Author Archives: George Fergusson

24 July 2023: Midsummer Water Quality Update

Clary Lake Transparency

Kelsie French and I got out on the lake on Sunday for our biweekly water quality data collection and the results are worth sharing. We had a secchi disk reading (a measure of lake transparency) of 4.18 meters (13.71 feet) which while not unheard of, is actually quite good, especially this time of year, considering all the rain we’ve received this summer. Rain means runoff and runoff means sediment and sediment means Phosphorus and Phosphorus means algae… Two weeks ago it was 3.80 meters (12.46 feet). I didn’t expect to see it improve, but it did! You can see today’s reading on the far right just above the 4 meter line on the above chart. We’re definitely trending in the right direction! You can see a subset of the data we collect back to 2012 on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page.

On the downside, dissolved oxygen (DO) was only 1.1 mg/l at 4 meters which is damned low for such a shallow depth; 2 weeks ago it was 5.4 mg/l at 4 meters and 2.5 mg/l at 5 meters. Today it rapidly fell off from 4 meters and at 7 meters and below we found NO oxygen at all. Under these severely anaerobic conditions, Phosphorus which is normally stored in bottom sediments can reenter the water column. As long as it stays near the bottom, it’s not a problem but in the fall when the lake turns over, this Phosphorus rich water will mix with the upper layers where algae live, and this can spur out of control algae growth. This is why most severe algae blooms occur in the fall. The bloom we had last fall was in part due to this phenomena. There were other extenuating circumstances.

We also took the first of 3 core water samples we’ll take this season for Phosphorus testing. We’ll take another in mid-August and a 3rd in mid-September.

Right now, the water quality in Clary Lake is very good but that may change this fall. Time will tell.

Ice Cream Social Ahead!

Our Annual Ice Cream Social and “Meet & Greet” event is just ahead, this coming Saturday, July 15th from 1:00 PM to whenever, to be held at the Clary Lake dam on the Mills Road (Route 218) in Whitefield. This year we’ll have a bunch of canopies set up so we’re not going to let an intermittent shower or two stop us from eating ice cream. In the event however that Saturday ends up torrentially rained out, we’ll postpone the event to the next day, Sunday July 16th, same time, same ice cream. This will be a great opportunity to meet some of the many new CLA members and other people on and around Clary Lake. This event is open to all, not just Clary Lake Association members. The ice cream is free but donations will be gratefully accepted!

Summer 2023 Raffle

This event is also a great opportunity to buy raffle tickets to support the Clary Lake Association’s Dam Repair Fundraising initiative! Talk about a worthwhile goal! First prize is a  Masterbuilt Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker donated by Louis Doe Garden Center. There are 3 great gift certificates for runner up prizes. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. For more information about the Raffle and how/where to get tickets see the Summer 2023 Raffle page.

In addition to our regular ice cream offerings we’re going to pick up some ice cream sandwiches and a couple of boxes of creamsicles (for that trip down memory lane!) and Linda Gallion will once again be bringing a couple of buckets of her own very excellent home made ice cream (this year it’s going to be Blueberry and Strawberry). Linda and her husband Rick run the Clary Lake Bed & Breakfast. In addition to all the popular ice cream toppings, this year we’re going to have sugar cones which I have it on good authority are the environmentally friendly way to eat ice cream 🙂

Plan on coming and staying a while. There will be tables and chairs set up so you can sit and linger with friends, awnings to get out of the sun, and water to keep you hydrated… and most importantly—plenty of ice cream! There is also ample parking and you can always come by boat, kayak, or canoe. We hope to see you there!!

We’ve added this event to our Events Calendar and here’s a link to add it to your calendar. We’re posting about it early because summer is short and weekends fill up fast! We’ll post a reminder here as the event approaches! Stay tuned!

June 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

6 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-June-2023

June 2023

I have archived the June 2023 water level chart (at left). If there is one thing that stands out about June 2023 is it was a wet month! We received some amount of rain on 21 of the 30 days of the month making this June the wettest June since 2019.

All told we received a total of 5.51 inches of rain in June, 1.77 inches more than the 3.73 inches which is normal for June. Despite February and March being well below average precipitation, at the end of June we’re fully 5.51 inches of rainfall ABOVE NORMAL for this date. Yes it’s been wet this year! Unlike April and May which both had rather large rain events, most of the rain events in June were small, averaging only 0.28″ per event. It’s like we were dribbled on for the whole month. Despite the almost constant rain, the lake level remained remarkably stable. With only slight adjustments of the outflows we were able to maintain the lake within a very narrow 3.8 inch range for the whole month, more or less centered around the top of the dam. We started the month at -0.28 feet (top of the dam) and ended the month at the same level. You’ll find ALL the relevant charts (water level, rainfall, flows, etc.) on our Current Clary Lake Water Level Charts page.

20230601_103557June started out with a short but intense die off of blue-green algae (picture at left), the growth of which was fed primarily by sediment-born Phosphorus introduced into the lake during the intense two-day rain event that took place on April 30th and May 1st. We received a total of 5 inches of rain in those 2 days resulting in the highest lake level we’ve ever recorded, and washed out driveways and roads all over the State. Untold tons of sediment washed into Clary Lake as a result of that one storm. One month later around the first of June, the cyanobacteria that had multiplied with the influx of food started to die and float to the surface where it was corralled by wind and currents along the south and west shore of Clary Lake. It is likely people on the northeast and east shore of the lake never noticed a thing. I collected a sample and dropped it off at the lab at DEP in Augusta. The sample was predominated by Dolichospermum flos-aquae, formerly Anabaena flos-aquae, a blue-green or cyanobacteria species. There was a lot of pine pollen in the sample as well. As the month progressed, the water column cleared considerably with secchi disk reading of 3.87 meters (12.7 feet) on June 23rd.

Kelsie French and I got an early start to our 2023 water quality monitoring season in late April with a trip out to the deep hole (picture at left) but the next time out erratic behavior with our YSI Pro 20 Dissolved Oxygen meter prevented data collection. It took some time, but by process of elimination we were finally able to determine that the cable on our 14 year old meter had failed. We ordered a new one for $380 + $10 shipping. They said it would be 7 weeks for delivery but it arrived after only 5 weeks. The new cable solved our problem and we were able resume data collection on June 11th. We’ll be out there every 2 weeks until mid-October. If you see us out there on a Friday afternoon in my red boat, anchored in the middle of the lake, stop by and say hello!

4th Annual 4th Clary Lake Boat Parade

Shanna Pease hasn’t officially announced this parade yet that I’m aware of, but I corresponded with her a few weeks ago and she assured me the parade is happening. So get ready for the 4th Annual 4th of July Boat Parade on Clary Lake! This is not a Clary Lake Association sponsored event but it is nonetheless a Clary Lake event and we are happy to help promote it and participate in it! Hope to see you out there. Be safe everyone!

Clary Lake
4th of July Boat Parade!!

When: Tuesday, the 4th of July 2023
Where: Clary Lake
Time: 2 PM

Rain or Shine, and likely rain if July is anything like last month!

Details: Decorate your boat and meet down by the public landing for a cruise of the lake!

Don’t Forget to Decorate Your Dock!

For more information or if you have questions please feel free to text or call Shanna Pease at 485-4171.

May 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

5 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-May-2023

May 2023

I have archived the March 2023 water level chart (at left).  We experienced two large rain events during the month with the result that there was water flowing over the top of the dam for the entire month. The first storm which started on April 30th and ended 3 days later kind of caught us by surprise. It went stationary, ultimately dumping 5 inches of rain on us and raising the lake level to +0.77 above the high water mark, the highest water level we’ve recorded since we purchased the dam back in the fall of 2018. The previous high was +0.58 feet back in April 2020. We thought that was pretty high! At its peak height on May 1st there was over a foot of water flowing over the dam. Then on the 22nd we received 2.65 inches of rain which raised the lake level to +0.28 feet above the high water mark. All told we received 5.40 inches of rain in May, 1.7 inches more than normal. Despite below average precipitation in February and March, for the year we’re 3.79 inches ahead of normal on this date.  Continue reading →

2023 Spring/Summer Newsletter Is Out

The Spring/Summer 2023 Clary Lake Association Newsletter went in the mail about a week ago and is 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 any day. I’ll be updating the “Next Year’s 2023/2024 Membership List” as checks arrive. This year we totally met our Membership goal of 175 Members. Our Membership goal for the coming year includes a modest increase to 180 Members. Totally doable. You can help us reach (or exceed!) that 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.

Here’s a link to the Newsletter:

Our newsletter is mailed to about 250 people including all Clary Lake shore owners (check out our Parcel Map) which includes approximately 100 properties (almost 2/3 of which are represented in our Membership). If you’d like to receive a paper copy of our newsletter, send your name and mailing address to secretary@clarylake.org and we’ll put you on our list. Of course, you could also just join the Association 🙂

Upcoming Ice Cream Social and Meet & Greet Event

Mark Your Calendars! Our Annual Ice Cream Social and “Meet & Greet” event will be held on Saturday, July 15th from 1:00 PM to whenever, at the Clary Lake dam on the Mills Road (Route 218) in Whitefield. In the unlikely event of inclement weather, the rain date is the next day, Sunday July 16th, same time, same ice cream. We  postponed this event in 2020 and 2021 out of an abundance of caution, due to the pandemic. This will be a great opportunity to meet some of the many new CLA members and other people on and around Clary Lake. This event is open to all, not just Clary Lake Association members. The ice cream is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.

Summer 2023 Raffle

This event is also a great opportunity to buy raffle tickets to support the Clary Lake Association’s Dam Repair Fundraising initiative. Talk about a worthwhile goal! First prize is a  Masterbuilt Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker donated by Louis Doe Garden Center. There are 3 great gift certificates for runner up prizes. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20. For more information about the Raffle and how/where to get tickets see the Summer 2023 Raffle page.

In addition to our regular ice cream offerings, Linda Gallion will once again be bringing a couple of buckets of her own very excellent home made ice cream (this year it’s going to be Blueberry and Strawberry). Linda and her husband Rick run the Clary Lake Bed & Breakfast. In addition to all the popular ice cream toppings, this year we’re going to have sugar cones which I have it on good authority are the environmentally friendly way to eat ice cream 🙂

Plan on coming and staying a while. There will be tables and chairs set up so you can sit and linger with friends, awnings to get out of the sun, and water to keep you hydrated… and most importantly—plenty of ice cream! There is also ample parking and you can always come by boat, kayak, or canoe. We hope to see you there!!

We’ve added this event to our Events Calendar and here’s a link to add it to your calendar. We’re posting about it early because summer is short and weekends fill up fast! We’ll post a reminder here as the event approaches! Stay tuned!

Clary Lake Birding and Marsh Paddle Event Reminder

This event notice was originally posted back on March 14th when it was still a lot like winter around here. At that time perhaps you weren’t thinking about a marsh paddle! We’re reposting now in the hopes of getting a few more people to sign up for this unique opportunity!

American Bittern, often heard if not seen on Clary Lake!

In what is becoming a most welcome annual event, experienced Clary Lake birder Malcolm Burson has offered to guide a small group of kayakers and canoeists on an early summer Birding event up into the great Marsh at the outlet of Clary Lake. Both Malcolm and his partner Eleanor Goldberg are long time birders with considerable experience spotting and identifying birds. The tentative date of the tour (to be confirmed as it nears) is Saturday, May 27th, with Sunday the 28th as a rain date. The event is expected to last about an hour and a half. To keep the group small and intimate, we’d like to limit participation to no more than 5-7 kayaks or canoes (no motorboats please, but electric motors are OK). We’ll be filling slots on a first come, first serve basis. If there is sufficient interest we’ll schedule a second event later in the summer on a date to be determined.

Participants are asked to gather at 6:30 AM at the shoreline of the property of Malcolm Burson and Eleanor Goldberg, located at the far northwesterly end of the Lake, near the entrance to the channel (Google Map). Their camp is the last place down at the end of Hornpout Lane if you’re coming by car, but be advised parking is limited! It’s much easier to simply paddle over to their place. Traveling down the channel and through the marsh that leads to the dam is a world of wonder. The particular focus on this tour will be the bird life that lives there with the goal being to listen to birds as much as look for them! Bring a pair of binoculars!!

If you’re interested in attending but don’t have a watercraft of your own, we can arrange for you to borrow one, either a kayak or canoe, which ever you’re most comfortable using. Please supply your own floatation device.

To sign up for this Birding event or if you have questions about it, please send an email to paddle@clarylake.org and we’ll get back to you.

Clary_cam3 On the Blink

Some of you may have noticed that Clary_cam3 stopped updating a couple of days ago. I try to remember to check them daily but a few days went by before I noticed #3 was not working. I think some water managed to seep into it. I’ve got a few used cameras laying around and I’ve been testing two of them for possible replacements. This one shows promise; if it’s still uploading and accepting connections by tomorrow afternoon I’ll install it. In the meantime, enjoy the view out my computer room window!

April 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

Clary-Lake-Water-Level-April-2023

April 2023

I have archived the March 2023 water level chart (at left). It looked like the dearth of precipitation that’s characterized February and March was going to continue through April, until the last day of the month when we received a whopping 2.52 inches of rain. The storm has continued into today, the first day of May with an additional 1.98 inches bringing the storm total to 4.64 inches! As of the end of April, accumulated precipitation for the year was 15.54 inches (it’s more than that today), fully 2.1 inches above normal for this date. At the time of this writing, this impressive overnight rainfall has raised the lake level to +0.85 (152.02 feet) which is the highest level we’ve recorded since we purchased the dam in the Fall of 2018. Peak runoff typically occurs 24 hours after the rain event, so I have not doubt that the lake level will rise higher. You’ll want to keep your eye on the Current Water Level Chart.

20230501_063348Here’s a picture I took this morning (at left) when the flows over the dam were around 268 cfs (cubic feet per second). Since then the lake has come up another 3 inches. I checked the level just before dark and it was up to +0.89 feet. The previous record water level  since we purchased the dam in October 2018 was achieved on April 14, 2020 topped and out at +0.58 feet above the HWM. We’re over 3 inches above that already! Chester Chase owned the dam for nearly 50 years and his son Tim assures me that he’s seen it this high and higher during the years he spent growing up in Whitefield. Albert Boynton, who was born in the red house on the dam and whose family owned the dam back in the 1920s and early 1930s once told me that he remembers seeing the lake so high it was running over the road. That’s high!

The flow numbers for the April 30 storm are impressive! You can see that the daily outflows in acre-feet (43,560 cubic feet) of water so far this year  (the blue line in the chart at left) have been pretty sedate so far this year until yesterday when they went through the roof with 605 acre-feet. Thanks to the storm, a wee bit more than 1 full lake volume of water (7,224 acre-feet) has flowed downstream so far this year. A lot of sediment washed into the lake during this storm, which is generally a bad thing. On the other hand, a lot of that water flowed right out again. It remains to be seen how this will impact our lake water quality this year.

I can write all day long about how high the water was, but there’s nothing quite like a video to convey an impression. I’ve already posted a video I took over at the dam yesterday morning. Here it is again:

Summer 2023 Raffle!

The 2023 Raffle is Over!

We held the drawing at the conclusion of our Annual Meeting yesterday afternoon, September 2nd. The winner of the grill was Cheryl Willis, the Winner of the L.L. Bean gift card was Linda Gallion, the winner of the Reny’s gift card was Geraldine Hull (wife of Paul Barton), and the winner of the Sheepscot General gift certificate was Lee Sledjeski (a friend of our new President, Gareth Bowen). There was an additional 5th prize made and graciously donated by Linda Clark, wife of Alan Clark, a lovely sun catcher and a pendant made with real flowers (picture at left). This unexpected lovely final runner up prize was won by Steve Cowles daughter-in-law, Jess Puth.

We’ll be collecting the grill from Louis Doe Garden Center this coming week and delivering it to it’s new home.

All told we raised $2335 for our Dam Repair Fund bringing the fund balance to an impressive $26,310. We would like to thank EVERYONE who bought tickets this year for helping support our dam repair efforts.

The Second Annual Clary Lake Association Raffle is underway! Once again, Mark & Tara Doe of Louis Doe Garden Center in Newcastle have  graciously donated our First Prize, a Masterbuilt Digital Charcoal Grill + Smoker (pictured at left) with a retail price of $599. To increase your chances of winning something, we have three runner up prizes too! Our 1st runner up prize is a $250 Gift Certificate from LL Bean in Freeport. Our 2nd runner up prize is a $100 Renys Gift Certificate, and our 3rd runner up prize is a $50 gift certificate from Sheepscot General. Tickets cost $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. 

The drawing for the raffle will be held at the Clary Lake Association’s Annual Meeting on Saturday September 2nd at the Clary Lake dam on Route 218 in Whitefield. The meeting starts at 2PM and usually goes for about an hour and a half. We’ll hold the drawing at the conclusion of the Membership Meeting. There is no limit to the number of tickets you can buy so if you want to increase your chances of winning, buy a lot! 

Why Are We Raising Money?

We are raising money for our Clary Lake Dam Maintenance and Repair fund. The dam is in reasonable shape now but it leaks, and leaks only get worse, not better. Someday in the not too distant future we’re going to have to make some costly repairs to the dam and gate mechanism. This is your chance to help fund that effort and maybe win something as well. Sadly, money that you spend on raffle tickets is not tax deductible, even if given to a nonprofit organization such as the Clary Lake Association. Sorry! If you WOULD like to make a tax deductible contribution, please visit our Donate to the Association page!

Here’s what our tickets look like. You keep the big part. We keep the small part:


YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE PRESENT TO WIN! Make sure that you write your contact info (at least your first name and phone number) on the back of the ticket stub so we can reach out to you to let you know you won. Gift certificates can be mailed. Particulars for claiming the 1st prize will be furnished at a later date.

How To Get Tickets

There are lots of ways you can get raffle tickets:

  1. Make out a check made out to Clary Lake Association and mail it to PO Box 127, Whitefield ME 04353 and we’ll mail you your tickets! How easy is that?
  2. We’ll be sending out our Summer 2023 Newsletter soon with an included Dues envelope. Just include your ticket money with your dues and we’ll mail your your tickets! 2 birds with one stamp!
  3. If you know a Board member, go see them, they’ll have tickets to sell.
  4. We’d like to make it easy to buy tickets! You can simply email your name, mailing address, and phone number to ticketsales@clarylake.org and someone will call to make arrangements to meet up with you to get you some tickets!
  5. Tickets will be available at the Annual Meeting on Saturday September 2nd from about 1PM until the drawing.
  6. You can buy tickets at the Clary Lake Association’ Ice Cream Social (Saturday July 15th)
  7. Starting in June, we plan to have a table set up to sell tickets at the Whitefield Recycling Center (and possibly other places to be announced); stop by and grab some tickets!
  8. You can use the button below to buy tickets and pay for them with a credit card or with your Paypal account. Make sure we have your full name, mailing address and email address and we’ll put your tickets in the mail to you and put your ticket stubs in the bucket with all the rest. How easy is that!

We’re continuing to work on easy ways to see you tickets. Stay tuned for future announcements!

7 April 2023: Spring Turnover and More!

I stopped at the boat launch the other day to check out the waves, and I was not disappointed! It’s windy days like this in the early Spring that churn up the lake water, mixing it together from top to bottom in a process known as Spring Turnover. The water column ends up with a uniform (and cold) temperature and the oxygen profile is similarly homogenous. Then throughout the course of the summer, the lake water stratifies with the surface warming up while remaining cold down below the thermocline. Then same turnover thing happens in the Fall, mixing the water once again. It’s an endless cycle: Spring turnover, Summer Stratification, and Fall turnover. 

This video not only shows this turnover process taking place, you can also see the lines of white froth resulting from Langmuir Rotation.

April 3, 2023 Ice Out, Finally!

I consulted with David Hodsdon a little bit ago and we are in agreement: the conditions for calling Ice Out on Clary Lake have been achieved. There’s still one small ice floe still drifting around down in the east end of the lake but it is not attached to the shore, it is visibly shrinking by the hour, and it will likely be gone by morning. It is not preventing circumnavigation of the lake.

The winner of the First Prize of a $25 Gift Certificate from The Jefferson Scoop is Gayle Knight! Congratulations Gayle! She was the only person to have guessed today’s date, hence there are no runners up. However, I’d still like to offer runner up prizes of a laminated 8.5″ x 11″ Clary Lake Depth map to the 4 people who guessed tomorrow, April 4th. They are: Sarah Hazelton, David Marsh, Brian Vogel, and Beverley Bowen. I’ll email you and let you know how to collect your prize!

I’d like to thank everyone for playing, it’s been fun.

Live! From Clary Lake!

Image taken using Live View of ClaryCam-3

How many of you ever click on the “Live Stream in your browser” link on the Webcams page? I know the webcams themselves are very popular (22 people have looked at Clarycam-1 today alone), but I have no metrics on use of the live-view offered. My old visitor stats plugin used to show exterior links that people clicked on, but the plugin I’m currently using only shows local pages. I’m just curious! I could go grep through the weblogs to find that information, but that’s pretty tedious.

I check all three live feeds every day just to make sure they’re working OK. The level of service we’re using is free, but I have to periodically reactivate the cameras every once in a while. I’m just curious how many of our visitors check them out. Leave a comment!

March 2023 Water Level Chart Archived

3 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-March-2023

March 2023

I have archived the March 2023 water level chart (at left). The precipitation deficit we saw in February continued into March with only about 2.5 inches of precipitation falling, well below the average for March of 3.77 inches. However, due to the excess precipitation we received in January, we’re still 1.5 inches ahead of normal for this date. March is when we start the process of gradually raising the lake level by adding stop logs to the weir, while at the same time trying to maintain minimum flows to sustain the downstream aquatic habitat. We could really use some extra water in March to help with this process, but it didn’t happen this year. Given the conflicting mandates in the Water Level Order i.e., raising the lake level to it’s full capacity by ice out AND maintaining minimum flows at the same time, it’s a rare year when we can accomplish both! Usually something has to give and raising the lake level to where it belongs in the spring is our number one priority. We did succeed in gradually raising the lake level about a foot over the course of the month to within 1/2 a foot of the HWM, by the end of the month. With close to a half inch of rain falling on this first day of April, we should be overtopping the dam shortly. No fooling! Continue reading →