Saturday Morning - Cleaning!

While the weatherman predicted rain for this morning it never happen until afternoon. Another missed shot for the waterlevel to go up.

But the sunshine provided a great time for my husband to help one of the son-in-laws figure out why his boat motor wouldn't keep running.

Taking the cover off revealed a nest tucked nicely inside the motor. Above and to the left of the nest is a yellow wire which was chewed right off with about 3 inches missing!



But the bulk of the nest filled the front of that engine! Incredible!







Once he vacuumed it all out with the shop vacuum, replaced the wire and put the covers back on, it started right up!

Now the son-in-law just needs to repair his dock which was damage this winter by the ice of an unusually high waterlevel. (He's on the Douglas side in Area 7-8 where the waterlevel is higher than on our opposite shore.)

A View from the MPA Board Meeting

This was the view tonight from the MPA Board of Directors meeting which overlooks scenic Manchaug Pond. Our third meeting this month, called by the MPA President, to bring the eighteen member Board together seeking their input and direction as to issues including the low water level issue, the dam and the water quality grant. This month has been a steady press of daily phone calls and meetings with local and state officials informing them of the situaion here on Manchaug Pond and securing their help. The continued focus of the President and his Board of Directors the past months has been two fold: the short term success of getting the waterlevel at the appropriate level for the season and secondly, for the long term, addressing the future control of the Manchaug Pond dam.

The MPA extends its sincere appreciation to our local officials, our state legislators, the adminitration of Governor Deval Patrick including the Office of Dam Safety and DEP for their continued help on this issue this spring. We also value the open lines of communication provided by the dam owner to the MPA President and property owners in this process as well as our past working relationship with their dam caretaker who was on duty 24/7. This is only the start of a workable solution to the Manchaug Pond situation.

Blue Skies, Wind and NO RAIN!

Sun again. Wind again. (Don, what does your weather station say, as this is not a breeze we are experiencing?!)

Although we have had a few showers here and there since the flashboards went in and the gate closed down a bit we are not getting enough to get
water to many docks. I did notice a small pontoon boat went in over the
weekend in area 2 of Manchaug Pond and appears to be docked in about 6 inches of water. The sand bar of what used to be Blueberry Island remains exposed.....



... and jeez... lets think creatively now! Maybe we should look into hydro and windpower! We did look into hydro power a couple years ago if we were a district and Alternatives Limited has harnessed the power of the Mumford River under a huge grant already! The town of Hull boast the big wind mill powering 500 homes and Sutton's own King Farm on Central Turnpike now has its own windmill!

A week or more of wind has just got to me!

Rain is in the forecast for the weekend to help bring the waterlevel up. Evaporation is a concern for June, July and August and then there is the dam owner's discussion of maintaining us at the rule curve (instead of their traditional levels above the curve!) and maintaining the 16 cfs for the Town of Douglas Sewage Treatment Plant will take the level down even further. Whitin I hear is closed tight. Well, Steven's is maintaining the flow for the moment!

Sure wish we could go back to the days when Fuddy, our faithful 24/7 dam caretaker for 20 years, reigned!

Telegram Reports Whitin District

Tuesday evening the Whitin Reservoir Association went before the Douglas Board of Selectman to prepare for the meeting which will formalize their watershed district.

The Board of Selectman set the first meeting of the District for June 16th where a vote of at least 60% of the approximately 140 property owners within the district boundaries is needed to establish the Whitin Reservoir Watershed District.

Read of their continued success for yourself :) http://www.telegram.com/article/20080521/NEWS/805210565

(In case you were wondering ... I did not take this photo. It is a satellite photo provided by the internet.)

Start of the Season - Memorial day Weekend

Windy was again the word of the day but the forecast
is calling for a beautiful tomorrow and Monday to start the season here
on the lake. Last night we heard a few fireworks here and there. Today
lawn mowers roared to get ready for cookouts and campers continued to
come into the area. Tonight the country music from a campground filled
the air.





We were amazed at 8:30 tonight and again an hour later to hear and catch a boat zoom up and down the channel, "at full throttle" my husband said, safely navigating through the maze of Manchaug's icebergs. I certainly would be carefully going through the old causeway, but then ignorance is bliss!


And then there are still many properties left high and dry when it comes to the waterlevel. :((

Yesterday's Rainbow

MPA Event! Spring Social June 14th

Mark those calendars! Saturday, June 14th at the YMCA Camp Blanchard facility, the MPA is hosting our annual Spring Social where friends and neighbors of Manchaug Pond get together over morning coffee and danish at the start of the season.

This event is just a casual get together to see old friends, catch up on the
latest after our winter hibernation away from the lake. The MPA
President and other officers and members of the Board of Directors will be on hand
to answer questions you might have on the water level, dam and other
issues relating to our lake. Never missing an opportunity, our 319
Grant Coordinator and 1st Vice President, Marty Jo will have our
educational exhibit set up and has asked Donna Williams of the
Blackstone River Coalition to come in and talk with us at 11:00 about
the big picture of our water quality.

Our first social, organized by the Norman's of Area 5, also included a swap where members brought books, puzzles, life jackets and other items they wanted to
give or trade. Your welcome to bring a few items along this year.

Our treasurer will probably have his scissors and a deck of cards for the
50/50 raffle which is always a hit at the Annual Meeting so don't
forget to bring a buck or two or three.

I'll be sure our inventory of MPA shirts and hats are on sale as well.

So mark you calendar, and plan to attend. The coffee is on us!

(Hope
your don't mind me dropping a few names! I usually keep names off the
blog to insure privacy but I do want to give credit!)

Rain and Watershed Run-off Continue

The sun is shining now but this morning, like the last
few days, brought more showers to help bring up the waterlevel.


This photo was taken on Lackey Road in Sutton showing water running down the hill and under Manchaug Road directly to Manchaug Pond. This rain is bringing the lake level up, but not enough for many boat owners around the lake.

The large leafed plant is skunk cabbage. If you travel along Manchaug
Road toward Central Turnpike you'll see the yellow flowers of marsh marigolds growing among the cabbage. These are also found on the Douglas side down Ledgestone Road. Not only is the 4,288 acres of watershed providing precious run-off to raise the level of the lake but it is also filtering a portion of this water. Our 319 nonpoint pollution grant project looks at educating homeowners in the watershed so as to curb activities which adversely impact our lake's water quality. The DEP Healthy Lawns Workshop organized by our 1st Vice President and held this spring is one of many educational efforts the MPA has planned.

The fall 07 and spring 08 clean-up events hauled a couple dump truck
loads of trash out of the watershed with some items - old motors, etc -
not just being unsightly litter but also jeopardizing our water
quality. Having just worked the clean up less than a month ago, I
couldn't believe my eyes when Monday I saw this furnace thing dumped over the banking on Parker Road in Sutton not to mention the McDonald's bags, etc. Ugh!

My husband thought we would need a tow truck or come-a-long to get it out. To my delight this afternoon, I saw it coming down Holt Road in the bucket of a front end loader! My personal thanks to the unknown hero of the neighborhood! You can see the water which flows into Steven's at the bottom of that banking - it was only a matter of time before the oil or whatever other chemicals were in there reached the lake and Mumford River!

What to TaLK About... Districts, Vandals, and Bears! Oh My!

Plenty to talk about this week...

DISTRICT: The Whitin Reservoir group is scheduled to meet tonight with the Town of Douglas Board of Selectman to set the date for the first meeting of the property owners. http://www2.douglasma.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=776 It is at this first meeting that they will formally vote in a Watershed District. After Sutton gave the MPA a no vote, Whitins continued on as they are only in Douglas to file their bill in the state legislature where it was reviewed a couple legislative committees, passed the Senate and the House twice and reviewed and signed by our Governor. Our MPA President has been told that the people of Whitins are totally prepared for this first meeting of the district. The District Clerk of a nearby lake watershed district continues to mentor them in this process.


DAM VANDAL STRIKES a 3rd TIME: Late yesterday, a call was received by the MPA President from the attorney for the dam owner reporting someone had placed sandbags in front of the flashboards the Manchaug Pond dam.
Unknown to me, I had taken this photo in the morning showing not a drop of water flowing through. The dam owner explained the danger of messing with the dam as the force of the water is phenomenal. The police have been notified and a report filed. The sandbags will be removed in the near future as they present a safety problem if the dam needs to be opened quickly. The dam owner will be sending out another letter to property owners in the near future.



BEAR VISITS UXBRIDGE: Today's Telegram reports Uxbridge Police received numerous reports all over town this weekend of a visiting black bear.
A few years ago, a bear visited a bird feeder here on Manchaug Pond over in the Summer Ct./Bigelow Road area. Check out the following website to get tips as to what to do if a bear visits your neighborhood. Mass Wildlife also recommends you take the suet feeders down from April 1 to December.
http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/wildlife/living/living_with_bears.htm

Rain brings water level up - still not floating...

Sunday night on beautiful Manchaug Pond...

The rains are bringing up the waterlevel, but some areas of the lake are still high and dry. Our Great Pond is accessible from the Public Access Boat Ramp, just be careful going up the channel and through the old causeway as a couple motors hit rock again this weekend.



As for some of us living on the lake... we are still high and pretty dry. A couple households are enjoying their new found beach and you'll see on the poll they responded that everything is fine. While others are stuck...

My husband is making arrangements for the old 28 footer to go and to replace it with something smaller which he can take out for the winter season and put in when the "tide comes in"! (That's a quote I heard from a campground owner said during our clean-up event. I love it! So true!) My daughters cried that the old boat - 24 years old and still assessed at $7,000! - is leaving as it has a deck on top which they and guests love to canonball off of when we float out in the middle. The lake is too shallow for that now! The pontoons are wet but we are still not floating. I guess I didn't exaggerate when I said we depend on the dam owner...

Congratulations to Whitin Reservoir!

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "YIPPEE! Not a drop going over the spillway :)":

We're glad all will soon be in the Water.I live on the douglas res.and have been following the excellent job you've done keeping your residents informed. I wish our web was updated so promply.
enjoy the summer
a neighbor down the lake


Thank you! I am glad you are enjoying the MPA blog over the hill on the Douglas Res. You have a beautiful, quiet lake and I hear the boating and fishing is so much better on your private lake!

As our association's Corresponding Secretary, I started this blog in March of 2006 to offer a means of getting the latest news out quickly and timely - something a hardcopy newsletter can't do. Besides the updates on the water level and water quality, the blog allows a view of the lake to the many seasonal property owners, campers, and day visitors. Others outside our association and community also loved to read of our goals, efforts and achievements as stewards of our water resource. As an informal vehicle for communication, it allows for comments/discussion, polls and the posting of beautiful photos and quips about life on the lake - foxes, eagles, sunsets, etc. Our stat counter tells us we had 1186 visitors so far this month!


But enough about the blog! I should be complimenting YOU and your newly formed association on your great achievement- A WATERSHED DISTRICT!

Tuesday, while Manchaug Pond was cheering the closed dam and new signs at our state ramp, the property owners of Whitin Reservoir took control of their future with the passage of "An Act to establish the WHITIN RESERVOIR WATERSHED DISTRICT!" Yes, their legislation passed! On Tuesday, May 13th, Governor Deval Patrick signed the legislation filed by Senator Richard Moore and Representative Paul Kujawski on their behalf and that of the Town of Douglas. This District will certainly give the property owners and the town of Douglas a strong mechanism to preserve this water resource and put control in the hands of those directly affected and those who know and love it best!

Congratulations! Wish we could boast the same!

Click the title of the post to follow the legislation's passage!

How Do We Get Water in the Pond?

Anonymous said...

Does the lake water level rise from just rain/runoff or does the lake have natural springs that feed the lakes water supply?
May 14, 2008 9:15 AM


Great question! The lake's water level will rise from both rain and runoff from the watershed. Manchaug Pond is NOT fed by natural springs. (info from Lee Lyman of Lycott Environmental, Inc.) We need rain and soon! Can the rain/runoff bring the water level up quickly so residents and visitors can enjoy a safe season on the lake with swimming, boating, etc? Yes, definitely and I'll get some photos of runoff for you, but the MPA Board of Directors continues to work to address the MPA membership's call for a longterm solution to our dam situation. The dam owner has it up for sale, has moved their operation out of the area and is limiting their day-to-day involvement and liability. Also, as summed up nicely by a local official, in looking at the rule curve and regulations we have a "company interpreting in a conservative manner." This week's good news about the flashboards going in and the gate closed is a short term solution... we need to continue to work for the longterm.

If you would like more information about membership in the Manchaug Pond Association or to get more involved please email the corresponding secretary at PhyllisC@digitalrv.net. This year is an election year if you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors (we have a seat available which used to be occupied by a camper :D - think about it!!) or if you are interested in water quality, want to learn aquatic weed identification, land conservation/preservation, endangered species, boating safety, local history, the newsletter, website or have another talent or interest and want to get involved - let us know!

The MPA can also be reached by mail at MPA, P.O. Box 154, Manchaug, Massachusetts 01526.

Town of Sutton Responds to MPA Request!

Nice sign! I am impressed! What a week.. both the dam and the boat ramp receive major attention here on Manchaug Pond!

The dam flashboards (all seven!) were put in on Tuesday and the low outlet gate closed. The same day, just up the road, the State Public Access Boat Ramp which is managed by the Town of Sutton, received a facelift! New signs, a second mowing, and the port-o-let - which was brought in earlier - is moved to its new location.


Look at that sign! Impressive! State park brown with the Sutton "Rufus Putnam" town seal clearly marking the entrance of the ramp. (Now dead end Irma Jones Road should get less traffic from those lost boaters!) But the excitement doesn't stop there... drive down the ramp to see a host of new signage: where to best park if you are pulling a trailer, if your boat is cartop, or if you need a handicap spot. There's also signage explaining a few do's and don'ts and to encourage you take all those noxious aquatic weeds off your boat motor!


Who do we thank for all this? The new Sutton Town Administrator, James Smith! Seems at a meeting between Mr. Smith and the MPA just a couple months ago, Mr. Smith asked if anything was needed at the ramp. Well, the MPA 1st Vice President, who is also our 319 grant coordinator, had requested the meeting just to update the town on the progress of our 319 NonPoint Source Pollution Progect. (She also met with Douglas!) Accompanied by the MPA Corresponding Secretary (yours truly!), we mentioned the need for signage .... and of course asked for the continued presence of the gatekeeper, gate and port-o-let which was identified as a severe need back in 1990 by the MPA to the Board of Selectman in our request for town.

What action! Detailed and timely!

Thank you, Mr. Smith and crew!

YIPPEE! Not a drop going over the spillway :)

YIPPPEEEE! YAHOOOOEEEEE!


LOOK! Not a drop going over the spillway!!



I knew this big "green" company would do the right thing for the well-being of Manchaug Pond and the many creatures who live in its watershed!

- once we brought it to their attention :)) Good work everyone!

BOARDS ARE IN! GATE CLOSED!

THE BOARDS ARE IN! all seven of them! AND THE GATE IS CLOSED to the one inch required by DEP for downstream aquatic life. The employee for the dam owner remaining at the mill did this work this morning at 10. (I was on the phone with the Sutton Town Administrator's office at 9:30 and the MPA President right after, so I missed the whole thing! No photos.) He explained the Boards will leak a bit until they swell with water. But we are good for now. Pray for rain and we'll see how fast this lake can come up.

I'll report more after my daughter comes for the grandchildren! It is hard to blog with an 11 month old and a 2 1/2 year old.

Dam Owner Notifies MPA the Boards are Going In!..... WHEN?

Here's the lake from the launch at the Public Access Boat ramp on Manchaug Pond this afternoon.

At 4:45, the water was still pouring though the spillway and low level outlet to leave Manchaug Pond lower still.


The MPA President did speak with the attorney for the dam owner as to what is going on. He reports the boards are going in.... WHEN?



I'll report more later...

Enough is Enough - let's hope today is the day!

We're told flashboards have been ordered to go in today!



This information came to us Saturday morning (unconfirmed, but from a state official to two of our board members) - the dam owner did not return our call Friday after their meeting with DEP - but we heard the meeting went in the LAKE's favor.



We'll see what today brings ... promises or action?

BOARDS! The word of the day!

What a Beautiful Day!

What a beautiful day! Sunshine, comfortable temperatures, and a nice breeze to keep the mayflies away as a wonderful backdrop for a day with good company on a beautiful peaceful lake. Last night fireworks were seen on the lake which seemed to mark the start of the season.


This beautiful field of bluets are to be found at the Public Access Boat Ramp on the Sutton side of Manchaug Pond. The boat ramp is owned by the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and managed by the Town of Sutton.



Oh, did I just hear someone ask why the town manages this state owned ramp?

Go back and Check out the comments! And the New photographer!

Go back and take a look at older posts to see what readers have to say...

KGB has left a new comment on your post "Dam FOR SALE to the right owner!":

Instead of putting up a fence, the dam owner should have put in the boards. geesh!

Also check out photos sent in by our newest photographer! He sure did capture two of the happiest workers!





I'd like to suggest that a few of you readers start your own blog! Use sites like Blogger or Wordpress, they make it easy.

Will Fall 2008 be another 2006?

These photos came in late last night. Taken the fall of 2006 at one of the 3 campgrounds directly on Manchaug Pond, this shows the importance of the waterlevel and how the dam owner can make you or break you.

This is a waterfront campsite. The lake begins just after the trees.




The dam owner took the water level down to make repairs to the spillway gate in 2006 - but timing being everything... that drawdown was delayed til fall after the recreation season dies down.


The low water level did have a negative impact on a couple wells, and one cove still reports no peepers or bull frogs since. The lake was brought up immediately after the repairs were completed - impact was minimized as the safety issue was fully addressed.



Today we question the need to maintain the water level low as we have heard of no threat to safety. The dam owner still owns this dam, we ask you to honor your committment and service to this community.