Category Archives: VLMP

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

18 September 2019: Maine Public Radio Program on Algal Blooms

Scott Williams of Lake Stewards of Maine

There is a new Maine Public program on algal blooms and climate change that is well worth watching (or listening to). Here on Clary we have avoided a severe algal bloom this season though we’ve seen them in the past; we did have a mild, short-lived bloom back in early July, no doubt brought on by a spike in phosphorus levels due to heavy rainfall and the resulting runoff in April, May, and June. While Phosphorus levels have remained high this summer, transparency has remained greater than 3 meters all season. We’ve been fortunate. We are most at risk however in September and October as the lake water “turns over” mixing phosphorus at the bottom of the lake into the upper layers of water where it can feed blue-green algae.

Maine Lakes Expected to see More Intense Algal Blooms

2017 Season Lake Water Quality Monitoring Resumes

Last Friday morning, May 12th, David Hodsdon and I resumed water quality monitoring on Clary Lake for the 2017 season. Jack Holland usually joins us but was unable to join us for this first data gathering session. Normally we venture out onto the lake every 2 weeks from May through September to the “deep hole” (30′ deep when the lake is full) where we anchor and collect data which we periodically send in to the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program. The data collected includes water depth, secchi disk (transparency) readings, water temperature and dissolved oxygen data at the surface at every meter down to the bottom, as well as air temperature, current weather conditions, wind speed, etc. You can view a subset of the collected data for recent years on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page.

In addition to periodically submitting water quality data to the VLMP, secchi disk readings are also added to the Near Real-Time Lake Data site. Clary Lake has been participating in the VLMP since 1975.

29 November 2016: Maine VLMP Fall 2016 Newsletter now available

The Maine Volunteer Lake Monitor Program (VLMP) has issued their Fall 2016 newsletter “the Water Column” and it’s available online from their website at the following link:

Fall 2016 Water Column Newsletter

The VLMP has always done a great job with their newsletters, and this one is no exception: with 28 pages of informative articles, reports, and pictures, it is well worth taking the time to look it over. I found the article “The 2016 Drought and it’s Effect on Maine Lakes” particularly interesting.

The Clary Lake Association is long-time supporting member of the VLMP and has been contributing water quality monitoring data to the VLMP program since 1975. You’ll find the last 5 years worth of water quality data on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page.

The newsletter includes a report and pictures from this summer’s 2016 Lake Monitoring Conference which David Hodsdon and I attended. Below is the group photograph taken at the conclusion of that event: