The Latest News

With August coming to a close it is time for the MPA Annual Meeting! Mark your calendar and plan to attend. Saturday, August 26th10:00 to noonWhitinsville Fish and Game in DouglasWhite Ct. DouglasAgenda items will include: the dam, the non point source pollution grant, election of officers and directors, and anything you want to talk about! Coffee, donuts, muffins and bagels are on the menu for this morning meeting. This new location offers a beautiful pavillion with picnic tables, lawn area overlooking a pond as well as indoor facilities if it rains. Easy access for young and old. Room for the entire membership plus! I’ll see you there!For direction click the title of this post. You can take either Depot St off of the Main St. in Douglas or head west a bit and take Franklin St to White Court. Check the link for the Yahoo Map for best directions.

What do you do when you need to put a new propellor on your boat? Take the old one off right?! Well, it is not always that easy or that cheap. We heard a story about a man who came into Consumer Auto Parts for a torque wrench. Seems he is a bass fisherman who was charged $118 by a local garage to put on the new propellor. Next time he will be able to do the job himself for a lot le$$ as he bought a beauty of a wrench with a nice case for only $78.

Kids, adults who need a refresher!! take the online exam to earn your Boating Certificate. One of our members pointed out that I shouldn’t have left out the obvious boating rules…. boats on the lake at night need lights and tubing and waterskiing is out of the question after dusk until sunrise. Also NO tubing or skiing through the channel. Common sense helps a lot on the water! Try the link! http://www.boaterexam.com/usa/massachusetts/

I received a call from Area 5 at 6:30 tonight… “Did you get a picture of that! A kayak invasion of Manchaug Pond!!” Later down at the shore, this is what I saw coming around the point from Area 5… …thirty plus kayaks and canoes. An hour or so later, another group went by. It wasn’t an invasion. It was the RI Kayak Association and the Blackstone Valley Paddlers Club who set out on the waters of Manchaug Pond from the state boat ramp for the evening.

The Manchaug Pond Nonpoint Source Improvement Project was resubmitted last month in an effort by the MPA to secure state monies to address weed-causing nutrients, bacteria and sediment getting into the lake from the watershed.Our proposal was one of 16 grant requests received by the State asking for a piece of the $2 million they expect to be available. The MPA is asking for $129,250 – requests this year ranged from $77,768 to $300,000. Last year the requests were lopsided with one heavy hitter asking for $1 million which threw the rest of us out. So providing we get the grant – which we are told looks good! – there is a matching component where the Town of Sutton will provide labor, etc to install a number of storm drains, catch basins, etc and the MPA will provide volunteer hours getting educational information out on animal manure best management practices, septic systems, fertilizers, unpaved roads, and the like to those using the lake and in the watershed. I’ll let you know when we hear!

So what were you doing yesterday evening? The MPA Board of Directors held a meeting in Area 5.Topics on the agenda?1. the pending sale of the dam2. forming a watershed district 3. the water level and the broken dam gate4. the s. 319 Non-point Pollution Grant5. the annual meeting of the members6. Sutton’s Lake Patrol Program7. Nomination/election of a new board A new member came to the board meeting, his Area Representative recommended him as an Area Rep. for Area 4. Elections will be held at the annual meeting. What to get involved?

Tuesday’s Telegram reports the Sutton Police Department is planning to step up their Lake Patrol program on Manchaug, Singletary and Ramshorn Ponds. Two recent lake deaths, one on Quinsig and the other on Stoneville Pond in Auburn, have the police looking to prevent such fatalities on the town’s lakes. In recent years, sightings of the police boat have been rare! It was actually the lake associations of the three ponds which years ago asked police to patrol the ponds as the number of boats made the lakes dangerous. The MPA worked with the chief and officers to secure a boat, equipment and funding for officer hours. The MPA also donated $$$$ to get the program started. Today, the Sutton Police want you follow the boating laws and be ready as they routinely perform safety inspections on the boats they meet. Remember that you need a life jacket (accessable – not stowed away!) for each person, a fire extinguisher and horn, and a ladder if you are swimming, tubing or skiing. Sutton also has an open container bylaw which means no drinking on the lake! They will enforce no matter if you are on the Douglas or Sutton side. If you …

Guilford has called in R.H. White and the divers once again! First thing this morning the teams arrived at the dam to work on reducing the flow. I took these photos less than a half hour ago. I didn’t want to get too bold and pesty with the camera so there are no close ups. Seems every third person traveling by stops to ask “What’s Going On?!” and “Is it repairable?”A diver is placing more sandbags and a special fabric around the gate – he was up to sixty bags when we got there but then R.H. White pulled in with more sandbags and a new roll of fabric.He’s hoping less water is flowing and so are we! Thanks to Guilford for keeping on top of this.