UPDATE May 2022
Hello Friends of Forge Pond.
The annual meeting of FoFP will be held on Monday, May 16th, 2022 at Reuben Hoar Library. Please join us to hear all the updates on the projects that we have undertaken. A sampling of projects is the annual lake drawdown, an improvement to the outlet channel and a new project for the control of shorefront weeds.
As summer is approaching and lawn care is starting, we wanted to share an interesting article on caring for your lawn while you continue to care for the lake. Here is the link for the article.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/maintaining-waterfront-turf-to-preserve-water-quality
We continue to work on and manage several projects and programs to further our mission of improving the quality and health of the lake:
(1) Coordination, permitting and execution of the annual lake drawdown for invasive plant control. We successfully received an extension to our current permit.
(2) Evaluation of projects to improve the efficacy of the annual drawdown, such as:
● Evaluating and proposing ways to implement flow control at the Beaver Brook culvert to better isolate the wetlands and control inflow to improve drawdown success rates. This project will be pursued after the repair of the Beaver Brook Bridge.
(3) Lake water sampling to monitor and track water quality. Samples were taken in August and we will post results shortly.
(4) Regular plant monitoring to track invasive plant species and the impact of the drawdown on them. We completed an evaluation in August and will post the results shortly.
(5) Monitoring water level and flows into and out of the lake to better understand and respond to changing lake conditions. We continue to use the Dam Dashboard to monitor lake levels at several points.
(6) Evaluation and permitting of Benthic Mats to control invasive species.
(7) Participating with Stony Brook Flow Restoration Project on behalf of the Friends to ensure our interests are considered in the project work
(8) Collaboration and coordination with these organizations: Westford Healthy Lakes and Ponds Collaborative, Littleton Clean Lakes Committee, Lake Matawanakee Association, Woodlands Community Association, Spectacle Pond Association, and the Littleton and Westford Conservation Commissions.
Membership in the Friends of Forge Pond supports the many projects your all-volunteer board undertakes. We thank you for your support and ask all to please continue to support , if they have not yet done so! And consider upgrading to a higher level of support.
Thank you for your continued support!
The Friends of Forge Pond board is composed of volunteers from the community. Feel free to contact us if you have questions or want additional information, at friendsofforgepond@gmail.com. Or use the form at the right =====>
See you on the pond...
The Friends of Forge Pond Board of Directors
