27 June 2016: Video of Loon Climbing Onto Nest

I’ve wanted to capture video of a loon climbing onto its nest ever since the first time I saw one do it. Loons are clearly not built for getting around on dry land, but they manage. I’ve tried two other times to capture this event but circumstances conspired to thwart my efforts. I got some nice video (will post some at a later time) but catching this special event has eluded me. Until today. It was windy which caused the camera to bounce around, but the wind let up briefly at just the right time. The video ended when the battery in my camera died. Enjoy.

I’ve been able to set my camera, telescope, and tripod up in a spot in some bushes a good distance away from the nest where I could observe the loons almost without being seen. As you can see from the video, the loon was clearly unconcerned by my presence, though it certainly knew I was there.

26 June 2016: Loon Nest Update, More Pictures

Nesting Loon Series, June 2016, Clary Lake. Photograph by Arlene Wing 26 June 2016

Arlene Wing has sent me some great pictures of the nesting loons and I’ve added them to the 2016 Loon Nest Gallery. She and her husband Randy own the former Crow property, that beautiful place located next to the State boat launch. Their house overlooks the cove where the loons are nesting this summer. She and Randy can actually watch the nest from the comfort of their home. I stopped over there this morning for coffee and a visit, and they’ve got a spotting scope set up in the den. How cool is that! Continue reading →

22 June 2016: Loon Nest Update, New Pictures Added to Site

Nesting Loon, Clary Lake, June 2016. Photograph by George Fergusson 22 June 2016

[dropcap]The[/dropcap] nesting Loons are doing fine and it appears that people are respecting the bird’s need for privacy and not venturing inside the LOON AREA signs. I stopped by today to try out my hastily-fabricated telephoto lens arrangement and took some pictures of the loons that came out rather well I think. Though it looks like I was right on top of them, I wasn’t. Not even close. From where I was set up on the lawn looking down on the nest, my range finder said I was about 390′ away from the nest. The loons barely took notice of me. The pictures were taken with a 6″ f/5 Newtonian reflector telescope which I normally use for observing stars, planets, comets, and nebulae. I hooked my digital Nikon D3300 camera up to it which gave me what amounted to a 762 mm focal length telephoto lens. By adding a 2x barlow lens I was able to double that to effectively a 1524 mm focal length telephoto lens. Continue reading →

22 June 2016: Superior Court Update: WLO Appeal Stayed, Procedural Order Issued

[dropcap]The[/dropcap] judge handling the appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order (AP-2014-01) has issued a Procedural Order based on the results of the Status Conference held back on June 7th. The Order is dated June 17, 2016 which was last Friday. The Order specifies a deadline of August 19th by which time the State should have filed the administrative record as well as their request for discovery. The real surprise in the Order is that contrary to what I had been told and contrary to what had I reported at the time (see: “Update on Superior Court Action“), the proceedings HAVE been Stayed, yet again, until August 1st. I had been assured by Assistant Attorney General Scott Boak when I spoke to him the day after the Status Conference that the suit had not been stayed so I expect the fact that it has now been stayed will come as much of a surprise to him as it did to me. No reason for the additional stay has been given.

Continue reading →

21 June 2016: Instagram Feeds and Other New Features Added To CLA Website

[dropcap]Observant[/dropcap] visitors to our website will have noticed some changes and additions to the Association website. First, in an effort to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving online world of social media, we’ve added some Instagram feeds. You’ll notice on the sidebar, right under the “Recent Site Pictures” two Instagram items. The first shows pictures from the “Clary Lake Me” Instagram page, and the next one down shows pictures from the #clarylake feed. I’ve also added an Instagram Page under the Pictures main menu heading. Many of you will know all about Instagram but for those of you who don’t (which group included me about 3 days ago) Instagram is “an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr”. The hardest thing for me to grasp about Instagram was that while you can cruise around Instagram and look at stuff using a web browser on your desktop or laptop computer, you can only post pictures using an Instagram app on your cell phone or tablet.

Continue reading →

18 June 2016: Loon Nest Update

A loon sitting on the nest, trying to maintain a low profile. I took the picture from Randy & Arlene Wing’s shoreline. Their place is admirably suited for observing the nest without disturbing the loons. The water level at the time this picture was taken was a little over 56″ below the top of the dam. Photograph by George Fergusson 18 June 2016

17 June 2016: Loon Nest Spotted on Clary Lake!

For the first time since the summer of 2012, a pair of loons is attempting to nest again on Clary Lake. This is fantastic news and it has us very excited. The nest is located at the end of the sandbar on the east end of the lake 800′ to 900′ feet northwest of the State Boat launch, opposite Randy and Arlene Wing’s home which is the white cape located next to the boat launch. In fact news of the loon nest was brought to my attention by Arlene Wing who sent me an email last night. David Hodsdon, Jack Holland, and I were scheduled to conduct our biweekly water quality monitoring data-collection exercise this morning and after we were done we boated over and confirmed that there is indeed a loon nest there. I was able to get a couple of pictures of the sitting loon without getting too close.

Our resident Loon expert Mary Gingrow-Shaw (pictured at left) helped me round up the Association’s floating “LOON NEST AREA” signs which have been languishing in the weeds near my boat launch and together we headed over about noon today and set 3 of them just off shore from the sandbar to warn boaters away from the nest. Hopefully people will see these signs and give the loons the peace and solitude they require. People however are the least of the problems these marvelous bird face. They are vulnerable to attack by eagles from the air and coyotes and foxes from the shore. Once the eggs hatch (gestation period is 26 to 31 days) the risks only increase: I’ve seen more than a few baby loons snatched by snapping turtles than I care to remember.

By far the biggest threat these nesting loons now face is from fluctuating water levels. Their nest can either become stranded if the lake level falls too much, or get flooded if it rises too much. As you can see in the picture, loon nests don’t have a lot of freeboard- only 3″ or 4″ at most. An inch or 2 of rain is all it will take to bring the lake up that much and more.

Loon Nest Area Sign.

These floating signs were built many years ago by long time Clary Lake Association member Edward Grant and were last used in 2012 when a loon pair attempted to nest in the marsh over on the west end of the lake by Route 126. Sadly, that nesting attempt failed when the nest was flooded. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen again. Please everyone, respect these signs and give the Loon nest a wide berth. We’ll be monitoring the nest from the shoreline and will post more pictures and updates as the summer progresses.

46th Annual Maine Lakes Conference Coming Up June 25th

The Maine Lakes Society (formerly the Congress of Lake Associations or COLA) is holding their Annual Maine Lakes Conference on the 25th of this month. The itinerary, as usual, looks excellent. The Clary Lake Association is a long-time member of the Maine Lakes Society. For years the annual COLA conference was attended by Association Member Ed Grant. I’ve made a point of going in recent years and I always learn something new. I’ll be going to this one. The cost is $35 which includes lunch.

Here’s the email notice I received about this event:

We invite you to join us at the 46th Annual Maine Lakes Conference on Saturday, June 25th, at the Unity College Center for the Performing Arts!


	Keynote Speaker Holly Ewing of Bates College

This year we look to the future of Maine lakes monitoring and protection, and the myriad ways citizens can get involved in lake protection. Our Keynote Speaker, Holly Ewing of Bates College, will introduce us to the latest research on Gloeotrichia echinulata blooms and GLEON, the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network, which is helping scientists and citizens alike better understand and communicate the way lakes are responding to our changing climate. Afternoon workshops on citizen science, lake and fisheries restoration, the latest on LakeSmart, new partnerships with Maine Audubon’s Stream Smart and LoonSmart programs, translating science in your outreach products, and hands on workshops offer diverse learning experiences at a great new venue in Unity, Maine.

REGISTER TODAY!

Additional Workshops include:

Cyanotoxins and Maine’s developing Public Alert System for Harmful Algal Blooms
What’s that stuff in the water? The appearance of metaphyton and other algae in our lakes and ponds
Long term, statewide collaborative lake monitoring efforts
Special guest Friends of Lake Winnecook
The latest “Get Smart” tips from LakeSmart and Stream Smart
Hands on instruction with lake monitoring technology
Our new partnership with Maine Audubon’s LoonSmart Program
Creative tools for translating water quality data into meaningful communications
Lake and fisheries restoration efforts
Nature Journaling ~ Fish Identification ~ Art Exhibit
Lunchtime breakouts: Council of Lake Associations Annual Roundtable, Camp Care, and Invasive Plant Monitoring FAQ’s

The annual conference will be at the fabulous Unity College Center for the Performing Arts nearLake Winnecook in Unity, Maine. Keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for more information on presentations and speakers. We are also still welcoming conference sponsors!

We hope to see you there!

*Cheryl Daigle*	&	*Maggie Shannon*
Executive Director		Program Director, LakeSmart & Policy

Maine Lakes Society
P O Box 447

Belgrade Lakes, Maine 04918

www.mainelakessociety.org

207-495-2301

11 June 2016: Spring/Summer 2016 Newsletter Posted On Line

I’ve posted the Spring/Summer 2016 CLA Newsletter here on the site. Feel free to download it and share it with your friends and neighbors.

Spring/Summer 2016 Newsletter

A couple of days after we mailed these out 8-10 of them were returned because they had only one mailing seal on the top. Apparently it is now a requirement that folded mail items be sealed on three sides, with the fold on the bottom. Who knew? At least we had the fold in the right place! I put additional seals on the 8 or so newsletters that had been returned and the postmistress sent them out again for no additional charge. Apparently there’s a post office worker in Augusta (all the returned newsletters were for Augusta addresses) who’s a real stickler for regulations. We won’t make that mistake again 🙂

None have been returned for bad addressing which is always nice. If you think you should have received a printed newsletter and one hasn’t arrived yet, let me know. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, email me your contact info.

08 June 2016: Update On Superior Court Action

After attorneys with PretiFlatherty representing the dam and mill owners failed to produce a plan to repair the Clary Lake dam by last week’s June 1st deadline, people were concerned that they had come to some agreement with DEP to give them more time to respond. Also, the current Stay on the Proceedings in Superior Court ran out on June 1st as well, and we’ve all been wondering if another stay was going to be granted which would further delay the resumption of court action. With a Status Conference in Superior Court with Judge Billings scheduled for June 7th, we didn’t have long to wait for answers. I spoke with Assistant Attorney General Scott Boak this morning about what happened at yesterday afternoon’s Status Conference and he said there was no agreement between Preti and DEP going into the meeting, and the proceedings have NOT been stayed. Neither the State nor the Judge are interested in further delays.

Continue reading →

07 July 2016: Medius L3C Late-Files Their Annual Report

medius A quick update to an article from a couple of days ago: Medius L3C, finally filed their 2016 Annual Report. The Secretary of State’s Interactive Corporate Services website shows the Annual Report as having been filed on June 3. The deadline for filing was June 1. Better late than never I always say.

Medius L3C, the company that currently owns the mortgage on the Clary Lake dam, remains shrouded in mystery as the Annual Report doesn’t provide any information we didn’t already know, which is to say, not much. The “authorized company representative” provided is the current Registered Agent, Attorney William Logan of Wiscasset Maine. The company logo at left from the “Company Statement” provided to people attending the dam auction last January 29th (see: 01 February 2016: About that Dam Auction).

Nothing to see here folks. Move along.

05 June 2016: Spring/Summer 2016 CLA Newsletter Is In The Mail!

Immature Bald Eagle

Well, almost. It will go in the mail tomorrow morning. The picture at left is this edition’s highlighted photograph appearing on the front page. It is a picture of an immature Bald Eagle that I spied sitting on a branch outside my bedroom window early one morning this past spring. The picture was the inspiration for a poem my wife wrote which is included on the back of the last page of this year’s newsletter. There wasn’t room to explain all this in the newsletter so I’m doing it here. You’ll find the usual Annual Meeting notice, President’s Message, and various committee updates. We’ve also included 3 small and hopefully unobtrusive advertisements (the same 3 as last year) which you’ll be happy to know completely covered the cost of postage of this edition. Please patronize your local businesses!

Continue reading →

04 June 2016: Early Summer Clary Lake Water Quality Update

Clary Lake Total Phosphorus

And it’s not good news. We’ve received the results back on our first Total Phosphorus (TP) sample for 2016, taken last month on May 20th. At 22 μg/L (micrograms per liter), TP is up at levels typically not seen until mid to late summer. The chart at left has been updated to include this latest data point, you can see where it plots up: it’s the first (only) dot in 2016, furthest to the right. We usually take 3 [the_tooltip text=”core” tooltip=”a sample of the whole water column from the surface down to 7 meters” url=”” background=”” color=””] samples of lake water each season for Phosphorus testing, and send them off to the State Lab for analysis. In the early spring, TP values on the order of 14 to 18 μg/L are more “normal” (for some value of the term “normal”) though in recent years they have been trending higher. Last spring on April 30th TP was 14 μg/L and 17 μg/L on April 25th the year before that. TP values above 18 μg/L typically mean an algae bloom is on the way. This does not bode well for water quality this coming summer.

Phosphorus is the primary nutrient responsible for algae growth in lakes. It comes from various sources including runoff containing eroded soil and sediments. Under conditions of low dissolved oxygen it can be released from bottom sediments in the lake. Wave action on exposed bottom sediments can also result in Phosphorus being released into the lake. Low water conditions resulting in exposed bottom sediments and reduced lake volume certainly contribute to higher Phosphorus concentrations.

David Hodsdon, Jack Holland and I went out yesterday morning for our regular biweekly water quality monitoring session. The transparency of the lake water has already dropped from 4.1 meters to 3.65 meters since May 20th . Data collected back through 2012 is available on the Clary Lake Water Quality Data page. Data back to 1975 is available upon request.

03 June 2016: June 1st Deadline Comes and Goes With Nothing to Show For It

We’ve all been anxiously waiting the June 1st deadline when lawyers for Paul Kelley (Pleasant Pond Mill LLC) and Richard Smith (Aquafortis Associates LLC) were supposed to submit a plan to DEP for repairing the Clary Lake dam and raising the water level of Clary Lake. Earlier this spring PretiFlaherty asked for and received several Stays of the proceedings in Superior Court, first on February 29th for a stay until March 26th and most recently on April 14th for a stay until June 1st. These stays were ostensibly to give them and their clients time to work on their proposal without having the lawsuit hanging over their heads. The State agreed to both Stay requests, and their response to the latest clearly revealed DEP’s deep-seated frustration over lack of progress and their belief that June 1st was the latest they could afford to wait to receive a proposal and still have time to get the dam repaired and the lake level restored this summer. We were led to believe there would be no more stays. We have been told that Mr. Kelley has been trying to raise funds to repair the dam. We have been told repeatedly that the DEP Commissioner is deeply committed to getting the lake level restored and the Water Level Order upheld this summer. In recent months, DEP has publicly maintained an assertive stance that gave us reason to feel cautiously optimistic that finally, after years of maneuvering, come June 1st we were going to see some real progress.

It was not to be. At least not yet apparently. June 1st has come and gone and no formal plan to repair the dam has been submitted to DEP. It remains to be seen what DEP will decide to do next. We will know more after the upcoming Status Conference in Superior Court which is scheduled for this coming Tuesday June 7th, at 3:30 PM.

Stay tuned.

02 June 2016: Medius L3C fails to file Annual Report

According to a representative at the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions, the current holder of the mortgage on the Clary Lake dam, Medius L3C, has failed to file their required 2016 Annual Report by the June 1st deadline. This oversight will cost them $25.

Medius L3C has been shrouded in mystery since the corporation was formed back on March 18, 2015, and today, almost a year and a half later, still little is known about the company. The company has no place of business, no phone number. The owner of the company is unknown; the members, if any, are unknown. It does however have an email address: [email protected]. The company has had 4 Registered Agents since it’s inception 14 months ago, 3 in fact in the past 7 months. The current Registered Agent is Attorney William Logan of Wiscasset who, ironically, was the Registered Agent for the Clary Lake Association when it first incorporated back in 1995 during the Presidency of Arthur Enos. Inquiring minds have been waiting (patiently!) for Medius to file their Annual Report to find out just a little bit more about the company. I guess they’ll have to wait a little longer.

There can be little doubt that the company was formed for the express purpose of taking over the note on the Clary Lake dam from Art Enos (see “Mortgage Assignment“) with the ultimate goal of owning the dam outright through a Power of Sale foreclosure (see: “03 February 2016 Lincoln County News: Result of Clary Lake Dam Auction Unknown“). That didn’t work, and by all accounts, Paul Kelley/PPM are still the record owner of the dam.

What happens now is anybody’s guess.

May 2016 Water Level Chart Archived

May 2016

I’ve archived the May 2016 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable features of the May chart are the lack of rainfall for the month and the inexorable fall of the lake level despite the gate having been mostly closed on the afternoon of Thursday, May 19th. In fact, after the gate closure, there was almost no noticeable reduction in the rate at which the lake lost water during the month (0.025′ before vs. 0.019′ after). The lake level started out at -47.88″ below the top of the dam and fell an average of only 0.02′ per day (less than 1/4″) ending up at -55.68″ below the top of the dam, for a total loss of -7.8″. The lake fell 28 out of 31 days during the month while remaining unchanged on only 3 days. Not once during the month did the lake level rise.

I wrote about the gate closure back on May 21st (see: “Clary Lake Dam’s Gate Almost But Not Quite Closed“). I presume the dam operator left the gate partly open to maintain minimum outlet flows as required by the Clary Lake water level order, but clearly the gate was left open too much: in my estimation, net outflows (including evaporation) have exceeded inflows by as much as 5 CFS (Cubic Feet per Second). Any way you look at it, the simple fact that the lake level continues to fall indicates the gate opening is too great: minimum flows are never supposed to exceed inflows. For more information about minimum flows and where they come from see Minimum Flows Explained.

Average rainfall for May is around 3.7″ but we received only 1.79″ of rain for the entire month, considerably less than 1/2 the normal amount. Less precipitation means less runoff obviously; it is likely that if we’d been receiving the normal amount of rain for the month that the lake level would have more or less stabilized once the gate was lowered.

A Quick Reminder: Signup for Post Notices

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Not a working form! Look on the right side of the page!

A quick reminder to those of you who don’t want to miss anything new on the Clary Lake Association website but can’t seem to find your way here on a regular basis, you can signup to receive email notifications of new posts on the site. If you want to try this out, on the right-hand sidebar on (almost) any page on the site, usually right under the Weather “widget” look for the “Subscribe to Clary Lake Association News via Email” item (pictured above). Just enter your email address in the field provided and click the “Subscribe” button. You’ll shortly receive an email with the subject line “Confirm your subscription for Clary Lake Association” that provides a “Confirm Follow” button to click. Rest assured that your email address will not get shared or revealed to anyone. This will not generate spam or unsolicited emails, only notifications of new posts.

Once you’ve subscribed, you’ll receive a single email when a new article is posted to the site including an excerpt to pique your curiosity, and a link to click on to take you to the article. At the bottom of the email is an Unsubscribe link in case you want to stop receiving emails and a “manage your email settings” link to fine-tune how you receive notifications.

I hope you consider taking advantage of this neat site feature; a couple of dozen people have already signed up. This service is provided by WordPress, the people that are write the software used on this site. If you’re a busy person or just can’t remember to check here as often as you would like, try out post notifications. I’ll be posting a link to this post under the “Site Help” main menu heading.

28 May 2016: Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone, from the Clary Lake Association. Just one minor problem: with the lake level down 54″+ below the top of the dam, how are you going to get your boat onto the water?

Earlier today there was a jet ski out on the lake. Not sure where they put in, but they’re small enough you can horse them into the water about any place. The only boat I’ve seen on the lake beside my own in recent weeks put in at the private launch over on the Enos property.

2016 Clary Lake Association Annual Meeting Scheduled

This year’s Annual meeting of the Clary Lake Association will be on Saturday, August 6th at 2:00 PM at the home of Erin Grimshaw and Christina Bishop (and their three sons) located at 739 Gardiner Road (aka Route 126) in Jefferson. Their home is located about 1/3 of a mile west of (towards Whitefield) the intersection of Route 126 and 215. Most of you will know the place: this is the house at the lower end of the old MacDonald hay field overlooking Clary Lake (picture, below left), and at the end of a looooong driveway. Andy Goss built it a few years ago; Erin and Christina have owned it since 2013. Here’s a Google Map showing the location. If you need help finding the place call 207-549-5991 for directions. The rain date, on the off chance it is raining on Saturday, is the same time, same place, next day. I can’t remember the last time the Annual meeting was rained out. I don’t know if it’s ever happened.

As usual, there will be a pot luck supper at the conclusion of the meeting so bring your favorite casserole, salad, desert, bread, dip, road kill, or what have you and plan to stay awhile and socialize.

We’ll be sending out the 2016 Spring/Summer Newsletter in a couple of weeks or thereabouts, and will include some additional information about the Annual meeting and what to expect. Included in the newsletter will be a membership form for the upcoming 2016/2017 membership year. Dues are still only $25 per year and the membership year runs from annual meeting to annual meeting, therefore in order to be able to participate in this meeting, you have to be a paid-up member for the coming year. We encourage you to mail in your membership form prior to the annual meeting. A lot of you like to renew your membership at the meeting, and that is fine too but we ask that you come a early to register and get settled as we have a lot of business to conduct and will want to start the meeting promptly at 2:00 pm. The registration table will be setup by 1:00 pm. Continue reading →

21 May 2016: Clary Lake Water Quality Monitoring Resumes for 2016

On Friday May 20th David Hodsdon and I (Jack Holland was not able to join us) were finally able to resume Clary Lake Water quality monitoring for 2016 albeit a month later than we had planned, but still within the allowable time frame. Better late than never as the saying goes. We had originally planned on starting a month ago, but our YSI Pro 20 digital dissolved oxygen meter which the Association purchased through donations a few years ago failed to pass routine calibration which is performed each spring by Maine VLMP technicians. They first thought the problem was a bad probe but swapping it out for a known-good probe didn’t solve the problem. YSI Technical Support suggested it might be water in the cable connector housing so they let the unit sit around disassembled for a few days to dry out. After that it started working intermittently. They ran some more tests on it over the next week finally certified it for use with the instructions to “keep an eye on it.” We got it back midweek last week.

This first time out, the DO meter worked flawlessly (and we hope it continues). With a secchi disk reading of 4.1 meters (13.25′) the water clarity is excellent, and about normal for this time of year. But be warned: it’s early in the season yet, and the water quality can and will deteriorate. The lake has yet to “stratify” meaning that it is pretty homogenous (well mixed) and there is no thermocline yet: the temperature from the surface to the bottom only varied 2.5° Celsius. This means that if you were to go swimming now you’d think the whole lake was cold, not just 6′ down like during the summer. Likewise, the dissolved oxygen reading only varied 2.6 mg/l from surface down to 7 meters. Continue reading →