The Watershed Vol. 3, No. 1

OPET'S 4th Annual Meeting to be held July 9th at 7:30 pm at the Sea Education Association.

Keynote speaker will be Cameron Giftord whose topic will be "The Future of the Spohr Gardens". The Board Treasurer and Committee Chairs will report on OPET's activities during the past year and all the work that lies ahead. Also, new Board members will be elected. We are looking for energetic volunteers to help with fundraising, mailing, the Newsletter, pond studies, pond management issues, trailwork in OPET's park and more. There is always something to learn, and it all is for the benefit of our beautiful pond! Please call Birgit Rose at 289-7258 (day) or 548-5984 (eves) if you want to volunteer yourself or someone else for nomination to the Board or to any of the committees and other activities. Please join us. Refreshments will be served.

In Memory of Oyster Pond Science Pioneer K.O. Emery

K.O. Emery, renowned scientist and 30-year resident on the shore of Oyster Pond, died on April 12,1998. While K.O., as he was referred to by everyone who knew him, called himself a marine geologist, there were few things which didn't excite and challenge his intellect. He authored 15 books on topics as diverse as how to measure true sea level on a global scale, to the only existing synthesis dealing with the land forms and surface morphology of the rocky planets, moons and asteroids in our solar system. Educated at the University of Illinois, K.O. spent a career stint at the University of Southern California before settling at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHO I) in 1962. At the WHOI, KO. immediately initiated a comprehensive study of the tiny "ocean" (Oyster Pond) he lived on, and in 1969 published his classic book, "A Coastal Pond Studied with Oceanographic Methods". Almost 30 years later, this book on Oyster Pond was reprinted by the Oyster Pond Environmental Trust, Inc., with an epilogue reviewing new studies carried out under the Falmouth Pond Watch program. Few ponds in the world can boast a 30-year tradition of ongoing study, and few, indeed, have been subjected to the penetrating scrutiny that K.O. focused on "our" pond.

---K.O. (left) at the 1995 Annual Meeting of OPET, with George Heufelder (middle) and Carl Breivogel (right)

Let our stewardship of this resource reflect the qualities for which K.O. was admired as a scientist: plain-spoken, prompt, energetic, and able to bring order out of chaos. --by Stan Hart

The original "instruments" used by K.O. for taking Oyster Pond water samples: a Coca Cola bottle equipped with a lead waistband and a rubber stopper. Once the desired length of line was paid out for the sinking bottle, the stopper could be "popped" by a jerk of the line that ran around the bottle's neck and through the stopper. For determining clarity of the pond water, K.O. used the round wooden disk, painted white and also weighted with lead on one side. The disk is lowered into the water and the depth is noted at which the disk no longer can be discerned. At right, the original, 1969 edition of the Oyster Pond "bible", and OPET's reprinted edition. If you haven't yet purchased your copy, you can do so at www.amazon.com, the WHOI and MBL Giftshops or from OPET directly. Proceeds will directly benefit K.O.'s Oyster Pond!