Sunday a Great day on the Lake!

Great day on the lake today: Blue sky, sunshine, little wind, and good ice!Area 1 (the homes before Holbrook’) and the south cove of Areas 5 and 6 had plenty of socializing ice fishing and snowmobiling. The rest of the lake was quiet except for some ice skating & hockey at a couple homes in Area 7 & 8. I also saw the four wheeler of Area 8 riding along the shore.

Dam Still Open

The dam is open with the Interface dam caretaker watching our docksso the ice does freeze around them. The dam is open 6″ whichis more than the usual 2 inches at this of the year. We have noticed a number of duck swimming and eating in the flow between Manchaugand Steven’s. I figure they are enjoying the peace of the water thereunder the cover of the trees. Area 2 reports that the seagulls thisyear are quite aggressive with a member witnessing an attack of a visiting merganser duck.

Ice Fisherman Hit the Lake

Manchaug Pond, with this cold spell, has a thin coat of ice on it – enough for the ice fisherman to be out on the lake in the area in front of the dam. Clearly not thick enough for me 🙂

Ice on the Lake

This just in from a photographer in Area 2! With this cold spell this week (morning temperatures in the teens), ice has finally been forming on the lake. Later in the day, the wind opened up this “river”. Email your photos – we’d love to see them! Remember we have members in 30 communities other than Douglas and Sutton and from 7 states with some “overwintering” in Florida. They love “seeing” how the lake looks each day.

Dam Owner Keeps Water Level High

Manchaug Pond is at high water levels for this time of year, with the gate repaired and low water a distant memory. The dam owner called this week to give the MPA the inside info on how they’re handling this unusual winter with no snow cover. (Of course, its snowing as I write this!) First of all, Fuddy, the caretaker will have you know that in his 23 years at this job that this is very unusual to have no snow by mid-January. The plan is to keep the water as high as possible, without ice damage to docks, in case we have a dry spring. Without snow cover we won’t have a spring melt to bring us up. In the meantime, we have been getting plenty of rain and a frozen ground that means plenty of run-off. The first week in January we recieved 2 inches of rain which brought the lake up 20 inches. In response, Fuddy had the gate opened 18 inches. This week he had the gate back to two inches and was monitoring the weather channel for the possibility of rain – ready to open it up again. “No one watches the Weather Channel as …

Look to the Sky… Eagles!

The sky above Manchaug Pond has been the focus the last few weeks with a number of eagles hunting our waters. A member from Area 2 reported spotting two immature eagles feeding at Blueberry Island and circling the other islands of the lake on Christmas Eve. Since then other members from Areas 2, 3 and 8 have reported seeing 2 immatures and 1 adult soaring, hunting, and perched high in the trees.The giant and majestic adult pictured here was caught this week circling high over a chicken coop in Area 3. After about 5 minutes of checking out the coop, it headed toward Steven’s Pond. For a closer look at an adult Bald Eagle click on to the title of this entry and it will take you to the recent Worcester Telegram article on the recent count results held each year in Massachusetts. Also if you have any photos you would like to share, email them to me at phyllis@abragraphics.net and I will post them here for all to see! Did anyone get a close-up shot or get a new camera lens for Christmas! 🙂

HAPPY NEW YEAR MANCHAUG POND!!

Happy New Year! 2007! Time sure does fly! With 2007, the Manchaug Pond Association celebrates 40 years of service to the lake, the year-round and seasonal residents, and to the community. The MPA was formed in 1967 to “the promote the welfare and correct use of Manchaug Pond and the contiguous area.” 2007 promises to be a full year for the MPA with two MAJOR projects to bring to fruition. First, to oversee the implementation of the federal EPA storm drain grant we secured in 2006. The project brings $129,000 to the MPA to build storm drains, catch basins and the like on the roads around Manchaug Pond and to develop educational materials and programs for residents and businesses operating in the watershed. The benefits are long-term with specific measures designed to reduce nuisance aquatic weed growth and improve water quality. The engineering firm of CEI (Comprehensive Environmental Inc.) will oversee the technical and reporting end of things, the Highway Departments of the towns of Douglas and Sutton will do the work on the roads and at the state boat ramp and MPA volunteers will work with CEI on the educational component. Secondly, the MPA will continue the effort to …

Dam closed to 1 inch – Water is high.

Fuddy reports closing the gate to 1 inch on Sunday. He has Whitins open 3 inches. He found this to be his easiest year yet with no hurricanes hitting the area. On the sale of the mill and three dams, he hasn’t heard anything new. He says the dam owner is still trying to find a buyer who wants the whole package. Machines are still being taken out of the mill. Four large heater units have been brought in to heat the mill so the pipes do freeze. The propane blowers are outside the building and are cheaper than hiring staff to fire up the boilers all winter. On the dams, the Douglas Board of Selectman told the MPA, that while they are not interested in ownership of any of the dams, they do want a written agreement with the future owner(s) that the 16 cubic feet per second flow will be maintained for their town’s sewerage treatment plant.

Watershed District Topic of Meeting Set for Thursday

This Thursday, December 14th at 7:00 p.m. all those interested in Manchaug Pond and the MPA’s initiative to form a Watershed District are invited to the church hall at St. Anne’s Church on Main St in Manchaug across from Bek’s Fuels. The MPA President will make a PowerPoint presentation explaining the mission, goals and objectives of the MPA members’ call to form the municipal district. Further he and the Treasurer, in working with the District Clerk of the long existing Cedar Meadow Lake Watershed District have worked up an initial budget for the first year and the estimated cost to the pond abutters and those with water rights. Attorney Walter Jabs, hired by the MPA to spearhead this effort, will attend outlining the draft legislation and bylaws which will set the framework for the district. This action is driven by the MPA membership who voted unanimously at two meetings earlier this year to pursue formation of the municipal district. All interested are invited and encouraged to attend. Bring questions, concerns and thoughts, as the purpose of this meeting is to provide factual information to all. This meeting is the rescheduled from November where a blackout in Manchaug and

Manchaug Pond Indian Artifacts in Museum

Do you like arrowheads? Did you find a few while the water level was down? This week a long time member and resident of Manchaug Pond from Area 2 brought to our attention the fact that a large collection of Indian artifacts from Manchaug Pond are on exhibit at The Robbins Museum in Middleboro. Here’s the details this member provides to all of you: “WHAT? Indian Artifacts from the Central Massachusetts collection of C.C. Ferguson WHERE? Massachusetts Archaeological Society at the Robbins Museum of Archaeology 17 Jackson St., Middleboro, Mass. Weds. 9-4 and Sat. 10-2. (Click title for link or call 508-947-9005 for direction and information.) WHEN? Now through Spring 07′ NOTE: The bulk of C.C. Fergusons’s collection comes from Manchaug Pond and downstream along the Mumford River. His collecting done in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s and is the most complete of Manchaug Pond ever put together. C.C. was a graduate of Harvard College, an educator and many years Superintendent of Schools in Millbury Mass. A must see for anyone interested in the antiquities of Manchaug Pond.” H.A.

With Rain, Dam is Opened Again

Just received another call from the caretaker of the dam, Fuddy. He had closed the gate of the dam earlier in the week down to one inch. Today he opened the gate back to 8 inches to get rid of yesterday’s rain. But most importantly we are already up to where we should be for this time of year. Yes! Already up to where we should be this time of year! Some may say we are still too low but if you take a look there are a few reasons to keep it down… docks legs are in the water at King’s Campground (not good with freezing weather ahead, water flowing from the watershed quickly brings us up (it was flowing like a brook down the hill from Lake Manchaug Camping to the lake), my neighbor is just one of many going through the hearing process to clean up their beach area, and others are still repairing walls and docks, and we use lake level drawdown to reduce the aquatic weed growth. Remember that here at Manchaug Pond, one inch of rain brings us up 10 inches with the run-off from the watershed. Fuddy reports using the same system this …

Dams in the News: A Sutton Dam No One Wants!

No, it is not Manchaug Pond’s dam, not Steven’s, not Tucker’s, not Singletary’s, not Ramshorn’s…. Can you name it, do you know where it is? Does it look familiar at all? How about from this angle? How about the flow from the other side of the road? Give up!?! It’s called SINGING DAM, and it is located on the Blackstone River in the Wilkinsonville section of Sutton and is the future site of the Sutton 300’s Tricentennial Park. The park design has been long completed and is posted on the site and in Manchaug center. Construction of the 5 acre park is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2005. What? 2005? It’s 2006 now, going on 2007! What’s the hold up? Well, Sutton Selectman report that the $$ is all there for the Park: $$ from the Blackstone River Valley Corridor Commission Heritage Partnership Program has been long spent on the design. $$ has been secured to fund construction through the Mass Highway Dept. Transportation Enhancement Program. Further, DEP reports Blackstone National Golf Course is providing $26,250 in funds directly to the Town of Sutton for use in the design and construction of the proposed Tricentennial Park (as part …