Today’s Earth Day. Do Something Meaningful!

Resident raccoon, Beaton Property on Manchaug Pond Yes, it’s Earth Day… Want to do something meaningful?… Something of benefit where you live, work and play?… Something right here, for right now?Make a donation to MPF for the Beaton Property.Protect 875 ft of shoreline and 100 areas of significant wildlife habitat. Please do it today!  Paypal or to MPF,  P.O. Box 154, Manchaug, MA  01526 Thanks to our resident photographer who captured this perfect photo of a Beaton Property resident raccoon! All donations are fully tax-deductible. Make them in memory or in honor of someone you love.  A letter recognizing your contribution will be sent upon receipt.  Thank you!

100 acre Beaton Property can be saved! Town assigns “right of first refusal” to MPF

At an April 16th Public Hearing, the Sutton Board of Selectman voted to assign their “right of first refusal” on 73 acres of agricultural lands protected under Chapter 61A to the Manchaug Pond Foundation. Chairman Michael Chizy called the property “a jewel of Sutton” noting its beauty as seen from the property’s edge on Waters Road as it overlooks the 100 acres of rolling pasture, forested land, and the abutting Manchaug Pond. WHAT?  A purchase and sales agreement signed with Holy Cross College for the entire near 100 acres, the horse barns, and family homestead looks to remove the main barn and training rink with preliminary plans to construct a 30,000 sq. foot building complex to house faculty, students and staff for overnight retreat events. (Watch the video of Holy Cross’ presentation) WHY?  The action taken by the Board of Selectman looks to protect one, if not THE most significant parcels, for Manchaug Pond from sale and development: the 73 acres of agricultural land used primarily as an equestrian training center and a miniature horse rescue stable is part of a larger piece totaling about 100 acres in Sutton and Douglas. Of importance to the mission of the MPF in …

Look to the Sky – State Bald Eagle Survey Today!

Past photo of an adult bald eagle soaring over Manchaug Pond. Eagles are frequent visitors to Manchaug Pond.  We love seeing them soar, perch in the tall pines, and dive for fish. Eagle and other wildlife enthusiasts are out today across the state counting the state’s eagle population. This effort will include a concentrated survey of the major rivers, lakes, and reservoirs across the Commonwealth. If you have some time, get the binoculars and watch the skies of Manchaug Pond!  Organized by the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) the survey will be conducted by agency staff and volunteers. Teams will be checking known eagle territories and exploring areas with potential eagle habitat to try to locate “new” eagle nests. If inclement weather prevents the survey on April 5, the backup date is April 12, 2013. Additionally, the Division encourages anyone to submit eagle sightings throughout the year by email to natural.heritage@state.ma.us or by postal service to “Eagle Survey“, MassWildlife, Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, 100 Hartwell Street, Suite 230, West Boylston, MA 01583.  The new spring Bald Eagle Survey will replace the Division’s long-standing Midwinter Bald Eagle Survey. “Although MassWildlife has participated in the winter eagle surveys for …

Lake Visitors

We may have some serious doubts that Spring is around the corner but this Hooded Merganser visiting Area 2 yesterday is a sure sign that the Spring migration has started and warm weather will soon follow! 

Snowing and Blowing on Manchaug Pond

Haven’t lost power here on Manchaug Pond but it is snowing and blowing with low/no visibility. Send your photos here or on Facebook and I’ll post them! Also, you have to love Manchaug Pond’s distinctive shape which is easily recognizable on the weather maps! Here’s the links to monitor the power outage maps: http://outage.nstar.com/outage/outagemap.aspx https://www1.nationalgridus.com/PowerOutageMap-NY-RES

White Water at the Dam!

Thank you!  This morning the town opened the low level gate even further to bring the water level down at a faster rate. With rain in December we saw the water level continuing to come up even with the gate kept open.  Today’s measures should get us back down to a level that gets docks out of the ice and gives a deeper level of control of invasive aquatic species – namely fanwort and asian clam. Did you hear the fishing augers on the lake yesterday!

Eagle Soars Manchaug Pond

While we shovel out the few inches of snow received overnight, an adult bald eagle soars just above the treetops of Manchaug Pond’s shoreline.