August and September 2025 Water Level Charts Archived

9 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-September-2025The past couple of months have been busier than usual for me and I completely forgot to post the August 2025 monthly water level chart, the first time I can remember missing a month. Now here it is the middle of October and I have yet to post about the September water level chart. Well I have archived both the August AND the September water level charts (August above, September at left).

We only need one word to describe August 2025: DRY. We didn’t receive a drop of rain during the first 13 days of the month and didn’t get a soaking rain until August 29th when we received 1.49 inches of rain in one overnight event. For the month we received only 2.19 inches of rain, well shy of the normal 3.33 inches. The lack of rain contributed to a significant loss in lake level over the month. We started at -0.91 feet below the HWM and ended the month at -1.51 feet or 18 inches below the HWM, our normal fall target level. I’ve been figuring that 2/3 of our water loss was due to evaporation with 1/3 due to leaks but now that fall is here I figure evaporation accounts for about 1/3 to 1/2 the water loss with leakage making up the remainder.

September was a pretty dry month too at least until the last week of the month when a couple of back to back rainstorms brought us up to 4.93 inches for the month, a good inch more than normal. However, the rainfall wasn’t enough to break the drought which still plagues the State today.

September also saw a significant algal bloom this fall. It was expected, it did not come as a surprise- summer water conditions and the phosphorus samples we took all suggested a bloom was likely in the fall when the lake turned over. We were not wrong. By the end of September lake transparency had dropped to less than 2 meters. As of the time of this writing, it has largely cleared up. Here are a couple of pictures I took in early October:

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Arthur W. Enos 1941 – 2025

Art Enos passed away this past summer on June 16th in Burlington Massachusetts. He was 84.  He purchased a tract of land on Sennett Road in Jefferson in 1989 and built a summer home there where he lived part time until he sold it in 2020. His passing went largely unnoticed here on and around Clary Lake which is rather surprising given his involvement with the Clary Lake Association and his influence on Clary Lake and lake events over the years. I only learned of his passing a few days ago when visiting my friend David Marsh who bought Art’s home. Everyone I’ve told about Art’s passing so far has been unaware he had died.

Art played a major role in the Clary Lake Association over the years, first serving as Vice President in 1992 and then as President from 1993 through 1999. In early 1995 he was instrumental in bringing about the incorporation of the Clary Lake Association as a 501 c(3) nonprofit organization.

Art bought the Clary Lake dam from Chester Chase in 1995 with the original intention of selling it to the Association but despite lengthy negotiations to that end, that sought after event never came about. Instead he sold the dam to another party in 2006 and it wasn’t until 2018 after 12 arduous and contentious years that the Association was finally able to purchase the dam.

The following Obituary appeared in the Lowell Sun

Arthur W. Enos 1941 – 2025

Arthur W. Enos a proud Marine and Community leader passed on June 16, 2025. Beloved husband of 60 years to the late Ellen Marie (Lynch) Enos. Loving father of Laurie Pandolfo of Burlington and Steven Enos & his partner Susan Marchand of Woburn. Proud grandfather of Neil ‘Charlie’ Pandolfo & his wife Taryn, Aubrey Enos, and Addison Enos and their mother Tricia, all of Burlington. Great grandfather of Emma & Owen Pandolfo. Brother of Mary Lou O’Reilly of FL and late Francis ‘Sonny’ Enos. Visiting hours will be held at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., Burlington on Friday, June 20 from 4-7 p.m. Funeral from the Sullivan Funeral Home on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Margaret Church in St. Veronica Parish, www.stveronicama.org, 111 Winn St., Burlington at 11:30 a.m. Services will conclude with military honors at Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials in Art’s name may be made to Toys for Tots, www.devens-ma.toysfortots.org, 53 Quebec St, Devens, MA 01434. For online guestbook, video tribute, & obituary see www.sullivanfuneralhome.net

64th Clary Lake Association Meeting

The annual meeting was held on a beautiful summer day at the home of Gareth and Beverly Bowen. 

– George Fergusson provided updates on the Courtesy Boat Inspections which have concluded for the year, lake water quality, and the Membership Committee.
– Steve Cowles spoke on the current state of Dam Operations.
– Margaret Fergusson spoke about the Events Committee and would welcome additional ideas and assistance.
– Charlene Andersen, who is the new Treasurer, gave an update on fundraising and finances.
– Eleanor Goldberg gave an update on the loon count/restoration project. Our loon chick is doing well and getting big!
– Malcolm Burson gave an update on the watershed survey/lakesmart program. If you are interested in having a Lakesmart survey of your property, please contact Malcolm.

We raised $1430 by selling raffle tickets and an additional $95 from the 50-50 raffle. After the meeting we had a delicious potluck meal with burgers and hot dogs courtesy of Chef Bowen! Thanks very much to Gareth and Bev for hosting.

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Annual Membership Meeting Coming Right Up!

talking-heads-customBack in late 2018 we purchased the Clary Lake dam and for the next 5 years we held our Annual Meeting there. Last year and again this year we will hold our 2025 Annual Membership Meeting on Saturday August 23, 2025 at 3:00 PM at the home of Gareth & Beverly Bowen at 739 Gardiner Road in Jefferson.  We will setup some awning tents for shade and will provide chairs. We’ll hold the meeting rain or shine: In the event of rain we’ll simply move the meeting indoors. We will have our traditional potluck supper after the Meeting so bring your favorite salad, casserole, side dish, or what have you and of course, bring an appetite!

We will provide Zoom access to the meeting for those of you who can’t make it to the meeting in person. Please contact George Fergusson at secretary@clarylake.org if you are interested in attending the meeting via zoom. 

Remember, you need to be a paid up member to vote at the meeting. If you want to signup or renew your membership online, you can do so with PayPal or a credit card on our Signup or Renew Your Membership On Line page. A registration table will be set up by 1:00 PM for those of you who like to renew your memberships at the Annual Meeting. Please arrive early so you can complete your business before the start of the meeting!

If you need directions to the the Bowen’s home, use this handy form! Simply enter a zip code, road name, or complete address for directions:

July 2025 Water Level Chart Archived

7 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-July-2025I have archived the July 2025 water level chart (above, and at left). July was a dry month with only 1.40 inches of rainfall, only 39% of normal. The lack of rain resulted in a slow but steady drop in the lake level over the course of the month. Still, the lake fell only 0.54 feet during the month, again with roughly 2/3 of that drop attributable to evaporation.

In many ways 2025 is looking like a repeat of 2022 both in terms of rainfall received and overall water quality data. By August 1st in 2022 we had received 24.72 inches of rain and this year we’ve received 24.55 inches. Outflows from Clary Lake are similarly very close, in 2022 only 1.03 lake volumes had passed downstream on this date and this year the figure is 1.04 lake volumes- incredibly close. In 2022 the lake level was -1.25 feet on August 1st; this year the lake is down 1 foot, only 3 inches higher than in 2022. Perhaps the most startling comparison is in lake transparency readings. In the following chart, the blue line are secchi disk readings from 2022 and the red line are secchi disk readings this year. The similarity really is pretty impressive: Continue reading →

Pink Water Lily

I just love these pink water lilies (genus Nymphaea). For some time now they’ve grown only in one small out of the way spot on Clary Lake. They’ve begun spreading slowly. Last year I spotted a small patch over on the west shore of the lake and then the other day I was out fishing and spotted this isolated patch of pink water lilies. The white lilies are quite common. These pink ones are much more rare.

Loon Family Update

Michael Keller sent me this picture today of one of the Loon parents with the fast-growing chick. There’s only one now baby now, the other one didn’t make it. We don’t know what happened to it. The chances that this remaining chick will survive to adulthood grow better by the day.

Ice Cream Social Ahead!

Our Annual Ice Cream Social and “Meet & Greet” event is coming soon, on Saturday, July 19th starting at 1:00 PM to whenever, it’s being held at the Clary Lake dam on the Mills Road (Route 218) in Whitefield. As usual, we’ll have some canopies with chairs and tables set up to provide shade and a place to sit. A brief shower won’t stop us from eating ice cream, but in the event that Saturday ends up torrentially rained out, we’ll postpone the event to the next day, Sunday July 19th, 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 2025 Raffle

This event is also a great opportunity to buy raffle tickets to support the Clary Lake Association’s Dam Repair Fundraising initiative! We only printed 500 tickets this year and they’re going fast! Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20 and there are a bunch of prizes. See the Summer 2025 Raffle page for more details. Continue reading →

Central Maine Bassmasters Tournament Saturday July 12th

The Central Maine Bassmasters is holding a weigh-in bass tournament on Clary Lake next Saturday, July 12th. They estimate there will be 15 boats participating in the tournament. The tournament starts at 7AM at the boat launch and ends at 4PM at the boat launch for the weigh in. Sounds like a good day to avoid the boat launch as there will be less than no parking.

The above picture is from a bass tournament held on Clary Lake in early July 2019.

Our Loon Babies Have Arrived!

P1320700 Loon ChicksFor the first time since 2019, our resident pair of loons have successfully nested! A number of us have been monitoring the nest all month. Mary Gingrow-Shaw texted me early on the afternoon of June 30th to say she thought that, judging from the loon’s behavior, that hatching imminent. In fact, later that afternoon Eleanor Goldberg and Malcolm Burson spotted the loons with 1 chick in the cove on the north shore where they nested but they didn’t want to intrude on them at that time to get pictures. Today both parents and 2 chicks paraded past their dock close enough that Eleanor was able to easily take these pictures. You’ll find a few more pictures in the Spring/Summer 2025 photo gallery. Continue reading →

June 2025 Water Level Chart Archived

6 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-June-2025I have archived the June 2025 water level chart (above, and at left). After 3 months of more than average rainfall, it looked like precipitation in June was going to fall well short of normal with nearly three dry weeks with only occasional smidgens of rain falling. Then two days before the end of the month we received a whopping 1.56 inch deluge, most of it in just the last few hours. This and a wee bit more rain the following day brought us to 3.31 inches for the month, only 0.42 inches short of the June average 3.73 inches. We’ll call it good. The dry conditions for most of the month resulted in a gradual decline in the lake level with roughly 2/3 of the water loss due to evaporation and  only about 1/3 of it resulting from leaks. This is normal during dry summer weather.

Evaporation

Measuring lake water evaporation is a bit of a guessing game. Air temperature, water temperature, wind velocity, barometric pressure, and relative humidity (and probably a few more things I’m forgetting just now) are all factors in how fast or slow evaporation takes place, and coming up with a formula that spits out anything like a reasonable answer is not easy! We take a relatively simple approach to the problem, we really only want to know how much of a drop lake level is attributable to evaporation. That makes it easier: we start first by calculating outflows (including an estimate of leakage) and then calculating how much the lake level should drop after losing that much water and comparing that with how much the lake actually fell. If outflows should drop the lake 0.01 feet 24 hours but the lake actually dropped 0.03 feet in that time, then it is reasonable to assume the difference (0.02 feet) was lost through evaporation. It isn’t exact, but it’s close enough. You’ll find this another other fascinating data on our Dam Operation Log.

20250527_153527-MediumLake water quality is improving thanks in part to the dry weather in June. Heavy rain in March, April, and May washed a lot of sediment and other nutrients into the lake resulting in a mild infestation of blue green algae and a transparency reading of 3.19 meters (10.5 feet) on May 18th. Most people probably didn’t even notice the algae die off at the end of May (picture at left). Thankfully it was pretty mild and short lived. Kelsie French and I conducted our 4th water quality monitoring session yesterday and found transparency greatly improved with secchi disk readings between 3.85 and 4.0 meters. See our Clary Lake water quality data page for more information.

Summer is here folks! Get out and enjoy Clary Lake!

Clary Lake 4th of July Boat Parade!!

The 6th Annual 4th of July Clary Lake Boat Parade is on! It starts at the State boat launch at 2PM. This event is not a Clary Lake Association event, it’s a Clary Lake event and we support it. Everyone is welcome. It’s organized by Jason and Shanna Pease (pictured above in 2020). Word has it the extraordinary fireworks display is also on, scheduled for 9 PM. Have a happy, safe, and fun 4th!

Clary Lake
4th of July Boat Parade!!

6th Annual Boat Parade
4 th of July 2025
Where: Clary Lake
Time: 2 pm
Details: Decorate your boat
and meet down by the public
landing for a cruise of the
lake! Don’t forget to decorate
your dock!!! Rain or Shine!!
For more information call Shanna Pease at 485-4171.

New Clary Lake Water Quality Monitor Gets Certified!

Kelsie French, a longtime summer resident of Clary Lake, has recently been certified by Lake Stewards of Maine as a Water Quality Monitor. She has been assisting George Fergusson with regular water sampling and testing on Clary lake since 2018, and has completed extensive training in water quality monitoring procedures such as Secchi disc use (to measure water clarity) and dissolved oxygen measurement. These water monitoring tasks are crucial to maintaining the health of the lake, as they indicate how well the Clary Lake Association is doing in it’s efforts to maintain Clary Lake’s water quality.

Kelsie and George conduct water quality monitoring sessions on Clary Lake every 2 weeks through out the boating season. The picture above was taken on May 18th of this year on our first water quality monitoring session of 2025.

Summer 2025 Raffle!

The 2025 Summer Clary Lake Association Raffle is underway! Tickets cost $5 each or 5 tickets for $20. We’ve only printed 500 this time, and we want to sell them all! Once again, Mark & Tara Doe of Louis Doe Garden Center in Newcastle have  graciously donated our Grand Prize, a $100 Gift Certificate redeemable at their Newcastle store. Other confirmed exciting prizes from local businesses include donated gift certificates from Sheepscot General & the Jefferson Market, with more to be added. This year we have a member donating $40 worth of lottery scratch tickets so get your lucky penny ready!

The items being raffled off have been come from businesses based on the Member Survey we sent out in late winter.

The drawing for the raffle will be held at the Clary Lake Association’s Annual Meeting on Saturday August 23rd at the home of Gareth & Beverley Bowen at 739 Gardiner Road in Jefferson. The meeting starts at 3PM 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!

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE PRESENT TO WIN! Make sure that you write your contact info (at least your 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.

How To Get Tickets

We’ve only printed 500 tickets this year and we want to sell ALL of them! 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. If you haven’t sent in your dues yet, 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 August 23rd from about 1PM until the drawing.
  6. You can buy tickets at the Clary Lake Association’ Ice Cream Social (Saturday July 19th)
  7. You can use the button below to buy tickets and pay for them with a credit card or with your Paypal or Venmo account. We’ll put your tickets in the mail 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 sell you tickets. Stay tuned for future announcements!

The Loons are Nesting!

Our pair of loons on Clary Lake are nesting for the first time since 2019. This is a big deal! Their nest is in the traditional nesting area in the back of the large cove in the floating bog on the north shore of the lake. In the picture at left, the black head and white breast of the sitting loon is visible just right of center. I apologize for the rather crappy photos but I didn’t want to get any closer to get a better picture. Please avoid the area and let them nest in peace! If you do go over to take a look, PLEASE do not get too close!! Do not enter the cove. If you’re fishing, find another spot to cast your bait! If the loons are disturbed they will abandon the nest so please, be considerate and leave them alone to nest in peace.

The gestation period for loons is approximately 28 to 30 days so depending on when the eggs were laid, and if the eggs are viable, we might expect to see chicks (usually 2) long about the beginning of July.

Clarycam2 is Going Off Line

In about a week, Clarycam2 is going off line. Long time Clary Lake residents David and Janette  Hodsdon who have been hosting Clarycam_2 since November 2015 have put their home on the market and are leaving for Pennsylvania to be closer to David’s family. When they shut off their internet connection sometime next week, Clarycam2 will stop working.

I’m going to miss it and I hope we can return it to service soon. I’d like to think that whomever the new owners of their property are that they’ll be willing to continue hosting a camera on their network, but that remains to be seen. In the meantime, I’m looking around for a new place for the camera. It requires electric power and wireless internet. I’m looking into a solar power option which would make hosting the camera considerably easier since it wouldn’t need an extension cord to operate. If you think you have a good location for a camera, contact me!