01 August 2014: So much for repairing the dam!

IMG_20140801_123916According to the Clary Lake water level order today is the day that Paul Kelley was supposed to have completed repairs to the dam and installed a publicly-visible water level gauge. As you can see from these pictures taken just a little while ago, he hasn’t even bothered to cut the tree down that is growing out of the dam let alone actually effect any repairs to the dam. Of course, I’m not surprised since Kelley has yet to do ANYTHING substantive to comply with any requirement of the water level order. Here is the specific section of the Order that relates to today’s deadline:

6. A permanently mounted lake level gauge shall be installed on the Clary Lake Dam by the owner of the dam. The gauge must be marked in tenths of a foot and placed in a publicly visible area on the upstream face of the dam near its outlet. The gauge shall be placed such that the normal high water line, as determined by the procedures outlined in Condition #3, corresponds to an elevation of 0.0 on the gauge. This measurement will be used as a benchmark for observing water level changes and may be used for measuring the height at which the dam gate must be opened above its invert. Provided that the normal high Water line has been established in accordance with Condition #3, the gauge must be installed immediately following completion of the dam repairs as described in Condition #2 or by no later than August l, 2014, whichever comes first.

IMG_20140801_124030Sounds pretty clear to me, but then what do I know? I haven’t heard anything about mediation that is supposed to have started last Tuesday, July 29th. As soon as I find out anything, I’ll post it here.

23 July 2014: Kelley responds to DEP June 19th Communication

Special Condition #4 of the Clary Lake water level order is a requirement that the dam owner have a Professional Land Surveyor establish the historical normal high water level of Clary Lake and transfer that elevation to the dam. The Order required that the dam owner submit this survey to the Department by June 2nd. Paul Kelley did in deed submit something on that date and not surprisingly, it failed to meet the requirements of the Order. On June 19 the Department responded with a letter detailing the shortcomings of his submission. The letter gave him 30 days, until July 21st, to correct the deficiencies in his submission and resubmit the plan. That was a couple of days ago. I got a copy yesterday afternoon and it is sadly but not surprisingly, more of the same old, same old:

Continue reading →

22 July 2014: Enos Property on Clary Lake for sale

Imagine my surprise to find Arthur Enos has put his property up for sale:

$875,000.00 Request More Info
Current
Single Family
5 Br    0 Ba    ±4,000 sqft.
±17.000 Acr.
Clary Lake
MLS#: 1146688
 
Enos Lane is a beautiful year round residence located in Jefferson on Clary Lake. With approximately 17 acres of woods and views of the water, the property offers a secluded, landscaped setting at the end of a private drive with 700 feet of waterfront.

14 July 2014: Anyone missing their dingy?

Your dingy?

This little dingy drifted up to the northwest end of the lake the other day and beached itself on Eleanor Goldberg’s property. She pulled it up on shore. If it’s your boat, come get it or if you know who it belongs to, let them know. Thanks!

Well that didn’t take long. Mystery resolved. It belongs to Rick Gallion 🙂

13 July 2014: Clary Lake has a new Certified Volunteer Lake Monitor

IMG_20140711_130559 (Custom)Clary Lake now has 3 volunteer water monitors certified by the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitor Program: David Hodsdon #HO-0042, Jack Holland #HO-0551, and as of last Friday 11 July 2014, myself (George Fergusson) #FE-2648. I’ve been meaning to pursue certification for some time but finally found the time and initiative to do so. At this time I’m only certified/qualified to collect secchi disk readings and surface-grab Total Phosphorus tests, but I plan to get qualified later this summer on the use of the Association’s YSI Pro20 digital dissolved oxygen meter and the more comprehensive core water sample technique for phosphorus.

Continue reading →

11 July 2014 Kennebec Journal: Clary Lake dam owner and state still at odds

There was an article in yesterday’s Kennebec Journal by staff writer Paul Koenig providing a welcome update on the current circumstances surrounding the Clary Lake water level order. It is nice to see the KJ keeping this issue before the public, rather than letting it fade into obscurity. Paul Kelley was quoted as saying that mediation is to start at the end of this month and that the process is likely to extend into August: “My hope is that all the parties see that the best solution is no longer to fight this but to try to see if there is some constructive solution.” Nonetheless, the spokeswoman for the department said the DEP still expects the dam owner to begin maintaining the higher water levels by Oct. 1. Here’s a link to the article:

If anyone has trouble getting the article off the newspaper site, I’ve saved a local copy:

I was briefly interviewed by phone but I didn’t have a lot to say. The article does not mention whether the spokesperson for the Clary Lake Petitioners and/or the Clary Lake Association (as intervenors in the petition) will be asked to participate in the mediation. While I was quoted as saying that I don’t expect anything to come from mediation, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be willing to join in the process.

FYI, the next deadline for Paul July 27th when he has to resubmit his Water Level Survey (which was also deemed “unsatisfactory”) and then by August 1st he is supposed to have completed repairs to the dam, and installed a water level gauge.

The article also mentions the Branch Pond water level order and the recent letter from the Coombs. It remains to be seen how or if the Department chooses to respond to their “declaration.”

03 July 2014: Branch Mills Flower & Grain to ignore their water level order

Stephen and Christine Coombs, owners of Branch Mills Flower & Grain and the dam on Branch Pond have finally responded to the recently issued Branch Pond water level order. Their stance is angry and defiant: they declare the order to be illegal and therefore refuse the order in its entirety. They list a number of reasons for this decision, many of which we’re familiar with, having already heard them from Paul Kelley:

The document was originally sent to a long list of people including Commissioner Aho, and Governor LePage. One wonders if their appeal will resonate with our Governor or piss him off? Continue reading →

02 July 2014: Kelley’s Water Level Management Plan Disappoints

Paul Kelley responded today to DEP’s June 2nd letter clarifying the requirements of Special Condition #5 of the water level order and giving him till today to submit a revised Water Level Management Plan (see 03 June 2014: DEP responds to Paul Kelley’s Water Level Management Plan). Instead of a revised plan, Kelley responded with 4 separate documents: a letter to Beth Callahan, an email exchange he had with Beth Callahan back in March of this year, a copy of an email from DEP staff person Erle Townsend dated September 20, 2011, and a page of historical rainfall data from the NOAA website.

In short, more of the same. The email from Erle Townsend is the same as Kelley’s “Exhibit L” entered into the record during his testimony at the public hearing back in August 2012. We’ve seen it before. DEP has seen it before. Kelley seems to think it is relevant to the situation. It isn’t. Continue reading →

01 July 2014: Kelley to resubmit his Water Level Management Plan July 2nd

Tomorrow is the deadline for Paul Kelley to resubmit his revised Water Level Management Plan, originally submitted on May 2nd and found by the Department at that time to be “unsatisfactory” (see 03 June 2014: DEP responds to Paul Kelley’s Water Level Management Plan). However, Beth Callahan is currently on vacation and won’t return to work until July 11th so official Department review of the document probably won’t start until she returns. Nonetheless I expect to obtain a copy of whatever Kelley submits before then, perhaps tomorrow afternoon or more likely, given the upcoming long holiday weekend, first thing next week. When I get a copy, I’ll post it here.

It remains to be seen if what Kelley submits will be an improvement on the original water level management plan. I have my doubts since all he’s done so far is to thumb his nose at the DEP: why should I expect him start acting responsibly now? In just a little over 3 weeks on July 27th he has to resubmit his Water Level Survey (which was also deemed “unsatisfactory”) and then by August 1st he is supposed to have completed repairs to the dam, and installed a water level gauge. Mr. Kelley is going to have a busy summer.

23 June 2014: Clary Lake Association Summer 2014 Newsletter is in the mail!

By now many of you will have received a copy of the Clary Lake Association’s Summer 2014 Newsletter which went in the mail last Friday. It is also archived along with a number of more recent newsletters in the Newsletter Archive. The newsletter goes out to all Clary Lake shore owners regardless of whether they’re members of the Association or not as well as a number of friends of Clary Lake. Feel free to share a copy with your friends.

23 June 2014: DEP Responds to Paul Kelley’s Water Level Survey

“Unacceptable at this time” is how the Department of Environmental Protection has characterized Paul Kelley’s Water Level Survey that he submitted to the Department in response to Special Condition #4 of the Clary Lake Water Level Order. If you’re having a sense of deja vu all over again it’s because this this is the exact same phrase the Department used to describe his Water Level Management Plan in a letter sent to him back on June 2nd (see the news article here). Mr. Kelley certainly isn’t scoring very high marks with the Department over his attempts to comply with the Water Level Order… it’s almost like he isn’t even trying:

Special Condition #4, Clary Lake Survey, DEFICIENCY

The letter gives Mr. Kelley until July 21st to submit a survey along with a Condition Compliance Application and a $146 application fee. Mr. Kelley is not considered in violation of the Order at this time, but don’t worry: that will change soon enough.

Continue reading →

16 June 2014: PPM’s meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers canceled

Jay Clement of the Army Corps of Engineers has (wisely) cancelled tomorrow’s inter-agency, pre-application meeting with Pleasant Pond Mill LLC because he believes it is “premature” and a “non-starter” given that Mr. Kelley has so many “unresolved issues” with the DEP, not the least of which is pending litigation. This meeting was to be attended by agency representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Maine Historic Preservation Commission (MHPC), the Department of Marine Resources (DMR), the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Adminitration (NOAA), the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Also planning to attend were Whitefield Select Board members Tony Marple and Sue McKeen and Assistant Attorney General Thom Harnett. That the meeting was cancelled does not surprise me. What surprises me is that they waited until the last minute to do it 🙂 I can’t imagine a more egregious waste of time, money, and resources than to have all these knowledgeable and important people sit in a room listening to Paul Kelley complain about how the DEP has done him wrong. Clearly, Paul Kelley isn’t going to get any help from the Army Corps of Engineers: Continue reading →

06 June 2014: DEP issues FINAL Branch Pond Water Level Order

The Department of Environmental Protection has issued the FINAL Branch Pond Water Level Order, effective today June 6, 2014. The Branch Pond water level petition was filed on December 9, 2008 but was put on hold by the Department for 3 years to give the dam owners time to effect repairs to the dam. Repairs to the dam were not made however, and processing of the petition resumed in December 2011. I have been following the proceedings since the summer of 2012, and I attended their Public Hearing in August 2013 and we’ve been hosting a few pages for the Branch Pond Association on our site for some time now. It is interesting to note that this Order was signed by Commissioner Patricia Aho herself:

branch_pondBranch Pond is a beautiful little pond located in the towns of China and Palermo, at the headwaters of the Western Branch of the Sheepscot River. It is well worth a visit. It’s smaller than Clary Lake but it has numerous islands and large relatively shallow water areas. I’ve been up there a couple of times and but I Branch Pond, Midas #5754haven’t been out on the pond. Yet. I plan to head up there with my kayak later this summer. With my fishing pole. Check out these photographs of Branch Pond. Those showing the impact of low water were part of the Branch Pond Water Level Petition.

04 June 2014: Clary Lake WebCam offline until further notice

I (finally!) upgraded to a new computer running Windows 7 only to discover that the driver for my old Logitech “eyeball” webcam will only work under Windows XP. I tried to run it in Windows XP compatibility mode, to no avail. So I guess until I get a new camera, the Clary Lake WebCam will be offline. It wasn’t the greatest setup anyways, the view of the lake out my office window is largely obscured by trees. Still, it was a pretty popular page, and it was fun to run. Here’s the last picture that was uploaded to the site before I shut down my old system this afternoon:

So for now I’ve taken down the page, and removed the link to it. What I’d like to get is a wireless outdoor camera that I can mount on the deck railing, or perhaps on a tree down by the shore. However that’s not in the budget at this time.

03 June 2014: DEP responds to Paul Kelley’s Water Level Management Plan

“Unacceptable at this time.” That is how the Department of Environmental Protection has characterized Paul Kelley’s Water Level Management Plan in a letter to him dated June 2nd. The plan, one of the requirements in the Clary Lake Water Level Order, was submitted back on May 2nd. The letter goes on to list the plan’s deficiencies and the steps Mr. Kelley needs to take to remedy those deficiencies. It also informed him of the need for a Condition Compliance Application along with a $146 application fee. The letter gives Mr. Kelley exactly 1 month (until July 2nd) to resubmit his corrected/revised Water Level Management Plan along with his application and application fee. Mr. Kelley is not considered in violation of the Order at this time.

Continue reading →

03 June 2014: Pleasant Pond Mill LLC submits their response to second WLO requirement

The second requirement of the Clary Lake Water Level Order is that the dam owner hire a Professional Land Surveyor to determine the “Historical Normal High Water Line of Clary Lake” and submit the results of that survey to the Department no later than the end of business, June 2nd. Just a bit ago I obtained a copy of what Mr. Kelley submitted yesterday afternoon and about all I can say is that he met the deadline to submit something. As for what he submitted, well not so much. He didn’t even pretend to try and comply with the WLO requirement. DEP must be getting really tired of this:

I’ll have some comments later.

02 June 2014: Normal Water Line Survey Due Today

The second deadline contained in the Clary Lake Water Level Order has arrived. Mr. Kelley is supposed to have retained the services of a Professional Land Surveyor to establish the “Historical Normal High Water Line” of Clary Lake and show that elevation on the Clary Lake Dam. Here’s the requirement from the Order:

4. The owner of the darn shall retain the services of a professional, licensed land surveyor to determine the historical normal high water line of Clary Lake. This line shall be surveyed and determined by using a baseline point such as visible Water stain markings, the MDIFW Route 215 boat launch, the Duncan Road boat launch, or the upstream face of the dam. Other points may be found in 38 M.R.S. § 480-B (6) which defines the normal high water line for waterbodies. A stamped, surveyed plan denoting a clearly defined normal high water line of the lake; a stamped, surveyed plan denoting the location of the normal high water line on the dam; and a narrative consisting of the methodology and equipment used for those determinations must be submitted to the Department for review and approval no later than June 2, 2014. If the owner of the dam is unable to reasonably retain a licensed land surveyor to determine the historical normal high water line, the owner of the dam may request the assistance of the Department in establishing this line no later than May l, 2014. The Department Will consider any such Written request when and if a request is submitted by the owner’ of the dam, but only after the owner of the dam has demonstrated that it has exhausted efforts to retain the needed licensed land surveyor.

I’m not aware of Mr. Kelley having asked the Department for assistance with this survey requirement, nor am I aware of any actual surveying work having taken place though I could be mistaken. It will be interesting to see just what Mr. Kelley submits. I’ll post more information when I have it. Stay tuned!

May 2014 Water Level Chart archived

4 waterlevelchart_May2014

I’ve archived the May 2014 water level chart. We started the month about -29″ below the top of the dam and ended the month at a little over 42″ below the top of the dam, this despite the dam’s gate being wide open for the entire month. All told we received 3.92″ of rain in May, which is about average. This rainfall offset the falling lake level to the tune of about 15″.

There is a pair of loons on the lake this year, and May is the month when they would normally start nesting. It appears however that the lake level has been too variable this spring for them to even consider building a nest, at least I haven’t seen them nesting. Better luck next year.

SVCA sponsoring the Coopers Mills Migratory Fish Day, June 1st

Coopers Mills Migratory Fish Day

Time: Sunday, June 1, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Place: Whitefield Lions Club, Coopers Mills

The Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association invites residents of Whitefield to see and learn about the migratory fish that call the Sheepscot River home. Department of Marine Resources fisheries biologists will talk about our migratory fish, their life history, ecology, and how these species benefit people and the river.

Join us for a conversation at the river’s edge followed by a presentation by DMR fisheries biologist Claire Enterline at the Whitefield Lions Club, 52 Maine Street, Coopers Mills.

*Arrive and park at the Lions Club Den (red schoolhouse next to the Sheepscot Valley Health Center) and we will take a 10 minute walk down the hill for a riverside conversation; returning at 11:00 for the presentation.

27 May 2014: Maine Lakes Society Annual Meeting this July 28th

The Maine Lakes Society (formerly the Congress of Lake Associations or COLA) is holding their annual membership meeting this coming June 28th at Colby College in Waterville. For years Ed Grant attended the Annual COLA meetings on behalf of the Clary Lake Association. I represented the Association at last year’s meeting and I had a blast, I’m planning on attending this year too. If anyone would like to ride along, let me know. The cost is $20 per person. The cutoff for online registration is June 25th. Here’s a link to the Meeting Agenda. Here’s the newsletter/announcement they sent around today:

May 27, 2014

SHAPING THE FUTURE
TOGETHER ON JUNE 28
AT THE CONFERENCE

From hard fought milfoil battles and legislative victories

to a ground-breaking partnership for watershed protection, this day full of Success Stories will inform, inspire, and point us all toward a new Vision for Maine Lakes and Watersheds.  Let’s set the Agenda together.

 

Registration is a snap online!   Visit our website   

MAINE LAKES ARE BIG WINNERS
IN THE DANCE OF LEGISLATION
 
Thanks to your help and that of environmental activists and legislators who understand the fragility of Maine lakes, new legislation to support the removal of invasive aquatic plants, to fund LakeSmart, stormwater management projects, land conservation, and analysis of water quality data is now law. 
 
Getting there was half the fun.  Come hear about ‘The Dance of Legislation’ from those who pulled off the best year, ever, for Maine lakes..  

3RD ANNUAL MAINE LAKES RAFFLE

OFFERS HELP FOR BLACKFLY SEASON 
AND DINNER ON THE DECK – –
and much, much more!
 
They may be the best thing since sliced bread!  Portable, pocket-sized and eco-friendly , the Thermacell Mosquito Repellent will banish bugs from patio, picnic spot, or garden (225 square foot range).  Our Raffle has 12 of these handy gadgets on offer, and they are only one of a host of tantalizing prizes. 
 
Tickets on sale at the Conference or from a Maine Lakes Society Board Member!