Ice In - Ice Out

Amazing what a difference a week can make!

Last week this was hard ice from 3/4 to 2" in various spots.

Buoys Fall Pull Out

Saturday October 28 Carl, Andrew, Will and Captain Mary removed the 30 + buoys from Hancock Pond.

A big thanks to Mary for use of boat and Captains services, Dick for use of beach and of course all of you pictured here.

 Andrew's cheery face.

Carl cleaning a buoy with beach sand.

Dirty buoys in Will & Mary's pontoon boat with Andrew's back.

 Storing a cleaned buoy near Dick's cabin

Will, Andrew & Carl onboard the boat en route to retrieve more buoys

Will cleaning a buoy.

Water Level

I checked the Dam gate Saturday am and the gate was wide open.  These 3 and 4 inch storms are becoming the norm and will cause us to reconsider past practice as a guide for present day management of the dam.


..........Jerry

Boat Inspection Handbook

Narrow Guage History Walk

History Walk Along the Narrow Gauge August 16, 9:00 a.m. Take a walk back in time along the old Narrow Gauge rail bed at the Perley Mills Community Forest, hosted by Loon Echo and the Denmark Conservation Commission. Learn about the little trains that chugged their way from Hiram to Harrison at the turn of the last century. Bring your camera, water and proper shoes. Walk will cover 2 miles, approximately 2 hours. Moderate. Come learn more about this exciting regional project! Meet at the trail head at the intersection of Hancock Pond and Swamp Roads in Sebago. For more information, contact Jon Evans at jon@lelt.org.

Milfoil Alert!!

A note from LEA

"Thankful News from Hancock Pond!  Our CBI, Kelly Bowles, intercepted a long strand of variable milfoil coming into the lake.

The boat had just come from Sebago Lake, somewhere on the west shore. We are following up.

Please take heed and pay special attention to out-of-state boats and boats from infested Maine lakes, especially Sebago and Arrowhead.

Thanks,

Peter"

Loon Count Report 2013

Barbara Tomaskovic-Devey gave a brief report at the annual meeting.  Here is link to the data she used for the meeting........ Nicely done!

Loon Count Report 2013 Power Point

Loon Count Report 2013 PDF

I posted in two different formats......  both have the same information but one may work better for you than the other.The Power Point is smaller and will load faster but the PDF is more universal and will load slower.

Dam Report from Ed Cooper

Gate Wide Open

Ed's Report

Canvas covering bottom edge of dam.

Canvas is for preventing water from going under dam.  This must be maintained regularly. Ed has put many years into maintaining the dam structure and water levels. ....often it is wet, cold and buggy.  

Thanks for all you do.

Jerry Holt

BN Article: Lakeside tree removal proves costly

Bridgton News article about home owners and  contractors fined for improper clearing of lakeside property.

Read it at:   http://www.bridgton.com/lakeside-tree-removal-proves-costly/

Perley Mills Community Forrest

This is a 1600 acre parcel that runs along both sides of the od narrow gauge rail road from the Swamp rd in Sebago to Bridgton. This is a major watershed feed into Hancock and Sand Ponds.

For more information go to:   http://www.loonecholandtrust.org/places-we-protect/perley-mills-community-forest-project/

Annual Meeting Reminder

July 6 Denmark Town Hall 9-11.  Coffe at  8:30

See you all there.

Wright's Point Update

Tuesday May 14th 2013 the Sebago Planning Board denied the owner/developer request for a wavier to the town Dead End Road Ordinance.  The current ordinance restricts dead end roads to 1200 ft. and the wavier request was to build a 3500 ft road. The board also denied a wavier request for limiting the clearing of the road right of way to less than the current ordinance standard.

What does this mean?  We must wait and see if the owner/developer wish to appeal to the Sebago Board of Appeals.  

Wright's Point Sketch Plan

A link to the sketch plan has been added to the original post regarding Wright's Point Development. You can either scroll down to the original post or click on the Wright's Point Development link in the right hand navigation bar of this page.

Cheers

Buoy Report

Hancock Pond Buoy Program

Hancock Pond is one of the few small ponds in Maine which have buoys. They are very helpful, especially for motor boats, considering many high risk areas on the pond.

In all we have thirty one buoys. There are eighteen hazard area buoys. These are white with an orange diamond which means danger. This buoy marks rocks, ledges, shoals, and submerged hazards. If they are in a pair, do not go between them. If they are in a group of three creating a triangle stay out of the triangle. There are two of these triangles on the pond.

If you see a red and white vertical strip buoy do not go between this buoy and shore. It marks shallow area or rocks between the buoy and shore.

The third type of buoy on Hancock Pond is the rock buoy. Rock is written on the marker. This buoy marks rocks which are close to the surface and consequently very dangerous to boating. It is wise to keep a healthy distance from these buoys because the anchor is on one side of the rock, which could be very large, and the buoy could be in different locations according to the wind direction.

Another important rule is to not to tie up to buoys. The main reason is that you could pull the buoy into deepwater and the buoy will disappear. Also there is a fine if caught tied to a buoy

If you see a red and a white vertical strip buoy, do not go between this buoy and the shore. It marks a shallow area and/or rocks which are close to the surface and dangerous to for boating.

If you have questions, you can call me at (207) 883-6574 (home) or (207) 787-2893 (pond) or Carl Harbourt at (207) 452-2285. If you have a Pond map, you will find it very helpful.

It would be very helpful if you discussed the buoy information with relatives, friends and renters who use boats on Hancock Pond.

Richard Johnson

Wrights Point Development

N End Wright's  Pt.

W Side Wright's Pt.

E Side Wright's Pt.

Wrights point is under contract to a developer from Yarmouth. He is proposing 14 lots on the point itself, a transfer of the wetlands to the town of Sebago including water access for canoes and kayaks and retaining some waterfront and back lots for future unspecified use.

This is a PROPOSAL and has not yet been approved by the Sebago Planning Board.

HSPA - has been active and monitoring the situation. We have been careful to present a position of concern for the enviornment  but not antidevelopment.

LEA - HSPA requested help from LEA to monitor the proposed project and advise regarding  the appropriate scientific and construction standards required. Colin Holme was at the site walk this past weekend and will be at the public hearing May 14th.

Loon Echo - has been notified about this project but is sidelined by the land already being under contract to the developer.  Loon echo will review this project if and when the contract status changes.

Major Concerns:

Phosphorus run off from 14 houses and a 3500 foot rd. (read water quality)

Wetlands disruption.

Loon nesting area.

Possibile endangered species.......turtles??

Road length. Sebago has a 1200 ft dead end road ordinance and this project would need a variance to go to 3500 ft.

Future Events: 

 Public hearing May 14th  Sebago Town Offices  7pm.  Keep in mind the planning board can only consider the facts. Well thought out concerns regarding ordiances or enviornmental issues are much better received by the board than "I don't want or like it".

Link to Sketch Plan for PROPOSED development.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15719640/Wrights%20point%20dev.pdf

We will keep this Blog updated as things develop.

May Day on The Water

Ice Out 2013

Unofficial Ice Out was April 14

Carl reported on 4/13 he could hear a scout Loon calling his friends on the ocean to tell them HSPA was open for the season!