Just hanging out at the Manchaug Dam – Eastern Painted Turtle!
Commonly seen sunning themselves on rocks or logs along the shore and in the coves of Manchaug Pond are sun turtles otherwise known as the Eastern Painted Turtle, Chrysemys picta picta. Here’s more information from Connecticut Wildlife: These turtles are highly aquatic. They prefer shallow, slow-moving streams and rivers with muddy bottoms and weedy shallow ponds. Eastern painted turtles nest in May or June. A female digs a flask-shaped nesting cavity, about 4 inches deep, in sandy soil in a warm, sunny spot. She lays 2 to 20 elliptical eggs. After laying she may push leaves and grass over the spot to camouflage it. One of the rare times a painted turtle leaves the water is to locate a nesting site. Females are vulnerable to being run over if they cross roads to find a good spot. They can produce 2 to 4 clutches annually in warmer climates, but produce 1 to 2 farther north. Incubation takes 10 to 11 weeks. Most of the hatchlings overwinter in the nest and come out in spring, usually at night. When they emerge they head for water. It is believed that the increased reflection of light from water surfaces into the night sky …
Water Quality: MPF Secures Second Grant
Yesterday, we received a “green light” from MassDEP to begin the Manchaug Pond Water Quality Improvement – Phase 2 grant project. Our paperwork is complete, we are good to go! Phase 1 project – Pervious pavers installed at the state boat ramp. Last October, we received news that of the 14 proposals submitted, Manchaug Pond Foundation’s was one of seven projects to be recommended to the US EPA for funding through the ‘FFY13 319 Nonpoint Source Competitive Grants Program. Earlier this year our final scope, budget, and timeline were accepted and this month our final paperwork was completed. Of the total $1.4 million, Manchaug Pond will receive $119,865 with MPF responsible for matching Phase 1- Catch basin installed on lake roadside with time and services for a total project budget of $208, 525. Phase 1 project – Rain garden captures runoff preventing erosion This grant will also allow additional Nonpoint Source (NPS) improvements in the watershed to help improve the water quality of Manchaug Pond and ultimately the Mumford and Blackstone Rivers. The phase 2 project, like the phase 1, will install a number of stormwater BMP structures immediately around the pond in both towns of Sutton and Douglas: leaching …
A thought for today..
A look at Manchaug Pond through the eyes of today’s gloomy weather: A look at Manchaug Pond through the efforts of the Manchaug Pond Foundation: Today’s post is a collaboration between our seasoned blog writer and our new intern. A welcome to this new writer for Manchaug Pond and the Foundation – we look forward to reading future posts and seeing the results of the young involvement!
BIG Raffle Tickets on Sale Now!
Remember our BIG BOAT Raffles? The reverse drawing with the loosing numbers drawn first – on rubber duckies in a pool? And the winner had a choice of a brand new boat or a pocket of cash? Well our BIG RAFFLE is back! This year the prize is not a boat but a trip to a location of your choice worth up to $5,000! The winner can choose the travel voucher or $4,000 CA$H! We’ve made it easier to play, with the best odds and ticket price… up to 100 tickets will be sold – no more than that! And the price per ticket has been slashed in half at $100. So are you in? Great odds, great price, great fun at the drawing, and a great cause! You can go in with a family or a friend!For tickets see a MPF Board member or email ManchaugPondSecretary@gmail.com and we will get a ticket delivered to your door! Thanks for your part in preserving Manchaug Pond! Send your donations to MPF, P.O. Box 154, Manchaug, MA 01526 or make our Paypal button dance!
Now flowering in the Manchaug Pond watershed: Pink Lady’s Slipper
Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule) is flowering now in the acidic forests around Manchaug Pond. This particular plant is growing on a steep slope at the base of an oak tree in the woods of Douglas.Check out this link from the US Forest Service for more info about this orchid.
Worcester Telegram Editorial on the Beaton Farm Property
The following is an editorial from the Worcester Telegram. Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Common ground A ‘view shed’ in Sutton on the block This much is certain: The Beaton Farm property in Sutton offers a magnificent and unspoiled view of Manchaug Pond from historic Waters Farm. But when it comes to the eleventh-hour battle to “save the land from development,” it is much less clear that the property is in dire danger. On the one hand, local conservationists, spearheaded by the Manchaug Pond Foundation, are hoping to raise $1.32 million by July 16 to buy 76 acres on behalf of the town, thus preserving it in perpetuity. On the other hand, the College of the Holy Cross has offered $1.9 million to the owners to purchase the 76 acres plus acreage along the pond’s shore, for siting a retreat center. Often, tussles over New England’s vanishing landscape are stark choices between leaving the land as is, or letting it sprout single-family homes. There’s no doubt that if Holy Cross obtains the property, some development will take place, but if the college’s plans are as advertised, a 30,000-square-foot retreat center can probably coexist with the woods, wildlife and sense of place …
Herons, Manchaug Pond, and the Neighboring Rookery
A Heron on a dock on Manchaug Pond – archive photo Herons are a common sight on Manchaug Pond: fishing coves, standing on docks and shoreline boulders and flying low over the water to a quiet place. To see where they are nesting, just take a car ride north and west of Manchaug Pond heading toward Oxford. Heron rookery located just outside Manchaug Pond watershed in Oxford, Massachusetts As you head west on Central Turnpike you’ll enter Oxford, passing Douglas Pike and Joe Jenny Road on the left. Keep looking to the left and you will see a large area of water and dead trees. This wetlands was created by a number of years ago by beavers flooding the forest. Those dead trees now bear the large stick nests of herons! A driveby reveals the adults standing tall in the nest with other adults flying east to and from area ponds and wetlands. Closeup of females in the nests. In addition to Manchaug Pond, herons are frequent visitors to Aldrich Mill Pond at the inlet of Manchaug, the bordering trout ponds on the Beaton Farm Property in Sutton as well as neighboring Stevens Pond downstream and Oxford’s Robinson Pond west …
TO DO LIST for Lovers of Manchaug Pond!
My Action Items – Today the lake is my priority! Preserve Beaton Farm – all 100+ acres of fields, forests, and shoreline! 1. TAKE A STAND! Yes, I support MPF’s effort to preserve the shoreline, water, and watershed! VOTE in the poll on the sidebar at the right! Comment here, and on Facebook as to what Manchaug Pond means to you! 2. MAKE A DONATION – Dig deep! I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Manchaug Pond NEEDS ME and MPF needs me with them and behind them! Love Manchaug Pond? Be a part of the rescue! Join the MPF to preserve the entire parcel, farmlands, forest, and the 875 ft of waterfront. No donation is too small or too big. Today send your check to MPF, P. O. Box 154, Manchaug, MA, USA 01526-0154 or use the Paypal button on the sidebar. MPF needs to cover required closing costs: title, surveying and marking, wetlands delineation and flagging, legal fees, etc. 3. SPREAD THE WORD! I’m going to tell everyone I know what is going on and ask them to help me save our lake! We can do this!
Sunday Telegram Tells Beaton Farm Story
Sunday, May 19, 2013 Group races to save Sutton landscape A robin takes flight from a fence post on land the Manchaug Pond Association wants to save from development. (T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR)The Manchaug Pond Foundation is racing to raise $1.32 million by July 16 to buy the Beaton Farm Property overlooking Manchaug Pond. (T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR) By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF susan.spencer@telegram.com Add a comment Enlarge photo Enlarge photo SUTTON — There is hardly a more classic rural New England landscape than in Sutton. Rolling hills unfold in a patchwork of fields and stone walls. Weathered barns stand against the wind. Orchards, dairy and horse farms dot knolls sloping to sparkling ponds. That view — and the town’s cultural heritage — is changing, as open space succumbs to development. Selectman Michael A. Chizy, who serves as board chairman, has lived in town almost 60 years. “Where cornfields used to be, now there’s houses,” he said. Another quintessential parcel, the 100-acre Beaton Farm Property that was once part of historic Waters Farm, overlooking Manchaug Pond, may be the next to be developed. The current owner, who has received property tax benefits for 73 acres on the site under the …
