Below you'll find a list of all posts from 2009
Thursday morning the lake was like a mirror. Just after lunch, a flock of Canada geese was seen feeding in the corn feed up on Lackey Road. Before and after their meal, the flock is frequently seen having on Manchaug Pond. Sunshine and late afternoon gray clouds brought a rainbow over the golf course.
During our cleanup events, an MPA volunteer and Area Representative on our Board of Directors found this little creature at the Manchaug Pond inlet. More to come ….. Have to go for now
Late yesterday afternoon, the doe and three fawns often seen this spring and summer in Area 3 were grazing on the lawn of the YMCA Camp Blanchard. The young are now about the size of their mother. A bit of lightening up of the photos … Neighbors report up to 7 deers grazing and eating acorns in their yards as well as a buck rubbing his horns on the branches of smaller landscape trees. Across the lake, roadside walkers in the watershed are seen wearing their hunter orange.
As the leaves drop, Manchaug Pond is not only visible from the neighboring roadsides and Waters Farm but also from Douglas Road in Sutton (from Whittier’s Farm head south, look left as you start down the hill to Northwest Main St, Douglas.) A close-up of the view from Waters Road, Sutton shows the old causeway which stretches across the channel. I am told by a neighbor that their home was moved many, many years ago from the Douglas side to the Sutton side along this road. A look at the 1831 map of Sutton shows that road.
Here’s a preview of my next post on that boat mishap on Manchaug Pond. An MPA member and his cousin caught the whole story in photo form on a cell phone and have shared it with us – from the “out of control” to the “crashed on the rocks.” More to come!
Sutton voters! Tonight your raised hand, your YEA! is needed at the fall Town Meeting Monday October 19, 2009 7:30pm Early Learning Center Auditorium in support of two articles which will preserve 378 acres of open space in the Manchaug Pond watershed thereby directly benefiting the water quality of Manchaug Pond, protecting wildlife corridor… not to mention give cell phone coverage to the area. Here they are:Article 3 Article 3 sponsored by the Board of Selectmen is a request to borrow $280,000, through a debt exclusion vote, for the purpose of becoming a co-holder, with the State of Massachusetts, of an Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) on 314 acres of land currently owned by Whittier Farms Inc. APR is a voluntary program that offers an alternative to owners of farmland who choose to see the property protected rather than sell it for development. The APR program offers to pay farmland owners the difference between the “fair market value” and the “agricultural value” of their property in exchange for a permanent deed restriction that prevents the land from ever being developed for anything other than a farm purpose. The Whittiers are seeking the APR for 378 acres of land: 314 acres on …
http://www.suttonma.org/Pages/SuttonMA_News/I014E5293 http://www.suttonma.org/Pages/SuttonMA_News/I014D1116Towns Looking to Protect 378 Acres at Whittier FarmsSelectmen support APR on Whittier land BY TOM REILLY Town Administrator Jim Smith updated the board on a proposed Agricultural Preservation Restriction on Whittier Farms. Smith said the Whittier family has been working on the measure with the state’s Department of Agricultural Resources and it appears that an offer from the state will come in September. The offer would initiate a time period during which the town needs to decide if it wants to contribute monetarily to this preservation restriction. Town meeting approval is required to do so. The APR is a voluntary program that offers an alternative to owners of farmland who choose to see the property protected rather than sell it for development. Smith said that without the APR the most logical use of such land is for residential housing development. The Whittiers are seeking the APR for 378 acres of land: 312 acres on Town Farm Road and Douglas Road in Sutton and 66 acres in Oxford. The APR program offers to pay farmland owners the difference between the “fair market value” and the “agricultural value” of their property in exchange for a permanent deed restriction that prevents …
Large snowflakes, 1 1/2 inch and larger, have been falling on Manchaug Pond for a few hours this afternoon. The photographer tells me that Canada geese were flying over as well as three large birds she could not identify.
