Once the Clary Lake Association purchased the dam from Paul Kelley’s bankruptcy estate back in October 2018, I pretty much stopped paying attention to what was going on in those court proceedings. I have over the months however continued to receive various court filings, all interesting after a fashion, but some more interesting than others. Nonetheless I haven’t seen fit to share any of them with our readers, but today I received the Trustee’s Final Report which details how the $80,000 we paid for the dam was spent, and it’s worth sharing. Continue reading
Free Fishing Weekend Ahead!
Free fishing weekend is the perfect time to introduce someone to ice fishing!
During free fishing weekend, February 15 – 16, any person (except those whose license has been suspended or revoked) may fish without a license. All other laws and regulations apply on these days. Continue reading
04 February 2020: Kennebec County Judge Rules In AQF Appeal Hearing
We’ve received word that Kennebec County Superior Court Judge William Stokes has issued his ruling on the January 10th hearing in regard the Aquafortis Associates LLC appeal of the Clary Lake water level order transfer. The Order, dated January 17th, DENIES AQF’s motion to supplement the record and GRANTS the Clary Lake Association’s motion to transfer the venue to Lincoln County. This is Good News. We’re hearing about it now because the Court mailed the Order to our lawyer’s old mailing address. Continue reading
January 2020 Water Level Chart Archived
January 2020
I have archived the January 2020 Water Level Chart (at left). Not a lot to say about this chart! The lake level remained a little higher than we want it this time of year, but not outrageously so. We’ve been trying to keep it down around -1.50 to -1.75 feet below the high water mark; the actual level has fluctuated from a low of -1.52 feet and a high of -1.09 feet, a range of only 0.43 feet. We received 3.00 inches of precipitation, a little shy of the average for January of 3.19 inches. Much of the precipitation was in the form of rain. Not a lot of snow out there.
Save the Dates: Two Upcoming Midcoast Conservancy Winter Programs
The Midcoast Conservancy is putting on a couple of informational programs this winter that look like they will be potentially of great interest to Clary Lake Association Members. The first program is on Alewife, Eel, and Lamprey Ecology to be held on Friday February 28th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the Sheepscot General in Whitefield (map). The featured speaker will be Marine Resources Specialist Nate Gray with the Department of Marine Resources. The other program is a ways off and still in development but I understand it will be on Climate Change and it’s impact on Maine Lakes. It is scheduled for Friday April 24th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, also at the Sheepscot General. I’ll post updates on these programs as more information becomes available. While they’re a ways off, I did want to put them out there so you could “Save the Dates.”
Sheepscot General is renowned for their food, especially pizza, so if you’re interested in making a night of it, arrive early and get something to eat before the program!
26 January 2020: Yes There Are Black Crappie in Clary Lake
White Perch and Black Crappie photo by Joe Holland
We’ve known for some time that there were black crappie in Clary Lake, they started showing up back in 2015 as a result of illegal stocking (see: 28 May 2015: A Black Crappie caught in Clary Lake). They’re clearly now firmly established and it’s not at all uncommon to catch them! Jack Holland sent me this picture of some black crappie and white perch that his son Joe Holland (of The Jefferson Scoop fame!) caught last week on Clary Lake.
IF&W Fisheries Biologist Jason Seiders was not particularly happy to hear that there were Black Crappie being caught in Clary Lake when I spoke to him about it a couple of years ago. His recommendation was that if you catch them, keep them! I can attest, they are good eating, and fun to catch.
CLA Hors D’oeuvre Party Announcement!
We’re having a “We can’t believe it’s 48 days until Spring” party! Only kidding! We don’t need an excuse to gather together and have a little neighborly fun. The date is Saturday, February 1st and the place is the lovely home of Beverly and Gareth Bowen at 739 Gardiner Road in Jefferson (map). The time is 7 PM. Everyone is asked to bring their own favorite beverage and a hors d’oeuvre platter to share. Bring yourself and bring a friend! We hope to have a good showing, there’s plenty of room, and it will be a great opportunity for people to get together, get reacquainted with other CLA members, and meet new friends. Let’s shake off those mid-winter doldrums together! Maybe someone will even bring a guitar and we can sing the CLA theme song. Hmmm… do we even have a theme song? Well, we can think of something! Continue reading
Maine CDC Adds New Radon Data Tool
The following press release from the State of Maine highlights a new tool from the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for tracking data on a variety of health-related issues in Maine including Radon levels, Arsenic levels, and Lead levels. The data is presented in a variety of ways, including tables, charts, and interactive maps. This valuable new data is well worth looking at. If you haven’t had your home tested for Radon, consider doing it sooner rather than later. Continue reading
10 January 2020: Update on Aquafortis Associates Appeal
The first hearing on the AquaFortis Associates LLC appeal of the Maine DEP transfer of the Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association took place today. It lasted about an hour and a half. The picture at left, taken before the start of the hearing shows CLA attorney Randy Creswell (left) and Assistant AG Scott Boak discussing strategy. Aquafortis Associates LLC (and Richard Smith) were represented by attorney L. Dennis Carrillo. The Judge handling the case is Justice William Stokes. Continue reading
Aquafortis Associates Appeal Hearing Reminder
The other day I emailed our Membership to remind them of the upcoming hearing on the Aquafortis Associates LLC appeal of the WLO Transfer, scheduled for 10:30 AM on Friday, January 10th. The hearing will be held at the Kennebec County Superior Court, 1 Court St Suite 101, Augusta, ME 04330 (map). I wanted to get notice out soon enough so those who would like to attend have time to make arrangements. If you’re not familiar with this proceeding and it’s history, I’ve posted about it a few times on the CLA website, most recently back in the middle of December. Here’s a link to that post, for more information: Continue reading
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:
December 2019 Water Level Chart Archived
December 2019
And 2019 is a wrap! I have archived the December 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most interesting thing about the December chart is once again, how much precipitation we received. It’s been a wet year and December was no exception. It still amazes me how much water can flow into- and out of- Clary Lake in a relatively short period of time. More on that later. In addition to the monthly chart I’ve also archived a bunch of other charts including the 2019 whole-year chart, the 2019 flows chart, the 2019 precipitation chart, and by the time I’m done probably a few more charts as well. You’ll find ALL of them in the 2019 Water Level Charts archive. I love charts. Does it show? Continue reading
We Give A Dam! Clary Lake Association Tee Shirts For Sale
The Clary Lake Association is making another foray into the world of online retailing and to that end we’ve set up a simple shopping cart system using Paypal as our payment processor. While it isn’t the world’s most sophisticated shopping cart system, it works and should serve our purposes well for the time being. It should be self explanatory and problem-free, but if you have any questions or issues with it, please contact the Webmaster.
To start out, we’d like to sell the last of these classic We Give A Dam! tee shirts! There won’t be any more of these! We had a dozen made for the 2019 Whitefield Fourth of July parade and people said they wanted to be able to buy some, so we ordered a bunch. Most of them were sold last summer at the Ice Cream Social and the Annual meeting. We still have a few of these classic tee shirts left (in several sizes) that we’d like to sell. You can have any color you want as long as it’s BLUE! A few of our original Clary Lake Association Sweat Shirts have turned up as well and we’d like to sell them too. Please visit our Items For Sale page to see what we have to offer.
We’re already getting to work on some new products for the upcoming year. We’ll be starting out with tee shirts again but are also planning on offering CLA hats, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, etc. Stay tuned.
17 December 2019: Clary Iced-In For The 3rd Time! [UPDATED]
Clary Lake has had a hard time staying frozen this year! It initially completely froze over on December 4th and remained well frozen for a week. Then warm temperatures and heavy rains caused it to mostly open up again on December 11th. It had completely refrozen by the next day December 12th, only to completely melt off again on December 15th! This morning, as you can see on the composite photograph of the 3 Clary Webcams, it appears completely refrozen with the possible exception of a small sliver of open water over on the east end of the lake. This afternoon’s expected snow fall will show if that’s really the case. Perhaps this is it. I don’t see anything in the forecast to suggest the lake will melt off again, but you never know.
While December 4th is early for ice in, historically it’s not particularly early at all. I recall as a kid ice skating on Clary Lake at Thanksgiving. Visit our Ice-In and Ice-out dates for Clary Lake page. We have records available back to 2001.
[UPDATE] I guess I wouldn’t be calling the lake fully frozen just yet, judging from the amount of water that’s leaking up onto the surface. When it first started snowing today, dozens of small wet spots appeared. As the snow continued, the wet spots grew in size and number. There must be small holes in the ice for this to occur. Perhaps a good hard freeze will finish the ice-in process!
Greetings Friends of Clary Lake!
Greetings Friends of Clary Lake!
Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year… and more inclusively, Happy Holidays, or whatever and however you choose to celebrate this time of year, this special season that we all cherish as we try to adapt to the waning light of winter. Remember, the light shines from within: may we always be mindful of the blessings we have been given and work to share those blessings with those less fortunate. Continue reading
16 December 2019: Update on AQF Appeal of WLO Transfer
You may recall that back in December 2018 Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) took issue with the Department of Environmental Protection’s decision to transfer the Clary Lake Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association, and that they subsequently appealed that DEP decision to the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP). The BEP subsequently denied AQF’s appeal at a June 2019 hearing. Then, in a move that defied understanding, on July 8, 2019 AQF appealed the BEP decision to Kennebec Superior Court, docket no. AP-2019-31. I posted an article about the Superior Court appeal (see “Aquafortis Associates LLC Appeals BEP Ruling“). The Clary Lake Association was named as a Party in Interest in the appeal. I haven’t written anything else about this proceeding since the appeal was filed in Superior Court on July 8th, but that doesn’t mean nothing has been happening.
During the several months following AQF’s July 8th filing of the appeal in Superior Court, there was the usual flurry of filings and by the (3) parties. The State for their part filed the Administrative Record (copies all the documents and correspondence used or reviewed by the DEP and the BEP to arrive at their decision). The State also filed a motion to dismiss independent claims. AQF through their counsel Dennis Carrillo filed a motion to supplement the administrative record, and the Clary Lake Association, through it’s counsel Randy Creswell, filed a motion to transfer the venue from Kennebec County to Lincoln County. All three motions have been “fully briefed” and I believe the motion to dismiss independent claims has been acquiesced to by all parties which leaves the motion to supplement the record and the motion for venue change to be decided by the court.
A hearing has been scheduled on January 10, 2020 at 10:30 AM in Kennebec County Superior Court at which time the Court will address two outstanding motions. Kennebec County Superior Court is located in Augusta at 1 Court St Suite 101. The hearing is open to the public.
November 2019 Water Level Chart Archived
I have archived the November 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable thing the November chart shows is nothing much! We got a lot of rain (3.75 inches), but not as much as in a normal November (4.58 inches), the month with the highest rainfall on average. We were hoping to keep the lake level around 1 foot below the HWM without overspending our water budget and we did mostly OK until a series of rain storms in the latter half of the month brought the lake level back up to within less than 1/2 foot of the top of the dam. Rather than overspend our water budget, we ended up with water in the bank so to speak. Not really a problem, but not what we were looking for. We ended the month only a 10th of a foot or so lower that we started. We’re currently letting out close to 60 cfs in an attempt to drop the lake to a more normal level for this season. Continue reading
Maine Lakes Society Fall 2019 Newsletter
The Maine Lakes Society (of which the Clary Lake Association is a member) has published their Fall 2019 Newsletter. It’s packed full of interesting information. For example, check out the article on Freshwater Jellyfish on page 5. Who knew?
Happy Thanksgiving 2019 from the Clary Lake Association
On behalf of the Clary Lake Association Board, I’d like to wish everyone a very happy and bountiful Thanksgiving. We’ve certainly got a lot to be thankful for this year! Enjoy family and friends, don’t overeat, don’t drink and drive, and most important, DON’T TALK POLITICS 🙂
October 2019 Water Level Chart Archived
October 2019
I have archived the October 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable thing the October chart shows is Holy Hannah did we get a lot of rain 🙂 We started the month 0.85 inches BELOW average and ended the month just shy of 3 inches ABOVE average for this date. All told we received 8.28 inches of rain in October whereas average rainfall for October is a “only” 4.45 inches. We received almost twice that. We’re now at 39.02 inches for the year, just 5 inches shy of what we’d expect to receive for the whole year, and we still have 2 months to go (see Precipitation chart below). All that rain complicated our efforts to draw the lake down this fall, and currently the water level sits at around 0.60 feet below the HWM, give or take- a level more appropriate for mid to late Summer. Continue reading