The Snow is Melting

I have a few images of Quimby Brook. The brook is "running high" and just look at how clear the water is in this first photo! This one is taken while looking downstream from Quimby Pond Road. The photos (below) are upstream shots. One appears to be later in the spring, with a lot of green, and the other has snow. All photos were taken yesterday.

Although many Maine lakes have had an early "ice out", Quimby is not even near that stage. People are still able to walk on the ice without any fear of falling in. The recent cold weather has firmed up the ice. If we have an early "ice out", it means that the pond is likely to become warmer this summer. The warm water temperature is likely to contribute to an algal bloom.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that the deer become more bold during the spring. Perhaps they are hungry, but they pose nicely.

Friends of Quimby Pond

We had a great meeting on Friday night. Gerry Smith visited and spoke with us. He is the president of Aquatic Control Technologies, a company which does remediation treatments such as alum treatments and invasive plant harvesting. Most of his work is done in Massachusetts, where his company is located, but he also does contract work for the Maine DEP.

His thoughts were that we do not need his company to do any treatments or aeration. This was especially comforting to me, because even though he would benefit financially by doing "something", he still thinks it's not necessary.

His thoughts concur with the DEP in that he recommends evaluation and changes in the watershed to restrict phosphorus input into Quimby Pond. The steering committee has heard this previously from the DEP and we really need to be vigilant about our roads, driveways, lawns, not feeding the waterfowl, and not fertilizing! It helps to get this reinforced, especially because we are starting the written survey portion of the watershed survey. I'm hoping that most all of you return the surveys and allow access. This is imperative to the "health" of the pond.