to attend have time to make arrangements. If you’re not familiar with this proceeding and it’s history, I’ve posted about it a few times on the CLA website, most recently back in the middle of December. Here’s a link to that post, for more information: Continue reading →

02 January 2020: The Winter 2019 Water Column Issue Is Out

The Winter 2019 Lake Stewards of Maine’s periodical “The Water Column” arrived in our mailbox today. As usual, it’s full of interesting information about the state of lake water quality monitoring in Maine, invasive plant problems around the State, and other issues impacting lakes in Maine.

Last year’s Winter 2018-2019 issue of The Water Column was all about the impact of climate change on Maine lakes, and this winter’s issue continues their coverage of climate change with an interesting article on ice-in and ice-out trends. The Lake Stewards of Maine does a great job of publicizing their activities. The Clary Lake Association has been conducting water quality monitoring on Clary Lake in association with the Lake Stewards of Maine (formerly the Volunteer Lake Monitor Program or VLMP) since 1975 and is a long time supporting member of their organization.

https://www.lakestewardsofmaine.org/mediaresources/the-water-column/

Here’s a link to the full document:

The Water Column Winter 2019

December 2019 Water Level Chart Archived

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December 2019

And 2019 is a wrap! I have archived the December 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most interesting thing about the December chart is once again, how much precipitation we received. It’s been a wet year and December was no exception. It still amazes me how much water can flow into- and out of- Clary Lake in a relatively short period of time. More on that later. In addition to the monthly chart I’ve also archived a bunch of other charts including the 2019 whole-year chart, the 2019 flows chart, the 2019 precipitation chart, and by the time I’m done probably a few more charts as well. You’ll find ALL of them in the 2019 Water Level Charts archive. I love charts. Does it show? Continue reading →

We Give A Dam! Clary Lake Association Tee Shirts For Sale

The Clary Lake Association is making another foray into the world of online retailing and to that end we’ve set up a simple shopping cart system using Paypal as our payment processor. While it isn’t the world’s most sophisticated shopping cart system, it works and should serve our purposes well for the time being. It should be self explanatory and problem-free, but if you have any questions or issues with it, please contact the Webmaster.

To start out, we’d like to sell the last of these classic We Give A Dam! tee shirts! There won’t be any more of these! We had a dozen made for the 2019 Whitefield Fourth of July parade and people said they wanted to be able to buy some, so we ordered a bunch.  Most of them were sold last summer at the Ice Cream Social and the Annual meeting. We still have a few of these classic tee shirts left (in several sizes) that we’d like to sell. You can have any color you want as long as it’s BLUE! A few of our original Clary Lake Association Sweat Shirts have turned up as well and we’d like to sell them too. Please visit our Items For Sale page to see what we have to offer.

We’re already getting to work on some new products for the upcoming year. We’ll be starting out with tee shirts again but are also planning on offering CLA hats, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, etc. Stay tuned.

17 December 2019: Clary Iced-In For The 3rd Time! [UPDATED]

Clary-frozen-12-17-2019Clary Lake has had a hard time staying frozen this year! It initially completely froze over on December 4th and remained well frozen for a week. Then warm temperatures and heavy rains caused it to mostly open up again on December 11th. It had completely refrozen by the next day December 12th, only to completely melt off again on December 15th! This morning, as you can see on the composite photograph of the 3 Clary Webcams, it appears completely refrozen with the possible exception of a small sliver of open water over on the east end of the lake. This afternoon’s expected snow fall will show if that’s really the case. Perhaps this is it. I don’t see anything in the forecast to suggest the lake will melt off again, but you never know.

While December 4th is early for ice in, historically it’s not particularly early at all. I recall as a kid ice skating on Clary Lake at Thanksgiving. Visit our Ice-In and Ice-out dates for Clary Lake page. We have records available back to 2001.

20191217_141327-Large[UPDATE] I guess I wouldn’t be calling the lake fully frozen just yet, judging from the amount of water that’s leaking up onto the surface. When it first started snowing today, dozens of small wet spots appeared. As the snow continued, the wet spots grew in size and number. There must be small holes in the ice for this to occur. Perhaps a good hard freeze will finish the ice-in process!

Greetings Friends of Clary Lake!

Greetings Friends of Clary Lake!

Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year… and more inclusively, Happy Holidays, or whatever and however you choose to celebrate this time of year, this special season that we all cherish as we try to adapt to the waning light of winter. Remember, the light shines from within: may we always be mindful of the blessings we have been given and work to share those blessings with those less fortunate. Continue reading →