MARK YOUR CALENDAR! May 15th Cleanup!

Join the MPA Board of Directors and members for coffee, muffins and donuts, and a little outdoor work to benefit Manchaug Pond on Saturday, May 15th  for our twice a year CLEAN-UP!  If you’ve never participated you’ll be surprised as to what we find! These are the big three in roadside trash: McD’s, Dunkins, and then bottles of all flavors and strengths! We hit the road!… by car and on foot with gloves and trash bags. Hit the Boat Ramp!… with wheelbarrows, tractors and leaf blowers and this year with paint brushes (we’re going to paint the ramp gate!) and we Hit the shore! in boats to just pile it in. We’ll meet at the state boat ramp on Torrey Rd, Sutton at 9:00 am and work until noon. Come for the morning or come for an hour! Pick the task you like best and bring the buddy you like to work with most! or meet a new friend! Thank you to the Sutton Highway Dept. for joining us in this effort with the use of the truck and to the Sutton Transfer Station for disposal of the trash collected and the the MassDEP 319 NonPoint Source Pollution Grant for …

Downstream Offered Cute Fundraiser – Rubber Duckie Race

Saturday was the 2nd Annual Rubber Duckie Race (not sure of the exact title) to benefit the work in the village of their civic organization. It was a breakaway with the winning duck making the winning little 4 year old boy very happy.

Murphy’s Law or My Dog Ate My Tackle Box… !! TACKLE BOX !!

YES, YOU HEARD IT RIGHT! Here’s the email message and photo that came in this week.   “Want to laugh? I just got back from the vets – Murphy ate my tackle box… with all sorts of stuff in it. 190 dollars and 6 x-rays later – no hooks! yay! What a CRAZY dog we have, huh?” GULP!

Sutton Town Warrant of Interest to Manchaug Pond

Yesterday gray skies filled the day with a bit of rain here and there. Minutes ago a rain shower brought a bit of hail and now the sun is shining. http://www.suttonma.org/Pages/index Of interest to Manchaug Pond are a few items on the Sutton town meeting warrant: Article 12 is the annual appropriation for the management of the state public access ramp and Article 14 and 15 allow for the small installation of hydroelectric by special permit of the Planning Board. Click the link or post title to bring you to the town website and then click to see the entire warrant to read it for yourself. The members of the Manchaug Pond Association were present at the Planning Board public hearing when the hydroelectric power article was discussed. Personally, I found it very interesting that not a dam owner or potential dam buyer was in attendance and further I have heard word on the street that this article was brought by a potential dam owner, but in reality the Planning Board opened the hearing explaining that the Board was bringing the article for town consideration at the urging of the Town Administrator to address concerns at Manchaug Pond. Sutton has …

One of Manchaug Pond’s Pileated Woodpecker

You’ve heard them around Manchaug Pond calling to each other!Now thanks to a member who sent these photos in, taken this morning, you get to see this large woodpecker up close.  Click the links to hear their calls and drumming. http://www.pileatedwoodpeckercentral.com/audio/call.mp3http://www.pileatedwoodpeckercentral.com/audio/drumming.mp3 http://www.pileatedwoodpeckercentral.com/audio/awoik.mp3

A Vernal Pool in the Manchaug Pond Watershed

There is the vernal pool ahead of us… … a bit mystical … seeming out of place, away from the lake, a distance into the oak/hickory forest. Turn over a log to reveal… one of the species of salamanders which come each season to lay their eggs here… the rest of the year living within a mile or two of this pool which will be dry by summer. My sincerest thanks to the property owner and my guides. http://www.vernalpool.org/

Flow Reduced. Rule Curve Being Followed to Maintain Waterlevel

Yesterday we see the flow leaving Manchaug Pond has been greatly reduced. The MPA understands that the dam continues to be owned and controlled by the Douglas mill owner – nothing has changed. MassDEP and Sutton Conservation Commission continue to monitor and regulate the flow for downstream and the lake area itself. And at a minimum flashboards needed to go in by April 1 (which they did, :)) and the waterlevel outlined in the 1930 rule curve is to be followed.