Late last Thursday afternoon for reasons known only to himself, the Clary Lake dam owner closed the dam’s gate to within about 7″ of completely shut. As you can see from the picture at left, there’s still quite a bit of water flowing out of the lake but the mill pond behind the dam has considerably more water in it than when the gate was wide open. However, while the water may be backing up behind the dam, the lake level is still falling about 1/4″ per day. Remember, water only flows down hill and there is a mile and a half of meandering channel down which the water has to flow to get from the lake to the dam. With the gate wide open and the lake this low, I suspect the water level right at the dam itself has been as much as 2 feet lower than out on the lake, perhaps even more. I’ve actually measured a 3″ difference when gate was wide open and the lake was almost full. Albert Boynton whose family owned the dam in the 1920’s and who was actually born in the little red house on the dam told me once that after a morning of sawing lumber, the upper mill pond would have fallen considerably; when they returned from dinner, it would be full again.
05 May 2016: Black Crappies firmly established in Clary Lake
Black Crappie
Well, we knew that. We’ve known for a while now that Black Crappies were being caught in Clary Lake, and I’ve written about before (see: 28 May 2015: A Black Crappie caught in Clary Lake) but I had not actually caught one myself until yesterday when I hooked this 11″ specimen. Unlike the bass that I catch, I kept this one and had it for dinner last night. It was not bad.
Black Crappie are firmly established in most waterways in other parts of the country, especially down south (in Louisiana they’re called “Sac-a-Lait”) and they are generally considered to be an excellent pan fish, good eating with firm white flesh. However, here in Maine they are considered an invasive species and they are not native to Clary Lake (for that matter, neither are large and small mouth bass which were introduced in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s). Apparently sometime in the last 10-15 years someone introduced them into Clary to “improve” the fishery. It’s clear from the size of this one that we’ve got a firmly established breeding population of Black Crappie in Clary Lake.
I sent a picture of the fish I caught to Jason Seiders, a fisheries biologist with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and he responded that his staff will be conducting surveys of the Sheepscot River drainage this summer, focused mainly on assessing bass populations and confirming the presence of black crappie. Black Crappie are a very prolific fish and they can pretty much take over a water body. It is believed that they will likely affect Clary’s small mouth bass population the most.
Jason Seider’s final advice: don’t be afraid to keep all the Crappie you catch. For what it’s worth, I caught this one on a 6″ rubber worm but I expect you’ll be able to catch them on about anything you throw in the water.
02 May 2016: State Agrees to AQF Request for Stay of Proceedings
[dropcap]Back[/dropcap] on April 20th I posted about how Aquafortis Associates LLC (“AQF”) filed yet another Request for Stay of Proceedings in the matter of the ongoing appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order (see: “Lawyers for Kelley, Smith file Yet Another Motion For Stay of WLO Appeal“). That latest Request for Stay was dated April 14th and requested a stay of proceedings until June 1st to give the parties additional time to try and arrive at a settlement. When I reported on this matter, the State had not yet responded to the Motion though I anticipated that they would not object to the stay request. On April 22nd they did respond, and as expected, they did not object. Continue reading
April 2016 Water Level Chart Archived
April 2016
I’ve archived the April 2016 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature of the April chart is that the lake level stayed pretty stable around -34″ below the top of the dam for the first 15 days of the month (despite the dam’s gate being wide open) after which point it began to fall steadily, ending the month at -47″ below the top of the dam. All in all we received only 3.33″ of rain in April which is less than the average monthly precipitation of 3.78″. This lack of rainfall has contributed to the dry conditions we’re seeing now. Most of the rainfall occurred in the first half of the month, with 2.68″ falling by April 15th which explains the relatively stable water level during that time. Only an additional 0.65″ fell during the second half of the month.
I’ve added a new statistic to the monthly water level chart, that being the volume of Clary Lake at its current level as a percentage of full. This new data has been added to the middle “narrative” portion of the Current Water Level Charts page. The figure comes from a volume analysis I’ve been working on this past winter based on the Clary Lake Depth Chart (at left) that I prepared from data collected by DEP during their September 2012 bathymetric survey and additional [the_tooltip text=”LIDAR” tooltip=”Lidar (also written LIDAR, LiDAR or LADAR) is a surveying technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser light. Lidar exists as an acronym of Light Detection And Ranging. LIDAR data is typically collected from planes.” url=”” background=”” color=””] data I obtained from the Maine Office of GIS. In theory calculating volumes from a contour map is pretty straight forward and is a task most land surveyors are familiar with, but the size of Clary Lake presented some challenges and there turned out to be a considerable learning curve to the GIS software I used to extract the information I needed for my calculations. I finally got it figured out.
Currently, at -47″ below the top of the dam, the lake is about 66% full and the area has shrunk to about 473 acres of about 62% of its size when full. Continue reading
20 April 2016: Lawyers for Kelley, Smith file Yet Another Motion For Stay of WLO Appeal
Attorneys for Aquafortis Associates LLC (“AQF”) have filed another Motion For Stay of the WLO appeal until June 1st. The motion was filed on April 14th and states that AQF, Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (“PPM”), and the Department of Environmental Protection have been “cooperatively working to resolve the issues that are the subject of Aquafortis’ appeal of the Department of Environmental Protection’s (“DEP”) Water Level Order for Clary Lake Dam (“CLD”), including issues that impede repairs to the CLD.” Continue reading
09 April 2016 BDN: What an early spring means for Maine’s lakes
Clary Ice Out
You’ll recall that the ice went out on Clary Lake on March 13th this year, the earliest since we started keeping records in 2001. Well there’s a great article in today’s Bangor Daily News about the potential impact of an early spring on lake water quality. Basically, warmer than usual weather coupled with an early ice-out result in water temperatures rising higher, sooner, and lake stratification taking place sooner as a result. Stratification is the process whereby the water in the lake separates into a warm, generally oxygen-rich upper layer and a colder, generally oxygen-deprived lower layer. You’ve all experienced lake water stratification when you jumped into nice warm water only to discover that 4′-5′ down the water is a whole lot colder. One impact of oxygen deficiency in a lake is the release phosphorus from bottom sediments which leads to algae growth. The article is short and informative and worth a read:
BDN: What an early spring means for Maine’s lakes
The excessively low water conditions we’ve been experiencing on Clary Lake for the last 5 years or so have also had a severe impact on water quality, compounding the effect of the normal seasonal lake water cycles, resulting in more, and more severe, algae blooms. This is in part due to severely diminished lake volume, loss of wetland habitat, and erosion and sedimentation of bottom sediments around the edges of the lake that normally would be covered by a protective 4′-5′ of water.
The CLA will be starting it’s water quality monitoring activities next week. There is water quality data for Clary Lake going back to 1975 (available by request). You can view the water quality data back to April 2012 online on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring data page.
03 April 2016: Sunrise on Clary Lake
Sunrise on Clary Lake this morning was short but intense.
March 2016 Water Level Chart Archived
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!
29 March 2016: Aquafortis Associates LLC Files Amended Petition in Superior Court
Attorneys for Aquafortis Associates LLC have finally filed an amended petition in the Superior Court appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order. You may recall that back on January 25th the Court issued an Order granting the State’s Motion to Dismiss and gave Aquafortis Associates, LLC 21 days to file an amended petition. Rather than filing the amended petition, they instead appealed the Superior Court ruling to the Law Court on February 16th, followed not quite 2 weeks later by Requests for Stays of Proceedings of both the appeal and the underlying Superior Court action. The appeal was subsequently dismissed by the Law Court on March 1st, and the 30 day stay requested on February 16th ended last Saturday, March 26th. The amended petition was filed yesterday, March 28th. Yes, it has taken a lot longer than 21 days for the amended petition to be filed; the reason for this is explained quite well in the cover letter accompanying the amended petition. Here’s the amended petition; it’s 23 pages and a rather large file, but interesting reading:
The most significant thing about this amended petition for me is that Paul Kelley and his company Pleasant Pond Mill LLC are not parties to it. This is because the Court’s January 25th Order granting the State’s Motion to Dismiss resulted in Mr. Kelley being removed from the proceedings. With that exception, this amended petition is not a whole lot different from the proposed amended petition filed with the court last summer.
So what’s been going on?
20 March 2016: IFW Commissioner Opens Fishing Season Two Weeks Early
From the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife webpage:
“Effective Thursday, March 17, the 2016 Open Water fishing season began, two weeks earlier than usual, per an amended rule by the Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.”
“The amended regulation allows bodies of water that were closed to open water fishing until April 1, 2016 to become open to open water fishing effective March 17, 2016.”
“Anglers throughout the state may now get a chance to enjoy the early spring by fishing on their favorite waterway earlier than usual.”
The two men who hit Clary Lake last Friday (picture above) no doubt wish they’d waited for warmer weather! The wind coming down the lake was very strong and bitterly cold, causing them to quit fishing early. The waves were breaking over the back of the boat as they were trying to maneuver it onto the trailer. At least there was enough water for them to launch and retrieve their boat.
15 March 2015: Yet Another Time Lapse Video of Ice-Out, Spring 2016
The first ice-out video I posted has been so popular I decided to make one from images captured by David Hodsdon’s ClaryCam2 webcam. Ice-out primarily occurred over 2 days starting March 10th but I decided to include a third day because it started with an incredible sunrise, and around 11:30 AM an ice floe goes by 🙂
15 March 2016: The Story of a Performing Arts Community on Clary Lake
The Whitefield Historical Society and the Jefferson Historical Society are putting on a program this coming Sunday, March 20th at the Whitefield Townhouse on Townhouse Road in Whitefield. Below is the cover illustration of the Whitefield Historical Society’s latest newsletter.
A performing arts community settled at the eastern end of Clary Lake beginning in the early 1900s. Clockwise from 12 o’clock: Ann Ward; Lucy Lee, a reader; Percy Hunt, baritone, and his wife, Katherine Ridgeway, a reader performed together on the Redpath Lyceum circuit; France King Ward, Crawford Peffer and his wife, Ella Harding, soprano; F. Morse Wemple and George Fergusson, baritones, who taught voice with Percy Hunt at the New England Conservatory. Mr. Peffer owned the New York and New England Redpath Lyceum and Chatauqua Circuits. Katherine Ridgeway and Ella Peffer went on to establish the Katherine Ridgeway Camp for Girls on the northern side of the lake. Descendants and people who knew them are encouraged to come and share their memories
George Fergusson, pictured above at 11 o’clock was my grandfather. He came to Maine and bought our property on Clary Lake in 1922. I well remember from my childhood days visiting with Percy Hunt and his sister Lucy Lee who lived across the road from the Highland Cemetery in a house now owned by Fasano, the Ward Sisters whose house and property on North Forty Lane is now owned by the Relyea family, and Morse Wemple whose property at the east end of Clary Lake was owned for many years by the Stickney family and is now owned by Glenn Bruce MacDonald. I never knew the Peffer family but understand their property was located just north of the Wemple property. The Robbins property on Clary Lake is part of the old Peffer place. They probably owned that nice red cape out in the field just up the hill from the Wemple place.
My sister and I have worked closely with Marie Sacks this past year to help her collect the information and materials she’ll be using in her presentation. I’m really looking forward to this!
13 March 2016: Time Lapse Video of Clary Lake Ice Out, Spring 2016
Last spring I made time lapse video using campics from the original ClaryCam showing the 2015 ice-out event. I decided to do that again, because I can. This video actually covers 2 days, March 12 and 13 with most of the night time images NOT included, because boring. Not much happens on the first day but the wind really picks up midday on the 13th:
13 March 2016: Ice Out on Clary Lake
Clary Lake Ice Out 3-13-16
David Hodsdon usually makes the official ice-out determination but I haven’t heard from him today and according to my precise calculations, today Clary Lake became completely ice-free. The northwest end of the lake from the outlet around the point at the end of Duncan Road has been ice-free for some days but the southern side which gets less direct sunlight was still mostly iced in until yesterday. Today’s high winds (see above) rapidly broke up and dispersed the remaining ice sheets. Today marks the earlier start of the open water season on Clary Lake going as far back as 2001, when our records start. The criterion for ice-out is when the lake is sufficiently free of ice that one can boat round the lake within a few feet of shore (essentially completely free of ice).
According to the Clary Lake Water Level Order, at ice-out the lake level should be at or very near the “normal historical high water mark” of the lake which has been determined by DEP survey to be at an elevation of 151.2′ which corresponds with the top of the dam. The lake level is supposed to be maintained at that elevation or as close to it as possible through the end of July to provide a stable water level to maintain fish and waterfowl breeding habitat. Unfortunately, the lake level is currently a little more than 2 feet below that elevation and falling and with no snow pack to provide spring runoff, we’re entirely dependent on spring rains to keep the lake level from falling too far, too fast. I’m not very optimistic.
I’ll post a time lapse video of this year’s ice-out shortly. I can’t wait to get my boat in the water.
Avian Haven’s 2015 Year End Report Now Available
American Bittern
[dropcap]The[/dropcap] Avian Haven Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center’s 2015 Year End Report is now available and has been posted on the Avian Haven website. The report is packed with pictures and fascinating stories of their rescue efforts through the year and makes for a very enjoyable read. The picture at left is of a juvenile American Bittern from their website. Avian Haven has been in existence since 1999 and are currently handling about 2000 rescue cases a year, making them one of the largest rehabilitation practices in New England. Avian Haven is a non-profit organization located on the Palermo Road in Freedom, Maine. They’re great folks, doing an amazing job caring for sick and injured birds of all sorts. In addition to the Avian Haven website, you can also follow them on their Facebook page. Enjoy the report!
05 March 2016: Law Court Dismisses PPM Appeal
The appeal filed with the Law Court back in late February by counsel for Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) was dismissed last Tuesday, March 1st because the appeal was deemed to be “interlocutory” which is a term referring to an interim ruling issued before the conclusion of a suit. While it is certainly good news, one shouldn’t try to read too much into this decision: it is not uncommon for a Law Court to dismiss an appeal of a lower court ruling while the underlying suit is still being heard. Consequently, this dismissal isn’t really unexpected but it is interesting that the dismissal was issued so quickly. PPM’s Motion to Stay the appeal, filed last Monday, February 29th, has also been dismissed as moot.
So what all this means is that when the appeal of the Clary Lake Water Level Order in Superior Court resumes at the conclusion of the current stay on March 26th, it will proceed without the benefit of Paul Kelley/PPM being a party to it.
Things do seem to be proceeding at a fast pace.
03 March 2016: PretiFlaherty Files Motions for Stays of Suits
[dropcap]Last[/dropcap] Monday, February 29th attorneys representing Aquafortis Associates LLC (AQF) and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) filed motions requesting a Stay of Proceedings in two pending suits, the February 2014 Water Level Order appeal in Superior Court (No. AP-14-1) and the recently filed appeal of the recent lower court’s ruling in the Maine Supreme Court (No. LIN-16-63). The stay requests are for 30 days and end on March 26th. The Law Court action was initiated when Pleasant Pond Mill LLC appealed the January 25th Superior Court ruling granting the State’s motion to dismiss (see PPM Appeals Superior Court Ruling on Motion to Dismiss).
Stay tuned.
01 March 2016: ClaryCam1 Back in Service
ClaryCam1 is back in service thanks to a free replacement IP camera that arrived by Fedex today. You’ll find current webcam pictures for both cameras on the Clary Lake Webcams page again! I even managed to take a selfie while installing. I didn’t know my nose was so big.
For those of you who connect to the ClaryCam1 and ClaryCam2 for real-time video (you know who you are) I’m experimenting with a new DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service) server which hopefully will be more reliable than the service offered by Foscam which we have been using. For now they should both work. The service is free and for now only ClaryCam1 is using it but if it works out OK I’ll help David H. set it up for his camera too.
You’ll find instructions for connecting in a post from last October: Realtime access to Clary WebCam video now available.
Here are the new DDNS links for ClaryCam1. You’ll also find them on the ClaryCam1 page:
For use with a web browser:
For use with a VLC app:
February 2016 Water Level Chart Archived
I’ve archived the February 2016 Water Level Chart (at left). The most notable feature is that the lake level stayed in a fairly narrow range around an average of -34.5″ belog the top of the dam, for all but the last 5 days of the month when the level rose to within touching distance of where it should be this time of the year, around -24″ below the top of the dam. This was by chance and not design because the gate has remained wide open since January 4th.
Another factor contributing to a (relatively) stable lake level is that between precipitation events, the lake level dropped an average of only 0.6″ per day, considerably less than the 1″ per day we would expect. This is likely due to frozen ground and warmer than usual winter weather resulting in increased snow melt and runoff. Recall this table which I first compiled back in 2012:
| Lake level in inches below top of dam | Rate of fall in inches in 24 hours |
|---|---|
| 0" to 36" | 1" |
| 36" to 48" | 3/4" |
| 48" to 62" | 1/2" |
| Below 62" | 1/4" or less |
We received a total of 3.26″ of precipitation in February or 0.82″ more than the average of 2.44″ for the month. Most of the precipitation was in the form of rain and/or ice. If it had all been snow we’d be in record territory but as it is, snowfall for the 2016 winter is well below average. This is likely attributable to the El Niño phenomena that is affecting everyone’s weather this year. The lack of significant snow pack does not bode well for spring runoff and lake levels this coming spring.
28 February 2016: Ice Boating on Clary Lake
A friend of mine loaned me his “Lockely Skimmer” ice boat to use. It has been quite a few years since I had an ice boat out on Clary Lake. I’d forgotten how much fun it can be. The conditions are near perfect.
And this one taken from the driver’s seat:
I’ve posted a few pictures in the Winter 2016 photo gallery. Had a minor glitch when the left rear runner dropped through a crack in the ice. That was fun.