May 2015 water level chart archived

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May 2015 Water Level Chart

Behold the May 2015 water level chart. After rising to within 12″ of the top of the dam on 23 April, the lake has fallen steadily to about where it was before the spring melt started back on March 24th. At that time the lake level was at -57.12″ below the top of the dam. At -56.04″ we’re within an inch of that now.

For the month of May, the lake level dropped 35.76″ in 31 days, or about 1.15″ per day, a rate that was negatively affected by the lack of rain. Normally we get about 3.7″ of rain in May which would have offset the fall in the lake level considerably, however this year we received only 0.60″ of rain for the entire month. As a result, as a quick look at the chart will show, the lake level fell every day. Also, because it was so dry, evaporation contributed significantly to the daily water level drop. Since the high on April 23rd, the lake level has fallen 43.32″ in 39 days or 1.11″ per day. Normally you would expect the rate of fall to slow gradually as the level dropped. Below 48″ the usual rate of fall is about 1/2″ per day.

We can all take comfort in knowing that this ongoing ecological disaster won’t be ongoing forever. It will be a little while longer, but normal water levels WILL BE RESTORED.

28 May 2015: A Black Crappie caught in Clary Lake

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Jack Holland sent me a picture the other day of a full-grown Black Crappie that was caught by 9 year old Eric Richmond in Clary Lake last week. According to his mother Rachael Richmond, they were fishing near the State boat launch and caught the 2 fish in the photo at the same time (the other one is a white perch held by Eric’s sister). They let both fish go.

Jack tells me that he believes his neighbor has caught 2 crappies in the past couple of years so it sounds like there’s a new species of fish in Clary Lake. The Black Crappie aka Calico Bass (Pomoxis nigromaculatus) is a non-native species in Clary Lake meaning it was introduced either intentionally by someone who wanted to supplement the lake fishery or accidentally by an ice fisherman by releasing bait. Both actions are in violation of State law. From the Maine IF&W website:

Adult Size: Sexual maturity is reached between 2 and 4 years of age, at which time crappies may be 6 to 10 inches long. Typical crappie fisheries produce fish between 6 and 11 inches long, although crappies exceeding 14 inches and 3 pounds have been caught in Maine. I think it’s safe to assume there is a breeding population in Clary Lake now.

Black Crappie. Click on the image to go to the IF&W site

Identification: Closely resembling bass and sunfish species, which have 10-12 dorsal fin spines, crappies possess 6-8 dorsal fin spines. Body form is very deep and narrow (laterally compressed). Coloration is silvery-olive to golden brown, with an irregular mosaic of dark black blotches.

Crappies are a popular fish with a lot of people and are supposedly quite good eating. If you catch a crappie in Clary Lake, please let us know. Biologists with the IF&W would like to know too.

 

27 May 2015: Revised News Post

I have updated the 18 May 2015 post regarding the DEP dismissal of the Pleasant Pond Mill LLC’s petition for release from dam ownership or water level maintenance to include links to the document prepared by CLA attorney Ron Kreisman and submitted to DEP on April 7th. Here’s a link to that revised news post:

18 May 2015: DEP Dismisses PPM’s Petition for Release from Dam Ownership

For your convenience here are those link to the document CLA document. The first is the letter only (smaller document) and the second includes the attachments, which is much larger:

26 May 2015: KJ: Mediation over Clary Lake water level ends without resolution

There is an article by Paul Koenig in today’s Central Maine Papers (Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel) reporting on the ending of mediation of the Clary Lake water level order appeal. The article also mentions in passing the recent dismissal by the DEP of PPM’s Petition for release of dam ownership or water level maintenance. The article offers no new information beyond what we have already reported here in two separate postings (see dismissal of the petition for release and the termination of mediation).

Here’s a link to the article. Because of Centralmaine.com’s subscription policy, free access to articles is limited to 10 per month. In case anyone is unable to access the the article at the above link, here’s a local PDF copy:

Continue reading →

A strange visitor…

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A strange visitor

The other day my neighbor Steven Giampetruzzi uploaded  a couple of pictures to the website documenting his recent close encounter with a rather large specimen of northern water snake (Nerodia sipedon). From the picture it looks to be at least 3′ long and quite healthy looking, don’t you think?

I know some people are freaked out by snakes, but you shouldn’t let water snakes bother you because they’re harmless, non-venemous, and they eat leeches among other things. I’d always been told there were water snakes in Clary Lake, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I actually saw one for the the first time. One afternoon I was sitting on my dock relaxing when I spotted what I thought was turtle swimming slowly water-snake-001.jpgtoward me. As it got closer I could see it was a snake’s head, sticking out of the water like a submarine’s periscope. It got to within about a yard of the dock where I was sitting when it spotted me, and submerged. It was almost as big as the one in this picture. It turned out it was living under my dock and I I continued to see it and a smaller snake in the area off and on for the rest of the summer.

In any case, thanks Steve for uploading those awesome pictures! And a reminder to the rest of you, feel free to upload your own pictures to the site using the Picture Upload Page or just email them to me and I’ll post them.

18 May 2015: DEP Dismisses PPM’s Petition for Release from Dam Ownership

Last week, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection dismissed and returned to Paul Kelley and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) its pending Petition for Release from Dam Ownership or Water Level Maintenance. The May 13, 2015 letter from Kathy Howatt, Hydropower Coordinator to Mr. Paul A. Kelley Jr. cited numerous reasons for its decision including a statement made by Mr. Kelley in an email sent to mediator John Sheldon on March 26, 2015 that PPM “never in fact owned” the Clary Lake dam, and the fact that Mr. Kelley has dissolved and cancelled PPM as a Maine Corporation (mediation is now officially over, see Mediation Report Filed with Superior Court). The letter further points out that the Department has not made any determination regarding the actual ownership of the dam but they do feel that the petition has either been voluntarily withdrawn through Kelley’s own actions, or no longer complies with statutory and rule requirements to be considered still valid. Here is a copy of the letter which we received earlier today:

Continue reading →

08 May 2015: Mediation Report filed with Superior Court

When Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) and AquqaFortis Associates LLC (AQF) appealed the Clary Lake Water Level Order in Lincoln County Superior Court back in February 2014, they requested mediation under the Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (CADRES). The request was granted. Butch Duncan and Art Enos also asked to participate in mediation. It now appears that mediation has finally ended and the long-awaited mediation report has been filed with the Lincoln County Superior Court. It is a public document and as such it is being made available here:

Continue reading →

April 2015 water level chart archived

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I’ve archived the April 2015 water level chart. The water level peaked this spring at 12.72″ below the top of the dam on April 23rd having risen a total of 44.4″ since the spring melt began on March 24th. This is the highest the lake level has been in over 4 years. It was a real pleasure to see the lake this high and I only regret, that with the gate open and the water level order still not being enforced, the lake level will fall again as spring progresses.

02 May 2015: Clary Lake water quality monitoring resumes

IMG_20150430_082353.jpgWater quality monitoring for 2015 resumed on April 30th. David Hodsdon and I tried to get out the previous week but the wind was so strong my anchor was dragging and we couldn’t stay in one place. This date is about average for the first data collection exercise of the year. We’ll try to get out every 2 weeks throughout the boating season. This also marks David Hodsdon’s 40th consecutive year of water quality monitoring for the VLMP. Quite a record!

The water was quite clear with a secchi disk reading of just over 11 feet. You can view current data and that for recent years on our Clary Lake Water Monitoring Data page (we also have data back to 1975 when David Hodsdon started his water quality monitoring efforts, available upon request). Our collection station is over the “deep hole” which we locate with a GPS and the data we normally collect includes air temperature and wind speed, water depth, clarity (secchi disk reading), and dissolved oxygen and temperature measurements at the surface and at 1 meter increments all the way to the bottom of the lake. Approximately 3 times per year we take a core water sample for phosphorus which we send off to the State for analysis. We took one this time.

You can read more about the VLMP and our water monitoring efforts on the Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program page.

22 April 2015: Anyone missing a dock?

IMG_20150422_163856.jpgA dock floated up on my shore this morning. It’s about 8′ x 8′ with no flotation, just a deck. I think it came from over by Duncan Road but I could be wrong. I tied it up so it wouldn’t float off down the channel. I noticed a few other pieces of flotsam floating around this morning, the result of our exceptionally high water level which as of this afternoon was about 12″ below the top of the dam. If anyone’s looking for it, it’s over on the south side of the lake by the Jefferson/Whitefield town line by Route 126. 

Time Lapse Video of Clary Lake Ice Out, Spring 2015 [UPDATED]

Over the last 4-5 days there has been a LOT of traffic to the web cam page, people have apparently been anxiously following the progress of the ice going out. I sure have been. Here is a time lapse video showing the ice going out over the last 3 days, compressed into 92 seconds:

The video is comprised of the same photographs you see on the web cam page which are posted to the site every 2 minutes. I’ve removed the night time shots to keep the file size small. Most of the ice-out action happens on the 3rd day (April 18th). If you’re paying attention you’ll spot a muskrat swimming back and forth a few times and a few birds popping in and out of the scene.

Nobody is more surprised at how fast the ice went out this year than I am. On April 9th the lake was solidly frozen over with 6″ of new snow on it. Today, 9 days later… and there is just a little ice left hanging onto the edges in a few place. The ice isn’t officially out until David Hodsdon says it’s officially out. I’ll post the official date on the Ice-In and Ice-Out Dates page when David gives it to me.

IMG_20150419_075002.jpg[UPDATE: 19 April 2015] Well the southeast end of Clary Lake still had a lot of ice floating around this morning, but David Hodsdon tells me this afternoon that it all disappeared mid-morning today. So the official ice-out date this year is today, April 19th. It’s about average.

 

09 April 2015: 6″ of new snow better than sharp stick in eye

09_April_2015_campic.jpg“Waking up to 6″ of new snow today was a little better than a sharp stick in the eye” George Fergusson announced at the Whitefield Superette this morning. “but the expression on my wife’s face when she looked out the window was truly pitiable.” George’s recommendation is to get out and make one final snow man before tomorrow’s rain and this coming weekend’s 50° plus temperatures turn today’s winter wonderland into tomorrow’s quagmire of mud. “Before you know it you’ll be doing yard work with a cloud of black flies around your head. This is just a temporary setback.”

01 April 2015: Immature Bald Eagle Video [UPDATED]

The immature Bald Eagle that showed up to feed on the turkey carcass yesterday afternoon came by again this morning. I got this video of it feeding.

UPDATE: A little later in the morning, an adult Bald Eagle showed up to feed on the turkey carcass. There was actually a second adult that never came down to the ice. Eventually, they flew off with what was left of the turkey carcass.

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31 March 2015: Wild Kingdom on Clary Lake [UPDATED]

campic-turkey-carcass.jpgI got a call the other day from a neighbor telling me that he’d hit a wild turkey right in front of my house. I went out and retrieved the carcass and decided to put it out on the ice in front of the Clary Webcam so we could all enjoy watching wild animals tear it apart. My son’s dog already discovered it last night and started the process of pulling feathers out. I imagine the Ravens will make short work of it assuming a fox or coyote doesn’t come along and haul it off in the night. Maybe an eagle will show up.

You’re welcome 🙂

UPDATED 31 March 2015:

Visitors today to the turkey carcass included my son’s dog Emma (again), several ravens, and an immature Bald Eagle.

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25 March 2015: Whitefield Selectmen Vote to Waive Foreclosure on Clary Lake Dam

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Paul Kelley (left), of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC, and Richard Smith, of Aquafortis Associates LLC, speak about the non-payment of property taxes at the Whitefield selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, March 24. (Abigail Adams photo)

There is an article in this week’s Lincoln County News by reporter Abigail Adams about the Town of Whitefield waiving automatic foreclosures on property belonging to Aquafortis Associates LLC and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC. The article includes a lot of background information with the only obvious error being that it indicates the 2 parcels owned by Aquafortis Associates are “downstream” from the dam whereas in fact, they are on opposite sides of Route 218; the 1 acre vacant lot is actually located on the same side of the road as, and on the south side of, the Clary Lake dam.

Here’s a link to the article on the Lincoln County News site (I will archive a copy of the article in a few days):

 I posted about this story last week; see: 19 March 2015: Whitefield votes to waive automatic foreclosures on PPM, AQF properties.

21 March 2015: Regular water level measurements resumed

IMG_20150321_130019.jpgToday I took a walk down to the lake and noticed that melting snow had exposed a small section of ice on the shore so I got a shovel and dug down through 3′ of drifted snow to uncover my bench mark and made the first accurate water level measurement since the end of January. The lake level is currently at -54.65″ below the top of the dam, about 1/2 a foot lower than I had estimated it to be a couple of weeks ago and 8.57″ lower than it was on January 31st when I last measured it.

19 March 2015: Whitefield votes to waive automatic foreclosures on PPM, AQF properties

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At a hastily convened Emergency Select Board meeting held this afternoon at 5:00 PM at the Whitefield fire station, the Whitefield Select Board voted 3-0 to waive the pending automatic foreclosure of property belonging to Aquafortis Associates LLC. Present at the meeting were Select Board members Tony Marple, Dennis Merrill, and Frank Ober, and Town Clerk Aaron Miller. There were only 5 people in the audience including Paul Kelley of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC.

The tax liens were for non-payment of 2013 Whitefield property taxes on two lots of land belonging to Aquafortis Associates: the Clary Mill property (and mill building) on the west side of the road (tax map 17 lot 004A) with a lien on it in the amount of $752.64 and the approximately 1 acre of land on the east side of the road adjoining the Clary Lake dam on the south (map 17 lot 055B) with a lien on it in the amount of $595.40. The total amount due for both properties was $1348.04. The automatic foreclosures were set to take effect at 3 PM tomorrow afternoon. Aquafortis Associates also owns the red building sitting on the Clary Lake dam but the taxes on that have been fully paid. Tax maps and property assessment data are available on the Town of Whitefield website.

There was little discussion and the meeting was over almost before it started. The Selectmen did not give any reason for their decision to waive automatic foreclosure of the Aquafortis Associates properties other than to state that they were acting on the advice of the Town’s attorney, Mary Denison of Lake & Denison LLP in Winthrop Maine.

The selectmen had previously voted at a regularly scheduled Select Board meeting a few weeks ago to waive automatic foreclosure of the Clary Lake dam property belonging to Pleasant Pond Mill LLC, also for non-payment of 2013 property taxes. That tax lien was for $208.10.

There are outstanding tax liens on PPM and AQF properties for non-payment of the 2014 taxes. Those liens will go to automatic foreclosure in about a year if the taxes are not paid.

09 March 2015: Still no solution in battle over water level at Clary Lake

Paul Koenig of the Central Maine Papers (Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel) has written an article that appeared in this past Saturday’s paper. There has been precious little news in recent months about the Clary Lake water level order and the ongoing mediation. Sadly, while it is good and generally accurate reporting, there’s not a lot of new information in the article.

I’ve archived a local copy should anyone have trouble getting the article off the paper’s site.