The Oyster Pond Environmental Trust Newsletter, Summer 1998
OPET, P.O. Box 496, Woods Hole, MA 02543-0496
The weir is in at last. On March 13, the weir was finally in place at the Surf Drive culvert. It took no time to put a water block upstream and downstream of the weir location with a hefty sump pump sucking the blocked-off section dry and providing a bypass for the water to Trunk River Lagoon. The pre-cast weir, with one wide and one narrow slot for hoards, then was set at the proper elevation, the banks were fortified with stone, the water blocks removed, and the job was done. It took several more weeks, however, until the boards were added, and landscaping was finally done in June. No sooner was construction finished than the herring began to run. The pond level was very high throughout the winter and spring, so that there was plenty of water above the boards for the herring to cross into and out of Oyster Pond.
The pond level is still too high for the boards to show. The silted-in Trunk River, not the weir, now determines the pond level. OPET has requested that the DPW obtain a permit for digging the riverbed to the proper elevation.
Photos by R Livingstone and B. Rose
We have taken good strides towards retiring our debt on the 7 acre conservation land located along Ransom Road at the north end of the pond. Thanks to major gifts from several OPET members during our past fiscal year, we have reduced our debt principal to about $60,000; and thanks to the many other donations to the Land Conservation Fund, we were able to meet our mortgage payments of about $3,200 each quarter. Many thanks to all of you who have given so generously.
A large granite boulder along the path close to the entrance to our park has been selected for the day when we will have paid the last cent of the debt. It will then bear a bronze plaque inscribed with the names of all those who have contributed at least $5,000 towards the park's purchase. Please review your personal donation history to OPET's land conservation fund (we'll be glad to help in this; call 289-7258 or 54~5984) and consider a major gift at this time so that your name can be one of those listed on the plaque! This is an ideal time to make gifts of appreciated stocks. You can deduct their full value from your income and avoid the capital gains tax.
We are very proud to have been awarded $3,000 from the Community Foundation of Cape Cod to study the effect of the weir on the pond. The funds complement $1,500 to be invested by OPET towards monitoring pond salinity, oxygen, nitrates and phosphates, fecal coliform bacteria as well as fish. We will be able to buy some water sampling equipment and pay for water analyses. With the check we also received a disposable camera to monitor our project. The report from our studies is to be distributed to all towns in Barnstable county.
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