Category Archives: News

News from around the lake.

22 April 2013 KJ Article: Clary Lake foes take issue with DEP study

The anticipated KJ article has finally appeared in the paper this morning:

Clary Lake foes take issue with DEP study

Here’s a link to the online version:

http://www.kjonline.com/news/Clary-Lake-foes-take-issue-with-DEP-study.html

A couple of comments. First, I am not particularly surprised at Samantha Warren’s response to allegations that the bathymetric survey contains significant errors. She’s just a spokesperson making standard spokesperson type remarks though she should realize that using the “We’re experts” argument doesn’t usually hold up to scrutiny. I believe my comments have provided the necessary “strong technical evidence” necessary to open the study for revision.

Second, it’s time they took another picture, perhaps one showing the drained wetlands, or the virtually unusable State boat launch.

21 April 2013: Howard Nickerson: What price are we willing to pay?

red-winged-blackbird-thumbI was visiting Jane Chase this morning and she happened to mention an impassioned letter to the editor of the Lincoln County News that she’d read recently that did not ring a bell with me. Sadly, as much as I try and stay on top of everything going on these days, I just can’t and I rely heavily on other people to let me know about things of importance to Clary Lake and the water level petition. Jane found a copy on line and sent it to me. The letter to the editor turned out to be by none other than my good friend Howard Nickerson and was sent to the paper back in the middle of March. My apologies for just now getting it posted.

What price are we willing to pay?

Howard owns land up in the northeast end of the marsh on the east side of Clark’s Meadow Brook adjoining land of Sue McKeen and Butch Duncan. He’s a life-long conservationist.

17 April 2013: Tentative date set for Town of Whitefield Public Meeting

town-meeting-customThe Whitefield Selectmen at their regularly scheduled meeting last night tentatively scheduled a public meeting for 22 May 2013 at 7 PM at the Whitefield Fire and Rescue building next to the town office on Town House Road. The meeting is to comply with statutory requirements of the recently filed Petition for release from dam ownership, filed by Pleasant Pond Mill on 02 April. The town of Jefferson will be scheduling a similar public meeting, for the same reason. According to the statute (MRSA 38 §§ 901-908) the towns must hold a public meeting to “consider and act” on the issue of owning the dam. Note, this does not necessarily mean the towns have to vote Yea or Nae on owning the dam at this upcoming meeting, the warrant could just call for the formation of a committee to study the issue or to conduct a feasibility study, etc. The statute gives Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) up to 180 days to consult with various parties on taking over ownership of the dam at which time PPM has to report on the results of their activities. At that time they can if they wish apply for another 180 day extension to continue their search…

Ellis Percy, president of the Clary Lake Association and I attended the meeting last night. The Whitefield Selectmen meet every Tuesday night at the Whitefield Fire and Rescue building from 6 to 8 PM. The Jefferson Selectmen meet every other Monday at the Jefferson Town Office from 6 to 8 PM. Their next meeting is this coming Monday night. These and other important dates are included on the Clary Lake Association’s Events and Activities Calendar.

13 April 2013: Fergusson’s Letter to the Editor in response to the Duncan article

Things have been so busy around here that I never bothered to look at the letter to the editor I wrote in regard the article about Frederick Duncan and his water level wishes. I sent my letter in back on the 1st of April. It appeared in the 04 April 2013 edition of the Lincoln County News. From the For What It’s Worth department, here it is:

Fergusson’s Letter to the Editor

11 April 2013: A little more about inter-local agreements and a few samples

Back in 2007 when I became president of the Clary Lake Association and first got involved in trying to resolve the Clary Lake dam issue, Dana Murch of the DEP sent me 3 inter-local agreements from towns around Maine to look at. I dug them out of the file they were in yesterday, scanned them, and have posted them to Google Drive:

They vary in complexity from the Belgrade Lakes 4 page inter-local agreement between the towns of Belgrade and Rome to the Gardiner New Mills Dam 14 page inter-local agreement between the City of Gardiner and the towns of Litchfield and Richmond. None of them happen to involve a non-municipal 3rd party such as a lake association but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.

I remember reading about the flap surrounding Sabattus Pond back in 1999-2000, it caused quite a bit of controversy. Here’s an article from the Lewiston Sun Journal from October 13, 1999:

State: Agree on Sabattus Pond Costs or dam will be opened

I suspect that if the towns of Whitefield and Jefferson decide to look into this kind of arrangement that they could get assistance from the State in preparing an inter-local agreement and of course, the Clary Lake Association would be happy to participate.

10 April 2013: Pleasant Pond Mill LLC petition for release from dam ownership UPDATE

I went to the Whitefield Selectman’s meeting last night to listen to what they had to say about the Clary Lake dam issue. They discussed among other things the need for the town to hold a public meeting to “consider and act” on the issue of dam ownership within 60 days of being notified of the filing of the petition (April 1st). Per the statute, both the town of Whitefield and the town of Jefferson have to hold these public meetings. Tentative dates were discussed as was the fact that 60 days (now 50) isn’t a lot of time.

At issue is whether or not the town (or towns, with an interlocal agreement)  should own the dam, with or without a maintenance and operations agreement with the Clary Lake Association. The Selectmen agreed that they’d be contacting their counterparts  in Jefferson to discuss this.

The DEP will also further define what constitutes the “costs of transfer” which at a minimum need to be borne by or at least shared by the new dam owner. The actual wording of the statute is:

38 §906. PROPERTY TRANSFER PROVISIONS

1. Compensation. A dam owner is not prohibited from requesting compensation for the transfer of a dam pursuant to this article. The department may not issue a water release order pursuant to section 905 to a dam owner who has refused to transfer the dam to a person willing to assume ownership of the dam because that person refused to compensate the dam owner for the property. The department may not refuse to issue the order if the dam owner requested only payment or a share in payment of the costs of transfer.

“Costs of transfer” to me means the fees to have a title search done, a deed prepared, and the cost of recording it. That’s the beauty of this statute: Anybody can afford to buy a dam 🙂

It was also mentioned that the DEP has determined that the PPM petition is NOT complete as filed. Apparently DEP has questions about who owns what and wants supporting documentation of dam ownership and title. No doubt this has something to do with questions the DEP has over the ability of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC has to meet the provisions of the Statute regarding what property and property rights are to be transferred to a new owner. This should be interesting.

08 April 2013: Yet Another KJ Article: “Clary Lake dam’s owner wants out, forcing towns’ hands in dispute”

Paul Koenig of the Kennebec Journal has written another article about the Clary Lake dam:

Clary Lake dam’s owner wants out, forcing towns’ hands in dispute

Paul Koenig called me last week to talk about the latest petition. “He wants to get rid of it, and we want it,” Fergusson said. “What can go wrong?”

Hehehe… great quote 🙂

I’ve posted a copy on the web site:

08-April-2013-Kennebec_Journal_article

 

03 April 2013: DEP Releases Bathymetric Survey Results

True to their word, DEP, in accordance with Procedural Order #5 of Department File #L-22585-36-B-N, Clary Lake Water Level Petition, have released the data and results from a bathymetric survey conducted by the Department in September 2012. I’ve barely had a chance to look at this myself. Of  the files sent, the main document you’re going to want to download the depth/contour map:

Bathymetric Survey Contour Map

I’ve barely had a chance to look at it myself. They also sent along 2 other files including a spread sheet which appears to be corrupt (I’ve been unable to open it) and another aerial photo of the lake showing the point coverage of their data collection; it’s a very large (4+ megabytes) file so I won’t try to display it. I suggest you right click on the link and select “Save as”:

Clary-Lake-Depth-Points.pdf

I’ll post the spreadsheet for download when they send me a viable copy. They also sent along a revised Service List which you’re welcome to download if you wish. I wouldn’t bother, unless you’re on it 🙂

Pursuant to Procedural Order #5, parties may submit written questions or comments on the data no later than April 17, 2013.  Questions or comments must be copied to all parties on the Service List.

03 April 2013: Update on the Petition for release from dam ownership

I spoke with Kathy Howatt this morning, she’s the DEP staff person in charge of the Pleasant Pond Mill LLC Petition for release from dam ownership. She said the petition was filed yesterday. This appears to conflict with state law which states that public notice of the intent to file a petition must be published in a paper (and provided to various people including lake shore owners) not more than 30 days before filing the petition. Such notice of intent has not be provided. So much for procedure.

Ms. Howatt said the Department has 15 days to determine if the petition is complete. She also said that the petition for release from dam ownership is completely separate and distinct from the water level petition and that at least for the time being both petitions would both be processed concurrently. However, she said the Department may at some point stay the water level petition proceedings for some specific period of time to provide the Department time to address the petition for release from dam ownership, and for the dam owner to find potential new owners of the dam. She did stress the fact that ultimately the outcome of the water level petition is independent of the outcome of the petition for release from dam ownership. For example, if Pleasant Pond Mill LLC were to find a new owner and transfer the dam to them, they would be off the hook but the new owner would be facing a pending water level order.

02 April 2013: Pleasant Pond Mill LLC Notifies DEP of their Intent to Petition for Release from Dam Ownership

On behalf of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC, Paul Kelley has filed a notice with the DEP stating his intent to file a Petition for Release from Dam Ownership or Water Level Maintenance. This is a statutory process described in MRSA 38 Chapter 5, Sub-Chapter 1, Article 6, §§ 901-908. Earlier this evening I attended the Whitefield Selectmen’s regular meeting and listened to them discuss the situation. Paul Kelley was there representing  Pleasant Pond Mill LLC. Discussion mostly centered around the role the town would be playing in the petition process regarding public hearings, public notices, and notifying affected parties. Aaron Miller, town clerk had spoken with someone at the DEP about this petition and was led to believe that for the time being anyways, processing of the Clary Lake Water Level Petition would continue while this new petition is addressed. I will be making inquiries of my own later this week to confirm what to expect.

Here are copies of the certified letters that Pleasant Pond Mill has sent to the Selectmen, and the Town Clerk:

After the meeting Paul and I talked briefly and have agreed to maintain open lines of communication as we move forward in the hopes that a mutually agreeable solution to the problem can be found. I am cautiously optimistic.

About the Law

There are many privately owned dams in the State of Maine that belong to people who for various reasons don’t want to continue owning them. Usually the dams are in poor repair making them an expensive liability to own, and they may have water level orders on them (or pending water level orders) making the dams particularly unsavory to own and difficult if not impossible to sell, let alone give away. State law prevents dam owners from simply removing the dams, or abandoning them. Additional provisions in the law provide this petition process to help these unwilling dam owners find new owners for their unwanted property or, if no new owner can be found, allows them to  be relieved of the burden of ownership. If a new owner for a dam cannot be found, the dam is removed.

Now clearly, the existence of this law with all it’s provisions suggests that dam owners are more often than not alienated from the various parties that might reasonably be expected to want to own the dam and that furthermore, guidance, rules, and rigid structure are often necessary to find the interested parties, get everyone together, and help them work out a mutually agreeable solution. Pleasant Pond Mill LLC clearly feels they are alienated and sees this petition process as the only way forward for them. They are certainly within their rights to take advantage of the provisions of the law to address the Clary lake dam problem.

Here’s a copy of the Petition application which lists the general information and procedures involved in the petition, the required information in the petition, and a copy of the notice of intent to file the petition:

Petition for Release from Dam Ownership or Water Level Maintenance

02 April 2013: Ice Almost Out

campic-02-april2013
 The ice is going out faster than I anticipated, which OK with me! The main basin is now ice-free with only a couple of hundred feet of ice left right along the southwest shore; my shoreline, as usual, is the last to open up. I don’t know what the east end of the lake looks like but I suspect there’s still ice down that end by the boat launch; it still looked pretty white yesterday afternoon when I drove by but there were signs it was breaking up.

David Hodsdon keeps track of the “official” ice-out date. Last year the lake became completely ice-free on 21 March which is on the early side. More normal is between the 2nd and 3rd week of April. Here are Ice-Out Records going back to 2001.

31March 2013: End of Month Summary

3 March 2013
 I’ve posted the final March 2013 water level chart. For the month, we got a paltry 1.22″ of precipitation which nonetheless brought the lake up a total of 17.78″ (runoff multiplier of 14x!) from where it started the month at -55.68″ below the top of the dam to -38.76″ below the top of the dam on March 18th. It has fallen only 2.5″ since then. The reason the lake rose so much from so little rain is because lake is so much smaller due to the low water level: when it rains, the water level really has nowhere to go but up. For comparison, when the lake is around 40″ below the top of the dam (where it is now), rising water tends to spread out over the drained wetlands, increasing the surface area but the water level, not so much.

30 March 2013: A lot like spring out there today, and other thoughts

Gorgeous day out there today, I’d say most of the north side of the lake is ice-free, perhaps about 1/4 of the lake total- enough so that open water is now easily visible on the web cam from over here on the south shore.

campic01
 David Hodson and I stopped over yesterday afternoon take a look around and bumped into Doug Kinney. He said there’d been a pair of loons hanging around. Sure enough, we soon spotted one loon but it was too far off for me to get a picture. It is the earliest I’ve ever seen loons back on the lake. There were also plenty of other water fowl out swimming or wheeling overhead. At the rate ice is disappearing, I expect the lake will be ice-free within a week. Lousy weather could complicate that.

I’d like to thank those of you who corresponded with me about the recent article in the Lincoln County News. No, I don’t think Butch’s plan to have the dam removed stands a chance of happening; it’s just silly, as is his idea of “farming” the meadow. In the old days folks likely pastured some cows out there part of the year when it wasn’t flooded, and we know they cut meadow hay during a short window of opportunity in the early summer, but that’s about the extent of the “farming” that took place in Clark’s Meadow. We all know why Butch would like the water level kept low- his reasons are purely selfish. I will be sending a letter to the editor next week.

Some of you may have noticed that I went ahead and converted all the old legacy photo albums to new WordPress NextGen albums. I hadn’t planned on doing that but it turned out to be pretty easy. They offer more utility and convenience and do a better job of displaying pictures. Sadly, they don’t handle documents like PDF files of which there are a boatload on the site. I’ll have to look for another solution to manage and maintain those.

Finally, I stopped by the dam this afternoon to measure the outflow from the lake; came up with a figure of 35 cubic feet per second which is about what is expected with the lake level 40″± below the top of the dam. Have been wondering if there’s a way to estimate Clary outflows with any degree of accuracy using flow data from the USGS Sheepscot river gauging station located at the bottom of Grand Army Hill. More on this when I find some spare time.

Reminder: This coming Wednesday the 3rd DEP is supposed to distribute the results of the bathymetric survey they performed last September. Stay tuned 🙂

23 March 2013: Branch Pond Petition, Odds and Ends

I got an email today from Brandon Kulik, the petition contact person for the Branch Pond water level petition. He said that DEP has scheduled a Public Hearing on their petition for Friday June 28th, time and place to be determined. Thought I’d pass that along for those of you who might want to go- I plan to attend to lend my support to their effort.

I’ve added that event and those that are now scheduled on our petition to the Association’s Event Calendar so that you can follow along. In a little over a week, things start up again and the next couple of months promise to be busy. Starting on April 3rd we receive the results of the bathymetric survey DEP performed the field work on last September 21st, and the new data resulting from that survey: a revised contour report, minimum flows recommendation, and maximum annual fluctuation. I have to believe that this new data and lake model based upon it is more accurate and better reflects the environmental impact of water level fluctuations on Clary Lake.

14 March 2013: Whitefield Town Meeting This Coming Saturday

The Whitefield Town Meeting is this coming Saturday the 16th of March to be held at the Whitefield School. Polls open at 8 am and close at 12 noon so if you’re a Whitefield resident and you want to vote, plan accordingly.

Our own Association member Sue McKeen told me the other day that she’s running for the Whitefield Planning Board as a write-in candidate. Sue has been on the planning board in the past which of course begs the question why on earth she wants to be on the PB again. I can only assume she feels there is work left to be done. I’ll be voting for her.

13 March 2013: Spring Rain, Canceling Newsletter Plans

The Winter 2013 edition of the Clary Lake Clarion Cancelled

I’ve always been a firm believer in the value of a hard-copy newsletter and 2 issues a year if at all possible, but no surprise, I’m canceling plans for the Winter 2013 edition mainly because it’s already spring and I’ve got more than enough on my plate to keep me busy without trying to crank out a newsletter too. Besides, this web site is doing a pretty good job of keeping people informed and in touch. We’ll send out a newsletter this June with a notice about the annual meeting, a dues notice and membership subscription form, and what have you.

Spring Rains Bring Welcome Lake Level Rise

Yesterday’s 0.78″ of rain combined with snow melt was enough to bring the lake up over 9″ so far (see today’s water level chart) and I expect it will rise a few more inches over the next 24 hours. Colder weather later this week will likely slow down the rate of runoff for a while. As nice as it is to see the lake come up, we should be prepared for exceptionally low water conditions this spring and into summer. This should not come as a surprise to anyone: the dam’s gate is still wide open and there is no significant snow pack left. This situation no doubt suits Kelley who wants to keep the lake from rising to the level of the breach in the dam. For what it’s worth, we’re now at that peculiar lake level where additional runoff causes the lake to mostly spread out over the shallow water areas, increasing the surface area without significantly raising the lake level so the lake is in a position to absorb considerable runoff for a while without rising that much. If you recall last year’s water level chart you’ll remember the large rain events we had in late April and again in very early June which brought the lake up to -19″ below the top of the dam- the highest it got last year. I might add that such water level fluctuation turned out to be disastrous for nesting water fowl, including the loons. I wonder what this season will bring?

09 March 2013: Comet Panstarrs to put on a March show

There’s a comet in the early evening sky these days, Comet Panstarrs. It should be a binocular object. I’m going up to  Highland Cemetery this evening about sunset (5:30 pm) to see if I can spot it. The following NASA web site page has information about the comet, as well as a finder chart. You’ll need to find a location with a low western horizon because it’s faint and pretty close to the sun.

Comet Panstarrs

07 March 2013: Lincoln County News Article

An article by Shlomit Auciello is in this week’s Lincoln County News. Here’s a link to the online version:

Regulator Denies Motion To Dismiss Clary Lake Dam Petition

It’s a good article, all things considered- certainly more fair and balanced than a few previous articles by Ms. Auciello. It appears she contacted Tony Buxton for comment though she made no attempt to contact me.

I’ve downloaded a copy in PDF format and posted in the Newspaper Clippings directory:

PDF version of 06 March 2013 LCN article