The Watershed Vol. 3, No. 1 Page Three
The Oyster Pond Environmental Trust Newsletter, Summer 1998
OPET, P.O. Box 496, Woods Hole, MA 02543-0496
POND Samplings
The past winter again was a very mild one. Not once did the pond freeze over. Bird life thus was abundant on the pond all winter long. Four great blue herons wintered over. The first buffleheads arrived on November 5th, noisily as usual. Next came the hooded mergansers, as cantankerous as they are beautiful. Trunk River Lagoon was home to 16-20 of them all winter long, and there always were 10-12 in the northern part of Oyster Pond. The arrival of the redbreasted mergansers is impossible to overlook: they fish the length of the pond in a group of about two dozen, diving fanned out in a wide phalanx. Their dives are followed in the air by many scores of noisy, graceful, little white Bonaparte gulls who skydive for the fish trying to escape their undenvater hunters by heading for the surface waters. It is a sight to see the pond's water and the sky above alive with these beautiful birds. Their presence on the pond all winter long tells us that there's food for them in our pond! Other steadv Ovster Pond winter residents ,vere about a dozen Canada geese and Mallard ducks as well as 2 swans and at least 2 kingfishers.
Salt Pond, only a short distance away, is home all winter to hundreds of Greater Scaup and some common Golden Eye -- but none of them visited Oyster Pond until one storm in March when the flock came to stay on our pond for two davs. They returned several days later and then stayed until the end of April. The summer swans built a nest way up the north end this year, but their eggs were taken by a predator, as were the two eggs of a pair of Canada geese which had nested at the Loewenstein dock. Who is the culprit -- raccoon, fox, coyote? One mid-April night there was a very noisy and splashy otter fight on the shore close to Treetops. And on May 17th, I spotted an otter in the pond or, rather, it spotted me: apparently displeased, it snorted annoyed grunts at me and my dog, submerged, only to re-appear scoldingly. We obviouslv disturbed its hunt for herring!
Several hundred greater scaup on Oyster Pond in April
OPET Sponsors Pond Science Projects by Students
This past winter, a dinghy could he spotted several times on Oyster Pond, its crew taking water samples in the chilly air. Also waders, shivering in the December cold, were working a seine and several minnow traps along the pond's shore. OPET sponsored two school science projects: Falmouth Academy 8th grader Dan Murphy, under guidance of Dr. Linda Deegan of the MBL, determined fish species at various locations in the pond. Besides Dan's dad, OPET members Barry Norris, Bob Wilsterman and Birgit Rose assisted Dan in this project, and Bob Livingstone and John Scibek came to photograph/fllm the red-nosed fishermen.
Falmouth Academy juniors Andrew Davies and Misha Strumwasser braved the chilly air and water to take measurements and water samples from the deepest part of Oyster Pond. Luckily, most chemical analyses could be done in the more temperate climate of the lab at MBL. The poster describing the results from their studv earned an honorable mention at the Academy's Science Fair. Julie Rankin was an inspiring sight out in the dinghy in 10 degree F chill, enthusiastically teaching the two youn men how to take water samples and measure their dissolved oxygen. Thanks also go to Ann Giblin and Hap Gerritt at the MBL who helped with the lab work.
Trunk River
The Trunk River outlet was a BIG headache past winter and spring:
the jetties have been all but destroyed bv a series of storms, beginning with hurricane Bob, and any minor storm now dumps enough sand and/or gravel into Trunk River to block the outflow with anything from a relatively minor berm at the mouth to filling the whole riverbed up to the bend. The minor blocks could be cleared by shovelling OPIFT members Carl Breivogel or Birgit Rose often did the digging -- but for the big stuff, Falmouth DPW used major equipment to clean out the riverbed. At times the river flowed only a few days between storms. OPET's Pond Management Committee will draft and sponsor an article to go on the fall Town Meeting watrant for repair of the jetties.
Meanwhile, some hand digging will need to be done at the upper portion of Trunk River. It is this sandy stretch and not the weir that now sets the pond level and which allowed the pond to get so high this past winter and spring that several low-lying houses had water in their basement. Repair of the jetties should solve this problem, too, because that upper Trunk River portion then would no longer experience the frequent silting-in. --br
Land Conservation in the Watershed
1998 undoubtedly is the lucky year for Oyster Pond! The single largest, privately owned, undeveloped piece of land in Ovster Pond's watershed area, the Peterson Farm, will be preserved for open space! On May 19th, Falmouth voted resoundlingly to buv the 88-acre Farm. Preventing development on the Peterson Farm is an immensely important step for Oyster Pond: it means that the addition to the watershed of 30-40 septic svstems has been averted, no roads will be built there, the native vegetation will remain, as will the open fields of the Farm. Congratulations to the 300 Committee's many hardworking volunteers who waged a brief but very intense campaign, and who raised $500,000 in private pledges to reduce the purchase price for the town. And thanks to all of you who voted YES on question 2. To further ease the debt burden for the town on the Peterson Farm purchase, the 300 Committee is applying for $500,000 in state funds. You can significantlv increase the chances of winning this grant by sending contributions to the 300 Committee -- the number of private donors weighs heavily in the decision. Even all you non-voting Oyster Pond watershed residents, you can still play a role in and be proud of the conservation of this beautiful, large property in our backvard: make a tax-deductible gift to the 300 Committee, designate it for the Peterson Farm purchase, and identify yourself as a member of OPET.
From the Membership Desk
OPET's membership has grown to more than 170 families and individuals, thanks to faithful
renewals and to new members. We particularly welcome the newcomers from the business community. Together, we can make Oyster Pond into the healthy, productive and beautiful
pond we all dream of and which future generations, too, will be able to enjoy!
Reminder: Annual Memberships expire May 31st. Please renew, and consider a donation
to the Land Conservation Fund.
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This page updated July 25, 2002
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