Browntail Moth Update #7- June 10, 2022

The Maine Department of Agriculture Conservation & Forestry has issued a Status Update on the Browntail Moth infestation currently impacting the State, and it’s GOOD NEWS! Numbers are way down at their monitoring sites: “This week we are pleased to report we observed at least some fungus-caused mortality at all of our monitoring sites. At a few sites, it wasn’t easy to find live caterpillars to take measurements from, although we did find some after looking on trees a short walk down the road.” While this is generally good news, I know some of you on or around Clary Lake are still in Browntail Moth Hell, and I sympathize. Be patient, this pest is on the way out.

Here’s the bulletin, there’s other interesting information in it besides Browntail Moth news:

Spring/Summer 2022 Newsletter Is Out

The Spring/Summer 2022 Clary Lake Association Newsletter went in the mail about on schedule a little over a week ago and is now  available for download from our Newsletters page. Feel free to grab a copy and share it with your family and friends. Dues envelopes were included in the mailing, and dues have already started arriving. How gratifying is that! I’ll be updating the “Next Year’s 2022/2023 Membership List” as more checks arrive. At the time of this writing we’re up to 47 members. This year we totally met our Membership goal of 165 Members. Our Membership goal for the coming year includes a modest increase to 175 Members. Totally doable. You can help us reach (or exceed!) that goal by becoming a member today! Visit our Benefits of Membership page for more information about why you should join the Association, and how to do it. Continue reading →

May 2022 Water Level Chart Archived

5 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-May-2022

May 2022

I have archived the May 2022 Water Level Chart (at left). From the beginning of the month on we saw an abrupt change from the above-average precipitation which has been the norm for the first 4 months of the year, almost as though someone had turned off the spigot! Total rainfall for the month was only 1.34 inches, well short of the normal 3.71 inches. Because we were 3.78 inches above normal at the end of April, we’re still 1.41 inches ahead of where we’d be in a “normal” year. However, simply looking at total precipitation gives you an unrealistic picture of actual ground water conditions: the fact of the matter is, the entire coast of Maine including Clary Lake is considered to be “Abnormally Dry” by the USDA Drought Monitor program. Continue reading →

Summer 2022 Browntail Moth Forecast

The State of Maine has released a new map using the ArcGis mapping platform to show the state of the Browntail Moth infestation in Maine this year. Last year’s outbreak of the pest was the worst every seen in Maine, and it looks like this year will be very bad again. However, it looks to me like some of the areas that were hardest hit last year (including my property!) may experience less of a problem this year. My property on Clary Lake is surrounded by large red oak trees, and last year ALL of them were completely defoliated for the second year in a row. I feared a third year as bad as the previous two would doom many of my trees. I’m happy to report however that this year I’ve only spotted 1 caterpillar on my screen door and no evidence at all of caterpillars eating the emerging oak leaves. My fingers are crossed, it looks like we won’t suffer a repeat of the last two years this summer. Continue reading →

Lake Water Quality Monitoring Resumes for 2022

Clary Transparency

Kelsie French and I resumed our water quality monitoring efforts for 2022 on Saturday May 14th, a little later than originally planned due to circumstances which all seemingly conspired to keep us off the lake. We’re back in the saddle now however and plan to visit Clary’s deepest spot to collect data every couple of weeks this season. Continue reading →

April 2022 Water Level Chart Archived

4 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-April-2022

April 2022

I have archived the April 2022 Water Level Chart (at left). April has been a very cold, very wet, and very windy month! The above-average precipitation with which we started the year has continued through April in a big way: we received fully 5.64 inches of rain in April or 1.77 inches more than the normal rainfall of 3.87 inches, fully 3.78 inches beyond where we would normally be on this date. We have received literally 5 months of precipitation in only 4. Impressive.

Not surprisingly, the lake level remained high for the month, staying somewhere between the top of the dam and the HWM for most of the month. It was quite stable really, fluctuating only a little over 4.5 inches from high to low. Only twice during the month did the water level rise above the high water mark, and at that only briefly. I love stopping by the dam and seeing water dribbling over the top of it. Continue reading →

17 April 2022: The Special Membership Meeting Happened

Happy Easter!

Yesterday’s Special Membership Meeting happened. It was, interestingly, both well attended and poorly attended. I was there along with my wife Margaret, Gareth and Beverly Bowen were there (it was after all at their house) and Board members Steven Cowles, and Mary Gingrow-Shaw attended. Also present were Greg & Karren Briggs (they have recently moved to Hodsdon Lane) and Pam and David Heath (they bought Tim & Brenda Robbin’s place on 215 last year). Also present via were nearly 100 Clary Lake Association members whose votes were to be counted.

Gareth and I perfected a great Zoom setup involving 2 laptops and a large screen TV. However, nobody attended the meeting by Zoom! I was quite surprised! This arrangement will work fine for future *indoor* meetings and may, perhaps with slight modifications, work for outdoor venues as well, assuming we can have internet access. We’ll see.

The purpose of the meeting was to count the returned proxy ballots (along with any votes cast in person) and certify the election results. The ballots, sent out in late January, included the following 3 Articles:

Article 1: To see if the Membership will approve changing the quorum as defined
in our Bylaws in Article 3, Section 6 “Quorum and Attendance” from one-third (1/3)
of the voting members to 15% of the voting members;

Article 2: To see if the Membership will approve changing Article 3, Section 6
“Quorum and Attendance” of our Bylaws from: “Anyone may attend any meeting of
the Members provided that only Members shall have a vote at such meeting.” to
“Anyone may attend any meeting of the Members either in person or virtually (if
it is an available option) provided that only Members shall have a vote at such
meeting;

Article 3: To see if the Membership will approve changing Article 3 Section 3 of our
Bylaws from “The Annual Meeting of the Members of the Corporation shall be held
on the first (1st) Saturday in August or at the call of the President.” to “The Annual
Meeting of the Members of the Corporation shall be held on a Saturday in
August to be announced, or at the call of the President.”

I’m happy to announce that all three Articles passed. I’ve updated the website with the latest Clary Lake Association Bylaws.

Respectfully,

George Fergusson, Secretary
Clary Lake Association

Special Membership Meeting Ahead!

This is a reminder that we have a Special Membership Meeting scheduled for this coming Saturday April 16th at 3:00 PM at the home of Gareth & Beverley Bowen at 739 Gardiner Road, Jefferson Maine. 

Proxy ballots were mailed to all CLA members back in late January along with a cover letter and a self addressed stamped envelope to return the completed ballots. The main question on the ballot involved a change to the wording of our bylaws pertaining to the definition of a quorum; currently a quorum is 1/3 of our voting membership, a hard number to muster! We’re looking to change that to 15% of our voting members. The purpose of this meeting is to officially count the proxy ballots that were returned and any raised-hands at the meeting, and announce the results of the vote. Continue reading →

02 March 2022: Ice Berms & Pressure Ridges

With all the attention on Clary Lake ice this spring, it seems fitting to post this article I’ve been working on for awhile, yet another in our Continuing Education Series, based on the premise that informed people make better Lake Stewards! This post is on Ice Berms and Pressure Ridges and the science behind them and will be added under the Programs & Education menu heading.

IMG_1150_compressedI received a few inquiries about ice berms and pressure ridges in response to my post about February water levels so I thought I’d provide a little more information about these interesting phenomena and the science behind them. Imagine the forces at work that were responsible for the buckled ice in the photo at left! First we need to learn more about how water changes and what happens to it as its temperature changes.

Water becomes more dense (heavier) as its temperature drops, causing it to sink below warmer water: cold water sinks and warm water rises. We all know this much from going swimming and encountering that cold layer of water 4-5 feet below the surface. As its temperature drops, water continues to become more dense and continues sinking below warmer water until it gets down to about 39° F. Then something unexpected happens:  as the water cools, the molecular motion continues to slow down and as the water starts to assume the crystalline lattice structure that is ice, the distance between the molecules actually increases. The freezing water, rather than continuing to become denser, actually begins to expand, becoming less dense, causing it to float (it is this expansion as it freezes that ends up breaking water pipes). By the time water reaches its freezing temperature of 32° F (0° C) and changes to ice, it has expanded approximately 9% from its maximum density and a complete inversion from the usual summertime temperature stratification takes place. In the winter when the lake is ice covered, the coldest water is right under the ice and the temperature rises as depth increases so the warmest (and densest) water is at the bottom of the lake. This is completely opposite of what we see in the summer time with the warmest water at the surface and the coldest water at the bottom. Continue reading →

01 April 2022: Unidentified Animal Sighted on Clary Lake

I spotted this Clary Lake critter this morning when I was out checking my rain gauge. At first I thought it was a goose but the sound it made wasn’t goose-like at all. Sounded more like… I dunno. It was weird. It didn’t stick around. Fortunately I was able to find a picture of it in the webcam archive. Anyone have any idea what this is?

March 2022 Water Level Chart Archived

3 Clary-Lake-Water-Level-March-2022

March 2022

I have archived the March 2022 Water Level Chart (at left). The above-average precipitation with which we started the year did not continue into March, the month’s precipitation of 3.31 inches fell about 1/2″ short of the normal 3.77 inches for March. However, despite the shortfall (if you can call it that), we’re still a solid 2″ above normal for this date and the lake level in March reflects that rainy trend. Our management goal in late winter/early spring is to raise the lake level up to high spring time levels. This year we just got there a little faster than in recent years, actually overtopping the dam in late February. The lake level exceeded the HWM briefly on March 23rd. You can see this year’s water level compared with water levels from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 on our Current Clary Lake Water Level Charts page (see the 4th chart down). Continue reading →

Lake Stewards of Maine’s 2021 Annual Newsletter Now Online

Lake Stewards of Maine’s 50th Anniversary newsletter, The Water Column is now available online. There is lots of interesting reading in this 48 page Issue, something for everyone. I particularly liked “Seven Ways To Monitor and Document the Effects of Climate Change on Your Lake” by Scott Williams, on page 9, and “BloomWatch: Harnessing the Power of Citizen Science Through Collaborative Monitoring of Cyanobacteria Blooms” by Tristan Taber, on page 15. I also really enjoyed “A Day in the Life of an IPPer” by Debbie Broderick from Lake Arrowhead. With a little luck we’ll be getting started with our own Invasive Plant Patrol program here on Clary Lake this year. The Clary Lake Association has been a participating member in the Lake Stewards of Maine’s Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program since 1975 making Clary Lake the 3rd longest monitored lake in the state. Currently, our volunteer lake monitors are George Fergusson and Kelsie French and we try to collect data every 2 weeks during the boating season- typically from sometime in April until late October or early November.

Here’s a link to the newsletter. Enjoy!

29 March 2022: ICE OUT! We have a Winner!

Ice-Out-3-29-2022-LargeIt’s Official:  the sheet of ice that extended from shore to shore down by the boat launch yesterday and which blocked access to the lake was ground up by the high wind this morning and driven into the cove at the east end of the lake. I just consulted with David Hodsdon and we agree that the official Ice Out date is today: 29 March 2022.

Vicki Grimaldi with her guess of March 25th was the closest to ice out without going over, making her the Winner of this year’s ice out contest! Congratulations Vicki! She’ll be receiving the framed loon photograph by David Hodsdon (see image below). Vicki bought Dennis Morgan’s place on Hodsdon Lane back in the summer of 2021. For runners up we have Jack Holland with his guess of March 24th, winner of the “What do you mean it’s not ice out yet?” award, and Dan Burns and Steve Relyea with their March 30th guesses are both winners of the “Missed it by >< that much” award. All 3 runners up will receive a laminated copy of the Clary Lake Depth Map (image at left).

And so concludes our 2022 Ice Out Contest! A month ago I wouldn’t have bet dollars to donuts that the ice would be out before the end of the first week in April, based on how thick the ice was this winter and how cold it’s been this spring, which I suppose just goes to show you what I know. If you’re forgotten your guess, you’ll find it in this post. It’s also unusual for it to take so long (9 days) to go out once open water first showed up on the north shore (like it always does). The reason it took so long I think it because it really wasn’t ready! Usually ice-out occurs much faster. Even more interesting: this year’s ice out date is the same as last year’s ice out date. I didn’t see that coming!

I’d like to thank everyone for playing and encourage you to try again next year. I’ll be picking up the framed loon photograph and delivering it to Vicki later this week. The runners up will get their prizes the next time I see them, which might be the next time they stop by my house if I don’t stop by their house first!

27 March 2022: Still Got Ice!

20220327_123502-MediumI went over to the boat launch today and took the picture at left. After consulting with Google Earth, I estimate there are at least 50 acres of ice left down at the east end of the lake, and 3-4 acres of ice left on the south shore in Jefferson. I think the reason the ice is going out so slowly this year is because it really wasn’t ready to melt off; we got some warm weather and a good rain storm a week ago Saturday and some open water appeared on the north shore. Then 2 days of 35+ mph winds knocked a Big Hole in the ice cover, but much of what remained was still quite solid. Unusual conditions this year, for sure.

Avian Haven 2021 Year End Report

Our friends at Avian Haven have posted their 2021 Year End Report on their website, and as usual, it’s a real treat. They do wonderful work. From their website:

Avian Haven was incorporated as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization by Marc Payne and Diane Winn in 1999. Since that time, our annual case load has increased from about 300 to about 3,600 birds, making us one of the largest avian rehabilitation practices in New England. All told to date, roughly 34,000 birds from more than 100 species have been treated at Avian Haven. We care for wild birds that are orphaned, sick, and/or injured, with a goal of releasing them back to their natural roles in the wild.

 

23 March 2022: Ice Out Update: Close but No Cigar!

Clary_cam-1

I have never seen the ice disappear from Clary Lake as fast as it has this year! Last Friday there were people ice fishing. Rain on Saturday and with winds on Monday and Tuesday with gusts of 35-40 mph really hammered the ice into submission. As of this morning, winds have let up considerably but are still blowing 8 mph or so. There is a considerable amount of ice left on the south shore both in Whitefield and Jefferson. We’re not calling ice out yet, but it won’t be long now. Tomorrow we’re expecting rain during the day with moderate winds from the south which change to the east and pick up in intensity come night fall. It’s hard to imagine the remaining ice hanging around to the weekend.

You can keep an eye on things with our Clary_cams (which President Dave Knight insists on calling Spy_cams) and if you haven’t tried yet, livestream them!

21 March 2022: Ice Out Update

20220321_092112-1Last Friday, only 4 days ago, there were people out on Clary Lake ice fishing. Today there is a sizable portion of open water on the north side of the lake, easily visible in this picture taken this morning. You can just barely make it out on Clary_cam-1 as a thin dark line in the distance. High northwest winds forecast for today will push that open water further towards the south shore. We’re still quite a few days, away from open water. 

Here are the 2022 Ice Out Contest guesses. Good Luck Contestants! Continue reading →