Tomorrow! Social & Volunteer Open House

Start the season on Manchaug Pond with the Social & Volunteer Open House! Catch up with lake neighbors and friends over a cup of coffee and pastry. Families, new friends, neighbors and lake users are welcome. As usual, we’ll come together in the Dining Hall of the YMCA Camp Blanchard facility on Manchaug Pond from 9:30 to about 11:00 a.m. or so on Saturday, June 17th. Over coffee and pastry catch up with lake friends and neighbors. Learn more about our lastest efforts for Manchaug Pond and the watershed. Our Vice President and s.319 Non-point Source Pollution Grant Coordinator will have an detail display of our roadside and ramp work. Bring the family as activities for children will be offered including Facepainting with Christine Z from 10-11. Check out MPF Logo Gear on sale which includes a wide variety of apparel and Manchaug Pond themed items from cribbage boards to baseball hats, tee shirts to fleece … lake photos,  wood Lake Art to order, playing cards, mugs, and more! Purchase your flares for the Lighting of the Shoreline, July 3rd at 9:00 p.m. or as Safe Boating equipment for your vessel. Register, sponsor, and volunteer for this year’s The DAM …

Hobby Farming with Our Water Resources in Mind: MAKE A PLAN!

Posted: Friday, May 12, 2023 Did you know?  Agricultural activities that cause non-point source pollution most generally occur in the absence of a conservation plan according to EPA.  How do you use your property?  You can conduct your farming activities in ways that protect water resources! Remember… we all live in a watershed (the area of land that drains into a certain waterbody like Manchaug Pond), so our daily activities at home, around the lake, at the campsite, and at the barn are something we need to think about when it comes to the lake and clean water. Do you understand your site and how to work with it? Is your farm, garden, or barn/coup area “stormwater friendly”? Do you know the Best Management Practices (BMPs) that can help? Learn more… check out this second in a series of newsletters geared to small farms, gardeners and animal owners… Click the icon for a PDF of Fact Sheet 2.2: How Can Hobby Farmers Protect Water Resources? and visit our Hobby Farm website page and our Hobby Farm Facebook group for all fact sheets and watch for our next in the series on Friday.  If you live in the Manchaug Pond watershed, …

Manchaug Pond Foundation Land Conservation

Got Horses? Donkeys? Chickens? New Outreach to Backyard Farms in the Manchaug Pond Watershed

Posted April 19, 2023 We love our animals, gardens and pastures in the Manchaug Pond watershed – especially horses, donkeys, beef cattle, sheep, and chickens!  A 2020 watershed survey found close to 30 small hobby farms dot the landscape in this corner of Sutton, Douglas and Oxford. With water quality in mind, the Manchaug Pond Foundation is offering two new outreach programs to small farmers as part of a s319 Nonpoint Source Pollution grant received from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. ~ The first is a series of 24 newsletters and 12 podcasts – Hobby Farming with Water Quality in Mind.   Our series is “for owners of ‘Hobby Farms’ – small scale farms operated primarily as a residential lifestyle – to provide their owners with the tools to develop and operate an environmental-friendly farm and promote responsible stewardship of both land and the environment.” Each Wednesday for the next 24 weeks, we will release a newsletter on a topic of interest to backyard gardeners and animal owners which offers best management practices, options and solutions to farm and raise animals with our lake, streams and wetlands in mind.  Topics will go the gamut from planning your farm to understanding …

Water Quality sampling equipment

Virtual Training for Cyanobacteria/Algae Water Quality Monitors

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A virtual training will take place Wednesday, April 12th at 6:30 p.m. for cyanobacteria monitoring volunteers.  We invite all to join the Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative (WCMC) in this informative presenation.  Volunteer to sample at Manchaug Pond with us or beyond at another lake or pond, or just attend to learn more about our efforts in water quality together as the Manchaug Pond Foundation.  All are welcome and no experience is necessary. Contact us to register! While Manchaug Pond does NOT have a cyanobacteria problem, we enter our third year of monitoring at Manchaug Pond and with a Stevens Pond volunteer as part of the Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative (WCMC). This is one component of the Foundation’s overall water quality program where we monitor for the presence/absence of harmful algae in order to learning more about the waters and the ecology of Manchaug Pond and to protect the health and safety of this water resource and all who enjoy. Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative: The Collaborative is a group of citizen science volunteers who work to better understand the diversity of algae and cyanobacteria in the lakes and ponds of Worcester County under the guidance of the City of Worcester.  Visit …

Watershed-wide Spring Clean-up

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Let’s do it! The Manchaug Pond Foundation invites you to the annual spring cleanup of Manchaug Pond and its watershed for Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 9 AM to Noon with a rain date the following day.  Volunteers are needed to canvas the lake shoreline, public boat ramp, and watershed to remove litter and other potential threats to water quality: in boats to cover the lake’s coves and shoreline, walking the watershed roadsides, at the public access boat ramp, in pickup trucks to shuttle volunteers and pick up bags of trash. Go it alone or meet anytime from 9 AM to 12:00 Noon at the Public Access Boat Ramp at 22 Torrey Road in Sutton to team up with others, get gloves and trash bags, and grab some refreshment and conversation. Community service completion sheets will be available for youth, scout, community and church groups and any others needing documentation of time donated to a great cause! All are invited to join Manchaug Pond! If you plan to go it alone or with your own team, please contact us! with the neighborhood or roadside(s) you will be addressing so that we can maximize the area covered and so we can …

Manchaug Pond Foundation Spring Cleanup 2022

Hello Spring: An April Update!

Posted April 13, 2022 Hello everyone!  Manchaug Pond’s waterlevel is up, the spring peepers are singing in the coves and wetlands, and the boats are already making waves! We’re ready for the warm summer season! Through the winter months, the Manchaug Pond Foundation Board of Directors has met regularly with our organization advocating and taking action in a number of local, regional, and state arenas to raise awareness, and secure support and fiscal resources to benefit the health of Manchaug Pond and it watershed.  As headwaters/ a major contributor to the Mumford River, as a recreation and tourism destination, and as a valuable water resource of the Commonwealth, Manchaug Pond is significant. In serving, I’ll be providing regular updates as to our efforts and accomplishments together and opportunities for you to make a difference! _______ Tonight, April 13th at 6PM, the Town of Sutton will hold an information-seeking meeting to discuss the river’s flow through the village of Manchaug: the dams, the ponds, and the flows which impact the village community.  The goal is to pursue a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant to identify existing issues and then create a plan and prioritize solutions and improvements which could include dam …

On the lookout for cyanobacteria

Posted January 20, 2022 Join us this evening at 6:30 p.m. for a virtual water quality event presented by the Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative.  Manchaug Pond Foundation joined the collaborative last year for the 2021 monitoring season. Our volunteers took monthly samples with the goal of learning more about Manchaug Pond and about the algae found naturally in the lake. Tonight program data on Worcester and participating area lakes will be highlighted.  Manchaug Pond’s results were superb! What contributes to algae blooms and cyanobacteria occurrences in lakes and ponds?  Negative impacts to our water quality occur when nutrients and sediment flow into our water resources either directly or through watershed streams and runoff. Nutrient-rich lawn and landscape fertilizer,  pet and other animal waste, and malfunctioning septic systems can all be major threats to our blue spaces.  Excessive nutrients promote aquatic plant growth and increase algae which can cause widespread algae blooms. Special thanks to our volunteers and to the City of Worcester Parks & Recreation Department Blue Spaces team for this effort.  Watch for more information on our efforts to protect Manchaug Pond’s water!