05 July 2019: Moderate Algae Bloom in Progress

Cyanobacteria coloring the water.

You may have noticed a green scum drifting on the lake surface recently or seen loads of green particles suspended in the water and thought it was pollen. Well, it does look a lot like the pine pollen that was blowing around last week, but that was yellow, and this stuff is green. Clary Lake is actually experiencing moderate blue-green algae growth resulting in an algal bloom. This early season algae bloom has no doubt been fueled by excessive runoff from all the rain this spring (15″ since the 1st of April!) which has introduced Phosphorus and other nutrients into the lake. Phosphorous is the primary food for plants and algae. Blue-green algae technically is a phylum of bacteria (cyanobacteria) that obtain their energy through photosynthesis. Another likely source of Phosphorus is rotting terrestrial vegetation. For years, better than 300 acres of drained wetlands have been growing grass, goldenrod, alders, and other terrestrial plants and that land is now under water, and the vegetation is rotting. This releases nutrients including Phosphorus in the water, helping to fuel aquatic plant and algae growth. Here are a few more photographs:

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All this rainfall has also resulted in significant flushing of Clary Lake, well in excess of normal. Since January 1st, the lake’s entire volume of water (7,224 acre-feet) has been replaced almost twice. The inverse of the flushing rate is retention time (how long water stays in the lake) and that figure has decreased to about 92 days. The published “flushing rate” for Clary Lake is 1.81 times per year. We’re going to exceed that value by a significant amount. This will help “wash out” the nutrients currently in the lake, but will also result in more nutrients being brought into the lake. This is why controlling non-point sources of soil erosion and sedimentation is So Important: it doesn’t help replacing nutrient-laden water with more nutrient-laden water.

I expect this current algal bloom to dissipate soon, and it remains to be seen if we’ll have additional algae growth this year. Under the circumstances, I wouldn’t be surprised. It is important to remember that even though the dam has been repaired and the lake level restored, the ecology of Clary Lake has been severely damaged as a result of the 8 years of low water and it going to take some time to recover. Clary is still at-risk from both natural and man-caused issues and deserves our ongoing attention.

03 July 2019: Clary Lake Association Putting a Float in Whitefield 4th of July Parade

Whitefield 4th of July Parade, 2010

The Clary Lake Association has been threatening to put a float in the Whitefield 4th of July Parade for a few years, and we’re finally doing it! With everything that’s been going on, I completely forgot to post anything about it so sorry for the late notice! The parade starts at 10 AM. Come on down to Kings Mills (intersection of Route 194 and Townhouse Road) and cheer us on. If you’d like to ride on the float or have kids that would like to ride on the float, be at the intersection of Route 194 and Route 218 at after 9 and before 10. Hope to see you there!

June 2019 Water Level Chart Archived

I have archived the June 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable thing about this chart is that it shows we received 6.72″ of rain in June which has got to a record of some sort. As a result, the lake level has remained very close to or slightly above the HWM elevation of 151.17 feet with water flowing over the top of the dam for the entire month. In fact, water has been flowing over the top of the dam since April 1st, which is quite unusual. Average rainfall for June is “only” 3.73 inches and we exceeded that amount by almost exactly 3 inches. This puts us going into summer 1.8 inches ahead of average precipitation for this date. We expect the lake level to gradually drop over the next 2 months, assuming precipitation returns to something more like normal.

Minimum Flows drop today to 1.9 cubic feet per second (cfs), the lowest outflow rate of the year. Outflows will remain at this level through September 15th when they go up to 3.5 cfs.

I’m liking the new water level chart pictured above. What I like most about it is I’ve spent exactly NO TIME uploading daily updates as the charts are generated dynamically by Google. That said, I’m still tweaking the design.

Courtesy Boat Inspection Training Set For July 1st

HYDRILLA (Hydrilla verticillata)

Back in late May I posted about the CLA’s plans to participate in the State’s Courtesy Boat Inspection program, which is administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. It has taken a while, but we have finally received a date for Courtesy Boat Inspection (CBI) training: Monday July 1st at 3:30 pm at Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust in Damariscotta which is located right across the road from Hammond Lumber Co. on Business Route One. The address is 3 Round Top Lane, Damariscotta ME 04348. This training is a joint venture of Midcoast Conservancy and Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust and is being provided free-of-charge.

From the Midcoast Conservancy website:

What do courtesy boat inspectors do? The program is really an educational one. As boaters launch and remove their boats from the water, CBIs will discuss with boaters how invasive aquatic plants spread, show how to inspect boats and equipment for plant fragments, urge boaters to inspect before and after every launch, distribute information about invasive plants, and articulate Maine law regarding the transport of these plants.

We need volunteers! Our goal is to line up enough Courtesy Boat Inspectors to be able to cover the State boat launch on Clary Lake during the “busy” hours (7 AM to 3 PM) on weekends, as those are the days that typically see the most boat traffic. Typically volunteers would sign up for 2 hour shifts, and inspections would continue through Labor Day. If you’re interested in helping out with this important initiative, please contact the Secretary.

Glenn B. MacDonald Feb. 26, 1947-May 26, 2019

Glenn B. MacDonald
Feb. 26, 1947-May 26, 2019

June 11, 2019

Major MacDonald was born in Gardiner, Feb. 26, 1947, the son of the late Mrs. Marian Graffam of Rome, N.Y., and the late Judge Paul A. MacDonald, of Woolwich, Maine.

He was educated at Higgins Classical Institute in Charleston and The University of Maine in Augusta. He also graduated from many Army service schools and won numerous journalistic awards as editor of Guardlife Magazine.

He was also a retired major in the U.S. Army Reserve, having risen in the ranks as an enlisted man, non-commissioned officer, company grade and field grade officer. Major MacDonald was a U.S. Army combat correspondent in 1971 and 1973. He also covered fighting in Laos and Cambodia. Continue reading →

06 June 2019: BEP Denies AQF Appeal

Winning! In a decision that should come as a surprise to no one, the Board of Environmental Protection after listening to comments from Aquafortis Associates LLC [AQF] and others, summarily denied AQF’s appeal of the December 2018 DEP Order transferring the Clary Lake Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association. The Board also denied several parties requests for a public hearing. So the DEP Transfer Order stands.

The information-gathering portion of the hearing lasted over 2 hours, the bulk of which was used by attorney for AQF Dennis Carrillo to explain and justify AQF’s appeal; this was a non-testimonial hearing and the record was closed which means all of AQF’s attempts to supplement the record with additional material were for naught. After AQF spoke, CLA President Malcolm Burson issued a short statement on the Association’s position- basically that we filed a satisfactory application and did everything right and in a timely fashion and that we applaud the Department’s decision to transfer the Order to us. Finally, counsel for DEP spoke briefly stating their opinion that the DEP had covered all the bases and that the CLA transfer application was deemed satisfactory and complete. The Board then asked if there were any additional comments; Butch Duncan spoke briefly about his desire for a public hearing, and Paul Kelley spoke about why the thinks the Clary Lake Association lacks sufficient Right, Title, and Interest in the Clary Lake dam to operate it, an argument that Mr. Carrillo also attempted to make. The Board however correctly observed that there is a forum for resolving title issues, and they aren’t it.

The Board deliberated for all of about 2 minutes before issuing their unanimous decision denying the appeal.

A number of CLA Board members and several Clary Lake Association members attended the hearing. I have no idea how many people if any listened in on the DEP Virtual Meeting Room, if you did I’d be interested in hearing your reactions.

05 June 2019 Reminder: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal This Thursday

Just a reminder that the Board of Environmental Protection hearing on Aquafortis Associates LLC’s appeal of the DEP’s Transfer Order is tomorrow, Thursday June 6 at 9:00 AM at the Augusta Civic Center. This hearing is the result of an appeal filed by Richard Smith of Aquafortis Associates LLC back in December 2019 and was originally scheduled for May 16th but was rescheduled at the last minute to June 6th at the request of counsel for AQF. You might want to review the previous posts on this matter for more information; here are the two most recent:

The hearing is expected to last about 45 minutes. If you can’t attend in person but would nonetheless like to listen to it online, you’ll find directions for how to do that in the 04 May 2019 post.

Flora and Fauna

The wild Rhododendron (Rhododendron canadense) growing up in the floating bog and throughout the marsh is absolutely stunning this spring:

As is the Wild Blueberry: Continue reading →

01 June 2019: The Loons Are Nesting!

The Loons are nesting in the traditional location in the deep inlet on the north shore of the lake, the same place they nested last year, but deeper in the cove because of the higher water. I spotted the location on May 30th, and it is well hidden: if I hadn’t seen one of the loons hanging around the area, I’d never have known it was there. I was able to get one (not very good) photograph of the loons on the nest (below). In previous years, fluctuating water levels have made successful nesting a real challenge with the biggest risk being flooding due to a rapid rise in water level. The good news this year is the lake level is already at the High Water Mark and stable, so even if we get heavy rains, the lake level won’t rise enough to flood the nest. Continue reading →

May 2019 Water Level Chart Archived

May 2019

I have archived the May 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable thing about this chart is that it shows the lake level hovered around the Normal High Water Mark for the entire month, something that hasn’t happened since last month 🙂 More to the point, this is the last in this hand-made series of water level charts that I’ll be producing. I’ve been threatening to stop making these charts for a while, but old habits are hard to break. This time I’m really done. I started 8 years ago in January 2012 at the start of our long water level crisis. The introduction of the new Dam Operation Log however with its own automatically generated charts and graphs has made these traditional charts a duplicated (and wasted) effort. I have better things to do now and I just can’t justify the time and effort to continue making them. Since starting recording water level measurements in December 2011, I’ve made 2700 individual water level measurements and posted 101 Monthly water level charts. It’s the end of an era, and about time!

The Current Water Level Charts page will remain but with a new look and sporting new automatically-generated charts and graphs from the Dam Operations Log.

Finally, it was a wet month. We received 3.88 inches of rain for the month, slightly more than the average for May. For the year at 15.96″ which is right about where we’re supposed to be.

24 May 2019: CLA To Conduct Courtesy Boat Inspections

HYDRILLA (Hydrilla verticillata)

With the State boat launch back in service, our concerns rightly turn to protecting Clary Lake from the chance introduction of invasive aquatic plant species. To that end, the Clary Lake Association is gearing up to start participating in Maine’s Courtesy Boat Inspection (CBI) program starting this summer, and we’re going to need volunteers! While there are various ways invasive plants can make it into lakes, by far the most common transport mechanism is on boats and trailers. Sadly, there are a number of lakes in the State with an invasive aquatic plant problem including several nearby lakes. The goal will be to have enough people lined up and trained so that the boat launch can be covered during the weekends to inspect boats and trailers before they they put in the lake, to make sure there are no invasive plants hitching a ride. Continue reading →

21 May 2019: One Casualty of the Site Migration

There was one regrettable casualty of the otherwise successful site migration: the list of 50+ or so people who had signed up to receive email notices of new website posts was lost. This list was maintained by WordPress so I have no idea who was subscribed or what email addresses were used. If you were on that list and want to get back on that list, you’ll have to resubscribe. Look for the “Subscribe to Blog via Email” form on the sidebar. Just enter your email address, respond to the “Confirm your subscription for Clary Lake Association” email you’ll receive, and you’ll be back on the list. If you’re viewing the site’s mobile theme on a phone or tablet, first look for the “View Full Site” link at the bottom of the main page and then you’ll be able to subscribe. Sorry for the inconvenience.

21 May 2019: CLA Site Migration Complete

Yesterday morning I posted about plans to migrate the Clary Lake Association website to a new platform. Ironically, in the process of completing the move, that posted got wiped out. I’m happy to report that we completed the migration around midnight last night without any major problems, though as predicted, the Clarycams broke spectacularly. We got those working this morning.

We’ve made no significant changes to the content on the site, but everyone should notice a significant decrease in page load times. Page load speeds have been reduced partly thanks to faster hardware but also to site optimization. We’ll be making some additional optimizations over the next week or so which should help improve site performance. If anyone has any issues with the site, you know how to reach me.

CLA Spring/Summer 2019 Newsletter Mailed

The Clary Lake Association’s Spring/Summer 2019 Newsletter went in the mail a couple of days ago. This year we mailed about 225 newsletters, our largest mailing yet. They’ve already been delivered to most local addresses, but if yours is going out of town it will probably take a few more days to reach you. Traditionally the Summer newsletter kicks off our Membership Drive for the upcoming year which runs from Annual Meeting to Annual Meeting. This year’s meeting is going to be held at the Clary Lake dam on Saturday August 3, 2019. Continue reading →

13 May 2019: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal of Transfer Order Continued

Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) has retained attorney Dennis Carrillo to represent them in their appeal of the DEP License Transfer Order (see 04 May 2019: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal of Transfer Order Scheduled). At Carrillo’s request, Board of Environmental Protection Chairman Mark Draper has agreed to continue the hearing originally scheduled for this coming Thursday May 16th to Thursday June 6th at 9:00 AM at the Augusta Civic Center.

You may recall that attorney Carrillo represented Richard Smith and AQF in both the Paul Kelley Bankruptcy Proceeding and the Rubin/Ayer lawsuit. However, given that is a non-testimonial proceeding and that the record is closed (i.e., there will be no witnesses, no testimony, and no new evidence entered) one wonders what Smith is hoping to accomplish by retaining counsel to represent him in this proceeding.

For what it’s worth, here’s the letter sent by attorney Carrillo to the BEP:

19-05-09 ldc to draper requesting continuance

04 May 2019: BEP Hearing on AQF Appeal of Transfer Order Scheduled

You may recall that back in December the DEP issued an Order transferring the Clary Lake water level order to the Clary Lake Association (see 11 December 2018: Clary Lake Water Level Order Transfer Complete). You may also remember that Richard Smith, owner of Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) subsequently appealed the Transfer Order to the Board of Environmental Protection (see 26 December 2018: Aquafortis Appeals CLA License Transfer). Today I received 2 heavy manila envelopes in the mail, one addressed to me and one to President Malcolm Burson, each containing 98 pages of documents pertaining to Aquafortis’s appeal. A hearing on the appeal has been scheduled for Thursday May 16, 2019 beginning at 9:00 AM. The meeting is going to be at the Augusta Civic Center at 76 Community Drive in Augusta. Continue reading →

01 May 2019: DEP Approves Water Level Management Plan

We have received provisional approval of our Water Level Management Plan [WLMP] from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The WLMP details the procedures we’ll be following to operate the Clary Lake dam and manage the water level so as to remain in compliance with the Clary Lake Water Level Order [WLO]. The completion of a management plan was the final requirement of the WLO and it’s good to have this task behind us. This first season is like a shakedown cruise: we’ll be sitting down with DEP staff next winter to review the plan to see how well it’s met everyone’s needs. Continue reading →

April 2019 Water Level Chart Archived

April 2019

I have archived the April 2019 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable thing about this chart is that it shows the lake level rose up to the High Water Mark (HWM) on the first day of the month, for the first time since before our water level crisis started back in 2011! The lake level has been hovering right around the HWM for the entire month, spending some time above and some time below it, rising as high as 3 inches above the HWM on April 27th before dropping to end the month 1.80 inches above the HWM. A lake level slightly above the HWM is a more or less normal condition this time of year, and there has been water flowing over the top of the Clary Lake dam for the entire month. When the spring runoff ends (it’s already peaked), the lake level will drop back to a more reasonable level 4 to 6 inches below the HWM. The plan is try and keep it around that level through July and into August. Welcome to the New Normal. Continue reading →

29 April 2017: Midcoast Conservancy Info-Session on Browntail Moths

Browntail Moth Caterpillar

For those of you who are interested in learning more about Browntail moths (which should be pretty much all of you), the Midcoast Conservancy has finally posted the video of the program on Browntail Moths that they put on back on April 4th at the Edgecomb Eddy School. You’ll find a link to that video along with other useful information about these insect pests.

https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/browntail-moth-info-session/

26 April 2019: Water Monitoring Resumes for 2019

David measures the wind speed, direction, and temperature.

Kelsie French, David Hodsdon, and I headed out today to kick off the 2019 Clary Lake water quality monitoring season. David started monitoring on Clary Lake in 1975, making this his 44th year on the job! The average secchi disk reading was 3.75 meters (12.3 feet) which is about average for this time of year- spring rains and runoff carries silt into the lake which reduces transparency. It’ll clear up some as summer approaches. Dissolved Oxygen pretty uniform throughout the water column, also a normal condition for this time of year. We had planned on obtaining a water sample for Phosphorus testing but the weather today just wasn’t conducive to spending any more time on the water than we had to. After all, it’s not like we were fishing. At 9.8° C the water temperature was actually warmer than the air! All I can say is I look forward to more pleasant weather this year than what we had to put up with today!

You’ll find water quality data back to 2012 on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page.