Category Archives: Association News

Posts about Clary Lake Association stuff.

01 June 2019: The Loons Are Nesting!

DSC_6353The Loons are nesting in the traditional location in the deep inlet on the north shore of the lake, the same place they nested last year, but deeper in the cove because of the higher water. I spotted the location on May 30th, and it is well hidden: if I hadn’t seen one of the loons hanging around the area, I’d never have known it was there. I was able to get one (not very good) photograph of the loons on the nest (below). In previous years, fluctuating water levels have made successful nesting a real challenge with the biggest risk being flooding due to a rapid rise in water level. The good news this year is the lake level is already at the High Water Mark and stable, so even if we get heavy rains, the lake level won’t rise enough to flood the nest. Continue reading →

21 May 2019: One Casualty of the Site Migration

There was one regrettable casualty of the otherwise successful site migration: the list of 50+ or so people who had signed up to receive email notices of new website posts was lost. This list was maintained by WordPress so I have no idea who was subscribed or what email addresses were used. If you were on that list and want to get back on that list, you’ll have to resubscribe. Look for the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” form on the sidebar. Just enter your email address, respond to the “Confirm your subscription for Clary Lake Association” email you’ll receive, and you’ll be back on the list. If you’re viewing the site’s mobile theme on a phone or tablet, first look for the “View Full Site” link at the bottom of the main page and then you’ll be able to subscribe. Sorry for the inconvenience.

21 May 2019: CLA Site Migration Complete

Yesterday morning I posted about plans to migrate the Clary Lake Association website to  a new platform. Ironically, in the process of completing the move, that posted got wiped out. I’m happy to report that we completed the migration around midnight last night without any major problems, though as predicted, the Clarycams broke spectacularly. We got those working this morning.

We’ve made no significant changes to the content on the site, but everyone should notice a significant decrease in page load times. Page load speeds have been reduced partly thanks to faster hardware but also to site optimization. We’ll be making some additional optimizations over the next week or so which should help improve site performance. If anyone has any issues with the site, you know how to reach me.

CLA Spring/Summer 2019 Newsletter Mailed

The Clary Lake Association’s Spring/Summer 2019 Newsletter went in the mail a couple of days ago. This year we mailed about 225 newsletters, our largest mailing yet. They’ve already been delivered to most local addresses, but if yours is going out of town it will probably take a few more days to reach you. Traditionally the Summer newsletter kicks off our Membership Drive for the upcoming year which runs from Annual Meeting to Annual Meeting. This year’s meeting is going to be held at the Clary Lake dam on Saturday August 3, 2019. Continue reading →

04 May 2019: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal of Transfer Order Scheduled

You may recall that back in December the DEP issued an Order transferring the Clary Lake water level order to the Clary Lake Association (see 11 December 2018: Clary Lake Water Level Order Transfer Complete). You may also remember that Richard Smith, owner of Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) subsequently appealed the Transfer Order to the Board of Environmental Protection (see 26 December 2018: Aquafortis Appeals CLA License Transfer). Today I received 2 heavy manila envelopes in the mail, one addressed to me and one to President Malcolm Burson, each containing 98 pages of documents pertaining to Aquafortis’s appeal. A hearing on the appeal has been scheduled for Thursday May 16, 2019 beginning at 9:00 AM. The meeting is going to be at the Augusta Civic Center at 76 Community Drive in Augusta. Continue reading →

01 May 2019: DEP Approves Water Level Management Plan

We have received provisional approval of our Water Level Management Plan [WLMP] from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The WLMP details the procedures we’ll be following to operate the Clary Lake dam and manage the water level so as to remain in compliance with the Clary Lake Water Level Order [WLO]. The completion of a management plan was the final requirement of the WLO and it’s good to have this task behind us. This first season is like a shakedown cruise: we’ll be sitting down with DEP staff next winter to review the plan to see how well it’s met everyone’s needs. Continue reading →

29 April 2017: Midcoast Conservancy Info-Session on Browntail Moths

Browntail Moth Caterpillar

For those of you who are interested in learning more about Browntail moths (which should be pretty much all of you), the Midcoast Conservancy has finally posted the video of the program on Browntail Moths that they put on back on April 4th at the Edgecomb Eddy School. You’ll find a link to that video along with other useful information about these insect pests.

https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/browntail-moth-info-session/

26 April 2019: Water Monitoring Resumes for 2019

David measures the wind speed, direction, and temperature.

Kelsie French, David Hodsdon, and I headed out today to kick off the 2019 Clary Lake water quality monitoring season. David started monitoring on Clary Lake in 1975, making this his 44th year on the job! The average secchi disk reading was 3.75 meters (12.3 feet) which is about average for this time of year- spring rains and runoff carries silt into the lake which reduces transparency. It’ll clear up some as summer approaches. Dissolved Oxygen pretty uniform throughout the water column, also a normal condition for this time of year. We had planned on obtaining a water sample for Phosphorus testing but the weather today just wasn’t conducive to spending any more time on the water than we had to. After all, it’s not like we were fishing. At 9.8° C the water temperature was actually warmer than the air! All I can say is I look forward to more pleasant weather this year than what we had to put up with today!

You’ll find water quality data back to 2012 on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page.

14 April 2019: Ice Out!

Finally, Clary Lake is ice free! I know most of you on the north and northwest shores have had open water for the better part of a week, but ice persisted on the south and east sides until yesterday. Even this morning (picture at left) there was still a large raft of ice down by the State boat launch, which largely disappeared by noon. While ice out seemed to take forever this year, the median date for ice out is April 13th (half occur before and half occur after that date) so we’re really right about on schedule. Ice out means ALL the ice is melted. Check out our Ice-In and Ice-Out page which has records going back to 2001.

Let the boating begin!

05 April 2019: Test #1 Of Email Alert System Sent

Yesterday I posted that we were going to start testing our “Lake Shore Owner Notification System” soon. This afternoon I actually sent the first of likely several test emails to Clary Lake shore owners and Clary Lake Association members. This mailing went out to 132 people and so far at least, there have been no bounces.

If you think you should have received an email but didn’t, first check your spam folder and if you find it there, just tell your email program that it isn’t spam! Another possibility is that we don’t have your email address on file. If that’s the case, please email me and I’ll add your address to our list. If you’re one of the few people left who really don’t have an email address, relax: I’ll be sending around a test postcard sometime next week. I’ve also created a simple Google Spreadsheet to keep track of the alerts and have added an Email Alert System page with information about the system. You can also sign up for E-Alerts.

Stay tuned. The fun is just beginning.

04 April 2019: Testing of Lake Shore Owner Notification System to Start Soon

Now that the lake level staff gauge installation has been approved by DEP, the remaining requirement of the Clary Lake Water Level Order already under way but yet to be completed is a Water Level Management Plan [WLMP], defined in Special Condition #5 of the WLO. The Board has been working on it off and on for most of the winter and it is now in the final review stage. We’ll make it available as soon as it is finished and has been approved by the DEP. Copies will also be posted at the Whitefield and Jefferson Town Offices.

One of the requirements of the WLMP is that we develop a procedure for alerting people 1) of possible flooding events and 2) repair or maintenance procedures on the dam that are expected to appreciably affect lake levels. We propose to 1) post notices on this website and on Facebook and 2) send email notices to those people for whom we have email addresses and by postcard to those people without email. We’re in the process of setting up this notification system now and will start testing it in the near future. I’ll soon be adding a page on this site to keep track of water level related events and notices sent. Continue reading →

02 April 2019: Midcoast Conservancy to Offer Informational Meeting on Browntail Moths

We have a growing Browntail Moth problem in our area. Several people around Clary Lake have recently brought the problem to my attention. They’ve been around a while, so you may be familiar with them already. If not, you should familiarize yourselves with these critters. They’re nasty. Besides being bad for the trees (primarily Oaks, but they infest other varieties), the caterpillars have tiny hairs which can cause serious problems for people. Our area has until recently been considered a “Low Risk” area for Browntails, but from my recent observations it sure looks like they’re rapidly becoming a significant problem. Continue reading →

30 March 2019: Fire Spreads to Multiple Buildings at N.C. Hunt Lumber

N.C. Hunt Lumber Company on Route 215 in Jefferson suffered a major loss due to fire that apparently started late last night. Fire crews from Jefferson and surrounding towns were still there this morning pumping water out of Clary Lake. Here’s an article from the online version of the Lincoln County News:

Fire Destroys Sawmill at N.C. Hunt Lumber in Jefferson, Business Plans to Rebuild

DSC_6269I stopped down this morning when I heard about the fire, and took the photograph at left of fire trucks pumping water out of Clary Lake. We have been planning for some time to install a dry fire hydrant at this location. Fortunately, the lake is almost full and they were able to get plenty of water or they might have lost more structures in the fire. 

NCHunt_Fire-03-30-2019Jack Holland sent me a the drone photo at left which I believe was taken by Mark Allen. You can clearly see the main sawmill structure and associated buildings are totally gone. It is amazing they didn’t lose more structures.

This is very unfortunate. Norman Hunt has donated generously to the Clary Lake Association in the past. We wish him the best of luck in rebuilding.

15 March 2019 Central Maine Papers: Whitefield lakeside property owners not entitled to monetary damages over low water, court rules

Central Maine Papers staff reporter Jessica Lowell has written an article about the Rubin v. Smith lawsuit.

Lake side property owners not entitled to monetary damages over low water

Here’s a link to an archived copy if you have trouble getting off the newspaper site:

03 March 2019: Judge Rules In Rubin Lawsuit In Favor of Smith

IMG_20150828_155836 (Custom)On February 22, 2019, Justice Billings finally ruled in the Rubin/Ayer v. Smith/Aquafortis Associates [AQF] lawsuit, finding in favor of Richard Smith. At the start of the litigation back in January 2016 (see Clary Lake Shore Owners Rubin & Ayer File Suit in Superior Court), both Paul Kelley and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC [PPM] were defendants in the suit along with Richard Smith and AQF but first PPM and then Kelley subsequently filed for bankruptcy, staying the civil suit against them. Rubin and Ayer decided to pursue a judgment against only Richard Smith and AQF. They almost won, which is to say, they lost. There were a lot of very interesting elements in the suit, I’ve followed it closely since it was filed, and I testified when it went to hearing on December 20th (see Update on Rubin v. Smith Lawsuit). I have not written about the case much on this website, at the request of Bob Rubin who told me he did not want the publicity. In any case, here’s the Judge’s Order:

At the risk of over-simplifying the case, Rubin and Ayer basically had to prove three things, 1) that their use and enjoyment of their property was impacted due to low water conditions and that their property value had been damaged, 2) that Richard Smith was personally liable for the actions of AQF (a procedure referred to as “piercing the corporate veil”) and 3) that AQF and PPM were effectively alter egos of each other, in other words, one and the same and hence AQF/Smith should be held liable for the operation (or lack thereof) of the dam. Continue reading →

22 February 2019: Whitefield Library Association to Purchase Arlington Grange

Two years ago the Whitefield Library Association was formed and moved into Whitefield’s historic Arlington Grange Hall. This structure, built in 1884, has acted as a community gathering space in various capacities over the past 135 years and is a heartwarming symbol of rural American civic engagement. The Whitefield Library Association has begun fundraising to purchase the building and set up a fully functioning community library on the bottom floor and a vibrant community center on the second floor. Check out the new website!

Purchase & Renovation Effort