March 2016

I’ve archived the March 2016 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable thing about the March water level chart is that while the lake level has been generally falling since the beginning of the month, it has still been significantly higher throughout the whole month- indeed, throughout the whole winter- than in any of the last 5 years. Part of this is due to a very early ice out (March 13th) and above average rainfall for the first 3 months of the year. The dam’s gate has been wide open since January 4th. As high as it has been, it has still been generally lower than the lower-limit (2′ below normal high water mark) specified in the Clary Lake water level order.

I spoke to David Hodsdon the other day about resuming our water quality monitoring activities. He’s going to send the Association’s YSI Pro20 digital dissolved oxygen meter off to be calibrated tomorrow (a yearly VLMP requirement) and as soon as we get it back we’ll set a date to hit the lake and start collecting data again. To that end, I launched my boat this morning- the earliest I’ve ever gotten it in the water. We try to collect data every 2 weeks during the recreational boating season, typically between mid-April through October. This will be David’s 40th year as a Volunteer Lake Monitor. Way to go David!