DAMS & Boston Herald’s Look at Massachusetts Cuts

Bay State dams in deep waterGov. Deval Patrick plans to drain $400G in fundingBy Marie SzaniszloSaturday, February 27, 2010 Thousands of Bay State dams – one of which overflowed yesterday and sent townspeople scurrying from their homes – could soon be left to hold back floodwaters with little oversight as the governor plans to cut $400,000 from the state Office of Dam Safety. Wendy Fox, spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, confirmed the $427,000 budget for the office is being decimated through Gov. Deval Patrick’s midyear cuts. She said the plan is to focus on the worst dams with the $27,000 left in the budget while letting most of the 2,900 other dams go unchecked. She added DCR will dip into capital funds to help. “This agency is still able to address anything involving public safety,” Fox said. “What we lose is the ability to take care of situations that are less critical.” Yet one dam watchdog disagrees. “Dams across the state are living on borrowed time, and many of our communities are at risk,” said Brian Graber, Northeast regional director of river restoration for American Rivers, a not-for-profit that has successfully lobbied for the closing of eight …

Check your shoreline…

You may want to give your shoreline/beach a check as the water has risen considerably putting snowmobiles and the like in a bit of water. Also look to the skies as an adult eagle was reported flying around this afternoon.

Its Snowing! and Swans are Visiting.

The water has come up with yesterday’s rain. This morning it is snowing! These pictures just in from the channel. A reader from the northern end of the lake writes: “I JUST LOOKED OUT MY WINDOW AND SAW 2 SWANS IN THE SMALL UNFROZEN WATER NEAR BLUEBERRY ISLAND. THE ARE TOO FAR AWAY TO GET A PICTURE, BUT I GOT MY BINOCULARS AND THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.”

The Great Backyard Bird Count Tomorrow!

The annual Great Backyard Bird Count will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 21 at West Hill Dam Park, 518 East Hartford Ave. Park Ranger Viola Bramel is gathering data to enter in the Cornell University annual Backyard Bird Count. Participants should dress for the weather and be prepared to hike. When the black and white species pictured is not in the tree, we commonly see dark-eyed juncos, black-capped chickadees, sparrows, titmouse, cardinals, nuthatches, robins, blue jays, and one little wren my daughter calls the “chipmunk bird” feeding at the suet and seed feeders. A thistle feeder was put up a week ago but no one is interested yet. A call came in a week ago about a suet feeder being ripped from its post and carried off over on the Douglas woods side of the lake. With raccoons commonly seen over there, they are likely the culprit. The caller was concerned about bears. While a bear was spotted some years ago on the Manchaug Pond shoreline at a bird feeder, we still have a month or so before we have to worry about their spring appearance. I’ll let you know when MassWildlife sends out their email to take the …

Sorry, some comments I just can’t answer….

I have received a few of these comments within the last month. 單存 has left a new comment on your post “A Few Photos from the Weekend”: 最豐滿最好之稻穗，便最貼近地面………………………………………….. Publish this comment. Reject this comment. Moderate comments for this blog. Posted by 單存 to Preserving MANCHAUG POND! at February 18, 2010 1:01 AM

Another Dam in the News – Prindle Lake Dam

Prindle Lake and dam in Charlton, Massachusetts was not only the topic of conversation and questions at this January’s COLAP conference but appeared in Saturday’s Worcester Telegram. Saturday, February 6, 2010 Legislation to help save lake New law lets town acquire Prindle dam By Debbie LaPlaca CORRESPONDENT CHARLTON — Special state legislation permitting the town to save Prindle Lake by acquiring and repairing its dam has been signed into law by Gov. Deval L. Patrick. The new law authorizes the town to acquire dams within its boundaries, make improvements to the dams and assess betterments to fund repairs. “The town of Charlton and the lakefront property owners looked to me to file a bill and I delivered a resolution to them as quickly as possible,” state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said in an announcement Thursday. The lake, manmade more than 100 years ago to power a mill on Cady Brook, is used recreationally by the public, including about 85 shore property owners. When the dam failed an inspection in 2006, the state Office of Dam Safety ordered owner Santos Irrevocable Trust to repair or breach it by November 2009, or face a fine of up to $500 a day. …