The Oyster Pond Environmental Trust Newsletter, Summer 1997
OPET, P.O. Box 496, Woods Hole, MA 02543-0496
With the abundant rainfall of the past year, groundwater levels are at a 20 to 30 year high, and so are pond levels. The good news is that Falmouth's water reservoir Long Pond is 4 ft above average!. The bad news is that many septic tank systems are backing up as the waste water has a difficult time dissipating into the water-saturated ground. Therefore it is very important to keep your septic tanks pumped on a regular basis, every 2-3 years!
We had a sort of test for the effect of the planned weir this past three-quarter year: Trunk River was allowed to stay silted in, effectively cutting down the salt water inflow to OYSTER POND. This made for a considerable freshening of the Pond's water and for a high level as well. In fact it was so high that docks submerged and some Pond abutters feared for their basements.
With OPET's prodding and the close co-operation between DPWs George Calese and SEA GRANT's Brian Howes, Trunk River was hand-shovelled out gradually and carefully after each storm, lowering the Pond level to about 6" above that of preceding years. Once the weir is in place, not only will the proper pond height be maintained, but also Trunk River can be dredged deeply enough to allow thorough flushing with each tide of the lower Pond -- and no more foul smells (we hope!).
Unlike 1995, this year's was a very mild winter here, with temperatures rarely dipping into the teens and snowfall deep enough to shovel only twice -- the last snow was so late in the season I for one did not bother to clear my driveway, letting the rising temperatures of the following days do the work. Oyster Pond thus never froze over completely or solidly enough to tempt any ice skaters (although some intrepid ice sailors did venture out one chilly weekend, zipping across the Pond with surprising speed in front of the slightest breeze.
The Pond was graced almost all winter long by flocks of the pretty but cantankerous buffleheads darting about above and below the water surface. The graceful hooded mergansers also were here, and every morning a troupe of red-breasted common mergansers fished the length of the Pond in synchronized formation, accompanied by gulls overhead. A great blue heron made it through the winter, too, stalking its prey from Wendy Gabriel's dock and resting in the picturesque tree on the end of the Dowling's peninsula.
Aahh, but not just feathered folk chased the underwater prey -- two otters also were spotted in February, climbing onto the ice's edge while loudly munching away on their catch. Spring has come and the mergansers have left, and the buffleheads, too, after pairing up for their breeding season further north. Peepers were singing away the nights all around the Pond as soon as the ground had thawed. But only few were heard this year in OPET's Zinn Park region. Ospreys are back and three can often be seen fishing Oyster Pond and heard announcing their frequent catches with a plaintive, beautiful, high-pitched call. (Shouldn't we have an osprey nesting platform on Oyster Pond?)
- by Birgit Rose
If you have to use fertilizer in your garden/lawn/yard, use slow-release fertilizer. It is much more expensive pound per pound, but you get much more out of it as there is basically no waste in the form of unused fertilizer run-off. Plants can only absorb so much after a fertilizer application, the rest runs off with the next rain or watering cycle. Slow-release on the other hand, releases only a bit each time it gets wet --one application lasts up to three months, and the Pond does not get loaded with unwanted extra nitrates and phosphates!
Be careful about what you wash down the drain --some of it other than water may wind up in the pond! Avoid using bleach -- it kills not only the organisms you are aiming to get rid of, but also the good microbes doing the important work in your septic tank! Bleach is not readily biodegraded into components harmless for the environment. Use the least amount of detergents --experiment with how little you can get by.
Don't ever pour paint solvents, paint, fuel or engine oil down the drain or on the ground!Just a little can poison a lot of groundwater and cause a huge problem for the pond.
Lastly, please get involved, join OPET, volunteer for a committee or for nomination to the board.
OPET lost a distinguished, enthusiastic and generous supporter this Spring. Ruth Sager, a Professor at the Harvard Medical School succumbed to cancer in April. Ruth resided on Fells Road with her husband Arthur Pardee, also a Professor at the Harvard Medical School. Ruth was a world-renowned geneticist who most recently was investigating the genetic basis of cancer and in particular genes known as tumor-suppressing genes. Honors Ruth received included election to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Ans and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. In 1994, she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Chicago where she had received her undergraduate S.B. degree.
We are a young organization and we don't necessarily get everything right the first time around. So, we goofed in the membership listing in the last Watershed. Only those were listed who had checked off the Membership category on the membership renewal/donation forms. Others who made contributions to OPET but failed to mark "Membership" were not included in that list. We should, of course, have listed them as donors, and we apologize to all of you who had been omitted from that list. OPET from now on considers anyone who makes a contribution of $25 to $ 99 as a Regular Member, and anyone who makes a contribution of at least $100 as a Supporting Member. Life Membership is awarded for donations of at least $5000. OPET is most grateful to each and every donor for their generous contributions!
It you have contributed in the past year but your name is still missing from our list, please contact Birgit Rose at 289-7258 so that we may correct our database!
We are pleased that our membership grew to about 150 in 1996/1997. We hope to continue to grow in order to further improve Oyster Pond. Please renew your membership and ask your friends to join, too. All donations are fully tax deductible!
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