HARVESTING PROGRESS

Chris Wilson is the operator who has been maneuvering the harvester up and down the pond daily since he and a team of others put it in last week Monday.  As I said in my last post, I was concerned about whether or not the work we had done with the hand pulling the water chestnuts in June would have lasted - it did. 

Pull-a-thon in June

  
I was also concerned about whether or not the nuts would be falling off as the harvester hit the weeds, it being rather late in the summer.  When I checked the nuts last week, they were still tightly attached.  All has been going well!

I went out yesterday to see what the area up stream from us looked like; before the harvester it was totally matted -- below is a picture of what it looked like in early June and by early August, there was no thought of trying to paddle through it!

 









NOW, post harvester, it looks like this!!

Nice, eh?  

Katrina Scheiner and 5 students have been working in canoes to pull the weeds from the edges where the harvester can't reach (the device needs at least two feet of water).  The town DPW has also worked on the this project, helping with the launching of the harvester, moving the harvested weeds, building up the dam, etc. (Thank you Bill Place and crew!)  The dam has a strip of metal across the top of it and sand bags where the breaks are in the lower part of the dam, consequently, the water is a bit over a foot higher than it usually is.  What great paddling last night!!  With the extra water and no weeds, Linda and I (& Blake) were able to paddle all the way to the mouth of the brook, right down the center, without getting stuck in mud!  If you love to paddle our pond, right now is a terrific time to do it.  

So here is the bad news.  The harvester broke down again (it has broken several times this summer).  Chris is quite adept at repairs, but this time it has to go in to the shop again.  Too bad, cuz I think with the last three scheduled days this week, he could have gotten to some of the edges that are still weed choked.

There is also a long term goal to be able to have the pond dredged, which would help get rid of not only the mud, but also the extra phosphorus and other excessive nutrients deposited in the water from the Marlborough Easterly Waste Water Treatment Plant.  You know all the slime on top of the pond?  It is an algae called, "Hydrodictyon" or "water net" and feeds on phosphorus.  If the phosphorus levels are where they should be, (.1mg/liter) the water net (slime) dies.  More that that and it thrives, as it is now.  Of course, the other problem with too much phosphorus and too many weeds is that the extra plant life uses up the oxygyn in the water, so that the fish die.  If the fish are gone, the herons, king fishers and other fish eating birds go away and essentially, the pond dies.

The other green stuff floating on the pond is duckweed (the plant with little, tiny leaves). As you look at the pond from the dam area off Dutton, it still looks pretty bad; that is duckweed and water net, not the water chestnuts; they have mostly been being harvested.

Duckweed and water net algae

We also have other invasive weeds, particularly evident upstream, near the mouth of the brook.  These too, would be eradicated by dredging.  So, there is hope for the health of our little pond and for the whole Hop Brook system and the Sudbury River (Hop Brook empties into the Sudbury River).

A big thanks to all who have helped and particularly, the Hop Brook Protection Association for its work to cleanup and preserve our pond and the whole Brook. HBPA has done a great deal of fundraising and grant writing to get enough money to take care of the problems, a small example being, HBPA paid the $1850 to move the harvester from Carding Mill Pond over to Stearns Mill Pond. (If you aren't a member, consider going to the website and joining/making a donation.  It matters.)

POND HARVESTER

The harvester is here and working near the dam end of the pond to clear away the water chestnuts.  The water level in the pond is quite low (normal for August), so I hope that they are able to build the addition on the top of the dam to raise the water level a bit.  

There is also a group of several college students, interns, who are working in canoes and pulling weeds from the sides where the harvester can't maneuver.  I was concerned that the pulling we did in the spring would be negated by the spreading chestnuts, but the  sides of the pond are still mostly clear where we worked in June, so that is good!  We can look forward to an improved pond soon!

There was a flock of Cedar Waxwings eating the bugs off of the water chestnut mats last evening.  Quite a few of them were there - more than usual, I think.

OF KATYDIDS AND BULLFROGS

Two critters I feel I'll never be able to photograph!  They are too elusive.  How many of you have actually seen either the bullfrog or the katydid??  Heard them, sure, but seen them?  For your edification, I've found two pictures:

from Encyclopedia Britannica online

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/bullfrog.htm

Hmm... they kinda look alike!

Anyway, what brought me to this is that the katydids are singing at night now, joining the bullfrog chorus. The acorns have started to fall, and I even see some red leaves on the dogwood tree.  I guess fall is coming. Where did the summer go? 

We've been gone, so although we've paddled, I haven't been on our pond much.   Here in the center, the pond is kind of scummy.  I assume that upstream, the water chestnuts are still matted across the width of the  pond.  Hopefully the harvester will start work soon!

Has anyone seen the otters?