Updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 11:45 AM
Newsletters HomeSpring 1998 Newsletter
| Topics: Letter from the President Road Report The Branch Pond Dam Report Boat Landing Issue Officers Annual Meeting |
Other Dates to Remember Audit of the Books Of Interest Regatta Watershed Study Update Fish Report |
Letter from the President
By Brett Johnston
I hope you ail had a safe and enjoyable winter. For those of you who have not had a chance to visit your lake property since the 'Ice Storm of 98', be prepared for a surprise! There will be a lot of downed limbs and broken trees awaiting you. For some of us year-rounders it has been an experience we don't soon want to repeat, especially clearing the camp roads! Hopefully Mother Nature will be able to work her magic and hide some of the unsightly broken treetops with new foliage. We can only hope! I welcome all of you back to the lake for what I hope will be a warm and sun filled summer season on beautiful Branch Lake.
The March rains and snowmelt caused some significant wash out and erosion problems for a lot of camp roads. The early spring weather has brought a flurry or activity repairing the affected areas. The watershed management survey being conducted as you read this may bring some suggestions to minimize this recurring problem. Please be open to suggestions from your watershed survey representative and/or any State Dept. of Environmental Protection representative you might encounter in their survey work through the lake watershed area. Keep in mind that what they find and recommend are trained observations and suggestions, they are not mandatory or enforceable, but we would hope a lot of co-operation would be volunteered so we can help keep our lake as dean and beautiful as possible for our future enjoyment. The Cove Road/Orchard Road court case for delinquent road association tax payments is still in litigation and so I have no news to report on that other than that the legislature has passed a bill that seems to clarify this issue and it would appear from reading it that it should help solve this issue for the road associations. I will have an update for you at the annual meeting.
Larry Wilson, Ellsworth Water Superintendent, has stated that he intends to keep the lake water level at approximately 8'-8" for the summer. I have had a couple of calls on the level so far this spring and would only say to be patient as the water level is checked several times a week and adjusted if necessary. I was at the Dam yesterday, May 2, and after a day or two of steady rain, the level was at 6'-9" with one gate open. Mr. Wilson’s concern is that if the water level Is allowed to get low early, then we have a dry summer, the lake will be very low. Most of us would prefer to have water levels adequate for the July and August months. Please be aware that we are watching it and trying to do the best management job we can. If you have questions or concerns on lake water level you can call Brett Johnston at 667 4028, or Tim Smart at 667-2031. We will relay any concerns we can't answer to Larry Wilson and get back to you with a reply. For any of you who did not hear about it, the third member of the BPA Dam committee, Norman Smith, passed away suddenly over the winter. We will all miss him and certainly his expertise and knowledge of the lake.
The Executive Committee has asked Graves Campground about taking over the boat launching opportunities in the event that Hanson’s Landing discontinues it's boat ramp access. We were informed that the campground had no desire to offer this service. We have as yet found no new potential sites. We will continue to pursue this in meetings this spring and summer and have an update at the annual meeting. Hanson's Landing appears to be operating as normal this season.
President Brett Johnston, Vice President Dick Jones, Treasurer Gay Flanagan, Secretary Doris Johnston.
Ron Soucie, Brenda Hopkins, Gay Flanagan, Calvin Anderson, Tern Jordan, Dick and Muriel Jones, Larry and Joyce Marshall, Paul and Vi Wight, Brett and Doris Johnston.
Branch Pond Association Annual Meeting will be held Friday July 24 at 7pm, Social hour starting at 6pm at the New Ellsworth High School in the Auditorium. We hope to display the Lake Week Art Contest entries again this year. Laura Wilson will be the guest speaker to update us all on the EPA Watershed project.
The Annual COLA meeting will be held June 27 from 8:30am-3:30pm at SMTC in So. Portland. The Maine Audubon Society Annual Loon Count is setter July 18th this summer.
Thanks to John Carroll, Phil Hopkins and Gay Flanagan the required annual Audit of the Treasurers Book was done on October 4th.
A Volunteer is needed to represent Branch Pond in the Lake Views Weekly paper for 12 weeks this summer. It runs from June through September and requires a dedicated person to send in a paragraph or so weekly, giving the Regatta results, any news around the lake, calendar events, and announce any special events. Contact Doris Johnston at 667-4028.
Ralph Wheden asked that we notify property owners in this letter that Tim McCabe at 534-5110 is willing to work for people needing assistance with ice storm clean up.
Those who attended the BPA Watershed Stewards program will hopefully be encouraged to share their knowledge and materials in a positive way with their Road Associations (perhaps at the Road Assoc. Annual meeting). Education is the key to keep our Lake beautiful.
The ice covered the Lake this year on December 23 and went out early on April 2 in the big lake area, some coves were a few days later.
Commodore Paul Wight announced the BPA Regatta will begin this summer on June 28th at 2pm and continue for a total of 7 Sundays weather permitting. He plans to be at the start and finish line as he has been for so many years to welcome, encourage, and time us. We are so fortunate to have such a dedicated Commodore and he hopes to see many more racers participate this summer to make the races more competitive and exciting. All skill levels are encouraged to sail. We do it for fun and the regulars are more than happy to offer some help or suggestions to make your sailing safer and hopefully faster-
It's April, and the Watershed Study is in full swing. For the past two months, several Branch Lake residents have participated in the University of Maine Cooperative Extension's "Watershed Stewards Program", a 20-hour course devoted to water quality issues. Participating in the course from Branch are: Larry Blethen, Joe Flanagan, Les French, Anne Hayes, Bob Hessler, Phillip Hopkins, Frank Howd, Brett Johnston, Doris Johnston, Larry Radtke, Beth Smart, Pat Totman, John Wilson, and Lucy Wilson. We were also joined by several interested area residents. Joining us for watershed survey training on April 18th were: Barbara Howd, Joyce Marshall, and Bob Totman. Special Thanks to all these volunteers who are giving up some of their free time to help preserve and improve our lake water quality!
The Watershed Survey is underway, with these volunteers out looking for soil erosion in the watershed. They will document all the sources of erosion that may reach the lake. Each documented site will be revisited by a "technical team", who will then make recommendations on how to reduce or eliminate each erosion problem! Each volunteer understands that tins survey is not for enforcement purposes - we're here to help landowners.
Another part of this project is to sample some of the inlets for Phosphorus and Sediments. I've taken a number of samples, but do not have permanent sites set up. If anyone would like a particular area sampled (above and below a particular road crossing, for example) and would like to volunteer to collect these samples, please call me and I'll arrange training.
Beginning in early May, lake sampling will be performed in three areas of Branch (Cove, Upper lake, and Lower lake). I will have a DEP biologist join me for the first sampling run, to ensure that our data meets DEP quality control requirements. After that, if anyone is interested in joining me on one of these sampling excursions, please call!
The local Branch Lake residents have had a great education in the Watershed Stewards Program. I will try to repeat some of the material this summer for those who were unable to attend. If there is a particular subject you are interested in, or if you are interested in hosting a "non-point source pollution video night", let me know.
See you at the annual meeting!
Laura Wilson
AmeriCorps - SERVE/Maine Volunteer Leader
Water Research Institute, University of Maine
(207) 581-3233
Thursday, April 30,1998
Brett Johnston
P.O. Box 283, Ellsworth, Me, 04605
Hello, Brett:
I'm pleased to provide you with the following fishery information for your newsletter.
Aerial angler counts were conducted at Branch Lake during both the ice fishing and open water seasons of 1995-96. Here are the estimates of total use (in angler days):
| YEAR | SUMMER | WINTER |
| 1995 | 3,574 | 2,780 |
| 1996 | 1,391 | 2,390 |
Pressure of this magnitude is considered heavy from a regional perspective.
We made a good catch of salmon last fall in our trapnet. Exclusive of age I+ salmon (which had just been stocked the previous May), we captured a total of 40 salmon, 38 of which were stocked and 2 were wild. Of the 38 hatchery-reared fish, 32 were age II+, 4 were age II+, and two were age IV+. The age II+ salmon averaged 16.6 in long and 1 lb, 10 oz in weight. They were in very good shape. The age III+ salmon averaged 19.8 in long and 2 lb, 10 oz in weight. They were in good shape. The age IV+ salmon averaged 20.7 in long and 3 lb, 7 oz in weight. They were in excellent condition. The two wild salmon (both were age III+) averaged 19.2 in long and 2 lb, 12 oz in weight. They were also in excellent condition. All told, 30% of our sample weighed in at 2-lb or more, and 8% weighed 3-lb or more. The 5 largest salmon we captured and released were:
 |
21.7 in, 4 lb, 4 oz |
|
21.7 in, 3 lb, 9 oz |
|
19.7 in, 3 lb |
|
19.9 in, 2 lb, 12 oz |
|
19.7 in, 2 lb, 9 oz |
The lake will be stocked next week with 1,350 salmon, most of which will be from 61/2-7 Vi in. Their left ventral (left belly) fin will be clipped to facilitate future identification.
The new regulation at Branch, which limits anglers to keeping one salmon, should help improve the fishery for 17-19 in fish. The regulation is designed to encourage more anglers to release the smaller, younger 15-16 in fish. This should result in better fishing for the age III salmon which generally range in length from 17-19 in.
I trust this information will be useful as you put together your newsletter.
Ron Brokaw, Regional Fishery Biologist
|
|
