Important Announcements

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LMPA Annual General Meeting — Monday, June 13th — 7:00 PM

   

 LMPA LOGO


Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

Web­site: www.lmpa.org             Email: lmpa.org@verizon.net

PLEASE JOIN THE LMPA AND YOUR FELLOW LMPA MEMBERS FOR

The Annu­al Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion Gen­er­al Meeting

MONDAY, JUNE  13, 2016

7:00 PM

KO Sushi and Grill Restau­rant – UPSTAIRS
Hay­ward Street, Hopkinton

The Annu­al Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion Gen­er­al meet­ing will be held on Mon­day, June 13, 2016.  The meet­ing will be at KO Sushi and Grill, Hay­ward Street, Hop­kin­ton.  Please go direct­ly upstairs for the meet­ing, we will be pro­vid­ing appe­tiz­ers and there will be wait­ress ser­vice as well.   Please try to attend and be on time for the meet­ing so that we have ade­quate num­bers to con­duct asso­ci­a­tion busi­ness. A min­i­mum quo­rum of 20 mem­bers is required.

There are three open posi­tions on the Board that we will be vot­ing on:

Trea­sur­er – cur­rent­ly held by Tina Mac­Connell – Tina would like to continue

Exec­u­tive #3 – cur­rent­ly held by Mark Sexton

Exec­u­tive #4 – cur­rent­ly held by Mike Riley – Mike would like to continue

 

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Town Meeting Announcement — 2016

 Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

Web­site: www.lmpa.org         Email: lmpa.org@verizon.net

April 30, 2016

To: Lake Area Residents

As many of you know, Hopkinton’s Annu­al Town Meet­ing takes place Mon­day, May 2nd at 7:00, in the Hop­kin­ton Mid­dle School audi­to­ri­um.  There will be an item con­cern­ing fund­ing for the con­trol of exces­sive aquat­ic weeds at Lake Maspenock in the bud­get.  The “Lake Maspenock Weed Man­age­ment and Con­trol Advi­so­ry Group”, formed at the direc­tion of the Hop­kin­ton Select­men, has been thor­ough­ly eval­u­at­ing this issue over the last 7 or 8 months.  A pro­fes­sion­al con­sul­tant, with exten­sive lake man­age­ment knowl­edge, was hired by the town to assist and advise the town com­mit­tee.  The pur­pose of the Town’s Advi­so­ry Group is to iden­ti­fy the type and scope of the prob­lem and eval­u­ate ALL avail­able meth­ods of con­trol­ling the exces­sive weed growth.  Each method of weed con­trol is being rat­ed in terms of safe­ty, effec­tive­ness, cost and fea­si­bil­i­ty.  The goal of the Group is to cre­ate a long-term plan for man­ag­ing the lake.  No rec­om­men­da­tions have been made yet, and it is antic­i­pat­ed that their eval­u­a­tion will not be ready until late sum­mer or ear­ly fall.  At that time the Group’s rec­om­men­da­tions will be pre­sent­ed to the pub­lic and Select­men.  The Select­men will make any deci­sions con­cern­ing the Group’s find­ings and they will con­trol if, when, and how any funds are spent.  The pub­lic will have oppor­tu­ni­ties to ask ques­tions and pro­vide input pri­or to any final deci­sions being made.  It is impor­tant that the request­ed funds, includ­ed in the bud­get for the com­ing year, be avail­able to imple­ment the weed con­trol method or meth­ods ulti­mate­ly approved by the Selectmen.

The Lake Maspenock Exec­u­tive Board sup­ports the Weed Con­trol Advi­so­ry Group and believes they are per­form­ing an exten­sive eval­u­a­tion of the prob­lem and the options avail­able to solve it.  It is clear that what­ev­er rec­om­men­da­tion is ulti­mate­ly made by the Group to the town will have been objec­tive­ly arrived at.  The LMPA Exec­u­tive Board urges all to attend Town Meet­ing to sup­port the fund­ing request­ed for the con­trol of the exces­sive aquat­ic weed growth.  If addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion is desired, please go to LMPA.org and select the link to the “Aquat­ic Veg­e­ta­tion Advi­so­ry Group”.

It is antic­i­pat­ed that the top­ic will come up ear­ly on in the meet­ing so please be on time.

 

Thank you,

 

The Offi­cers and Exec­u­tive Board

Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

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Public Forums to Discuss Comprehensive Weed Management and Control Plan

The Hop­kin­ton DPW, Con­ser­va­tion Com­mis­sion, Parks & Rec. Dept., in con­cert with the Advi­so­ry Group, will spon­sor two Pub­lic Forums for Hop­kin­ton res­i­dents on Tues­day, Feb­ru­ary 9, 2016 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 27, 2016 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  Forum loca­tion for both meet­ings to be at Hop­kin­ton Town Hall, Room 215.

A for­mal Com­pre­hen­sive Weed Man­age­ment and Con­trol Plan will be devel­oped for con­trol and mon­i­tor­ing of nox­ious and inva­sive weed prob­lems spe­cif­ic to Lake Maspenock.   Hop­kin­ton res­i­dents are urged to par­tic­i­pate in the Pub­lic Forums and the online Sur­vey on the Town’s web­site in order to pro­vide feed­back, ask ques­tions and increase their aware­ness about ben­e­fits and eco­log­i­cal impact from pro­posed meth­ods of weed man­age­ment.  Town wide pub­lic under­stand­ing and sup­port of the Plan is crit­i­cal at Town Meet­ing for approval and financ­ing of the Weed Con­trol Plan.

Online Sur­vey:

http://kwiksurveys.com/s/I5qy2QZO

Upcom­ing Advi­so­ry Group Meet­ings, Pub­lic Forums and addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion will be post­ed in Town Hall and on the Town web­site; http://www.hopkintonma.gov/home/government/towncalendar

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Boating Safety Class — March 12th and March 19th, 2016

Below is the link to sign up for the boat­ing safe­ty class which will be held on March 12 & 19, 8:30 am — 12:30 pm each day.  You must attend both days to get cer­ti­fi­ca­tion.   Please keep in mind that this class is open to the gen­er­al pub­lic and fills up quickly.
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Winter “Weedsicle” Social — DATE CHANGE — March 12, 2016

WEED love to see you at the

LMPA WINTER WEEDSICLE SOCIAL

Sat­ur­day, MARCH 12, 2016
7:00 p.m. — 10:00 pm

Woodville Rod & Gun Club
252 Wood Street, Hopkinton

Excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet new neigh­bors and socialize!!
*Adult-only func­tion for LMPA members*

*Hearty Appe­tiz­ers and Cash Bar*

*Con­tri­bu­tions to the Dessert Table are welcome*

*4th of July Boat Parade Tro­phy to be awarded!*

*50/50 Raf­fle*

Please feel free to bring non-mem­bers who
are inter­est­ed in join­ing the LMPA, mem­ber­ship renew­al is avail­able as well

 

 

 

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Update on Extended Draw Down of Lake Maspenock

As of last Tues­day, Decem­ber 1st, there had been a 76″ reduc­tion in the lake lev­el.  The lev­el is being reduced at a rate of about 1″ per day.  The reduc­tion will cease Decem­ber 15th.  It looks like the total reduc­tion this year will be about 90″ unless sig­nif­i­cant rain­fall occurs.  The lake will be main­tained at the reduced lev­el until we expe­ri­ence sig­nif­i­cant freez­ing or we reach Jan­u­ary 15th. 2016.  Re-fill of the lake will begin once it is deter­mined that we have expe­ri­enced suf­fi­cient freez­ing of the weed roots or we reach Jan­u­ary 15th, 2016.  Re-fill will begin no lat­er than Jan­u­ary 15th, 2016.  Feel free to reach out to the LMPA with any and all ques­tions (lmpa.org@verizon.net).

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LMPA Weed Subcommittee Volunteers Needed!!!

To the Lake Mem­ber­ship and All Res­i­dents of Hop­kin­ton, Upton and Milford:

The most recent bio­log­i­cal sur­vey of the lake notes an increase in one native species, the large leaf pond weed. It has increased dra­mat­i­cal­ly over the past few years, and has become a sig­nif­i­cant problem.

After much dis­cus­sion among the exec­u­tive board and the mem­ber­ship, the weed con­trol strat­e­gy will take par­al­lel paths mov­ing for­ward. We will con­tin­ue to attempt a suc­cess­ful extend­ed draw­down which requires lit­tle cost and effort com­pared to alter­na­tive meth­ods of weed con­trol. In par­al­lel, we are form­ing a new sub­com­mit­tee, which will focus on one main mission.…to fig­ure out the best meth­ods to con­vey research and infor­ma­tion that has been gath­ered by the LMPA and the new­ly formed Town Weed Advi­so­ry Board to all of the res­i­dents of Hop­kin­ton. We want to recruit peo­ple from all over town to be on this sub­com­mit­tee, as well as any­one with a vest­ed inter­est in the lake.

Time require­ments of the sub­com­mit­tee mem­bers are to be deter­mined, but one should expect at least 1–2 meet­ings per month and some time out­side of meet­ings to own a par­tic­u­lar action item that will help ful­fill the mis­sion of the subcommittee.

Please respond direct­ly to the LMPA by  email to lmpa.org@verizon.net, if you are inter­est­ed in serv­ing on this sub­com­mit­tee. We wish every­one a won­der­ful fall sea­son on our beau­ti­ful lake!

The Exec­u­tive Board of the LMPA

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GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING — JUNE 22, 2015

The Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion will hold a mem­ber­ship meet­ing on Mon­day, June 22, 2015 at 6:30 PM. The loca­tion of the meet­ing is Sandy Beach. In case of rain, the meet­ing will be moved to Tues­day, 6/23, the same time and place. An email will be sent out to noti­fy the mem­ber­ship of any postponement.

Annu­al elec­tions for posi­tions on the Exec­u­tive Board will be held. The fol­low­ing posi­tions are up for election:

* Pres­i­dent Cur­rent­ly held by Mal­colm Page Seek­ing re-election
* Exec­u­tive #1 Cur­rent­ly held by Sabine St. Pierre Seek­ing re-election
* Exec­u­tive #2 Cur­rent­ly held by David Collins Not seek­ing re-election

Any­one inter­est­ed in run­ning for one of the avail­able posi­tions should con­tact Mal­colm Page, (malcolmepage@gmail.com), for addi­tion­al information.

In addi­tion to the elec­tions, there will be an impor­tant dis­cus­sion con­cern­ing Aquat­ic Plant Growth Man­age­ment. The results and impli­ca­tions of the vote tak­en at this year’s town meet­ing will be reviewed. Devel­op­ments since town meet­ing will be dis­cussed. The LMPA will be work­ing with the town to eval­u­ate the avail­able options and to imple­ment, what we hope will be, an effec­tive strat­e­gy. This is the most chal­leng­ing prob­lem that the LMPA is cur­rent­ly fac­ing. This is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to come togeth­er as an asso­ci­a­tion to decide which direc­tion to take.

Please make every effort to attend this meet­ing. It is impor­tant that the mem­ber­ship be active­ly involved in our organization.

The Offi­cers and Exec­u­tive Board mem­bers of
Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

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Letter to our membership from the President.

Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

Web­site: www.lmpa.org         Email: lmpa.org@verizon.net

April 16, 2015

TO: Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion Members,

Lake area res­i­dents and all con­cerned residents

I am sure most of you are aware that Lake Maspenock is expe­ri­enc­ing a sig­nif­i­cant prob­lem with exces­sive aquat­ic weed growth.  In response to this prob­lem the Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion (LMPA) has been mov­ing for­ward with an aquat­ic weed man­age­ment plan.  An orga­nized plan to con­trol inva­sive and prob­lem­at­ic weed growth has been on going for over a decade.  The lat­est phase in the LMPA’s efforts to man­age this prob­lem orig­i­nat­ed from a mem­ber­ship vote tak­en in the fall of 2013.  That vote direct­ed the LMPA Exec­u­tive Board to inves­ti­gate how this prob­lem could be con­trolled, and to present a plan to do so.  An aquat­ic growth man­age­ment com­mit­tee was formed to under­take this man­date in the fall of 2014.  The com­mit­tee con­duct­ed exten­sive research into the con­trol meth­ods avail­able.  On Jan­u­ary 8, 2015 a Gen­er­al meet­ing was held by the LMPA Exec­u­tive Board to present the committee’s find­ings and rec­om­men­da­tions to the Asso­ci­a­tion mem­ber­ship.  The com­mit­tee rec­om­mend­ed the selec­tive use of her­bi­cides to bring the exces­sive weed growth under con­trol.  This rec­om­men­da­tion was unan­i­mous­ly sup­port­ed by the LMPA Exec­u­tive Board, and more impor­tant­ly, an over­whelm­ing major­i­ty of the Lake Asso­ci­a­tion members.

It is com­plete­ly under­stand­able that the thought of intro­duc­ing her­bi­cides into the lake we love is cause for seri­ous con­cern.  This course of action was not entered into with­out care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion of what options were avail­able, the effec­tive­ness of those options, the fea­si­bil­i­ty, and the safe­ty both short and long term of any options select­ed.  I urge every­one to review the infor­ma­tion on the LMPA web­site.  You will see the time line of the LMPA’s efforts in regards to this prob­lem, addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion explain­ing the time line and the con­trol meth­ods con­sid­ered, and not cho­sen, as well as what meth­ods were cho­sen, and why.  In addi­tion, there is a brief slide show avail­able which will answer many ques­tions.  Links to an exten­sive amount of sci­en­tif­ic research are also avail­able.  Again the plan being pro­mot­ed was not cho­sen light­ly.  It was expect­ed and under­stand­able that many of you would have seri­ous con­cerns, and would expect and deserve, answers to your ques­tions before being able to sup­port this plan.

If you look at the logo at the top of this let­ter you will see that it is divid­ed into four quad­rants.  Each sec­tion rep­re­sents dif­fer­ent aspects of what we all enjoy about liv­ing near the won­der­ful resource of Lake Maspenock.  Be it swim­ming, fish­ing, boat­ing, ski­ing or sim­ply enjoy­ing the wide vari­ety of wildlife, we should strive to pre­serve what our logo rep­re­sents.  Each aspect should be respect­ed and pro­tect­ed equal­ly and respon­si­bly.  It is rec­og­nized that there are dif­fer­ing views and opin­ions con­cern­ing this issue, and that we are not all going to agree.  Please review the avail­able infor­ma­tion to edu­cate your­self and to help you to eval­u­ate your posi­tion on the pro­posed plan.  Dif­fer­ing opin­ions should be respect­ed and acknowl­edged, as we are all neigh­bors, and it is hoped that we will con­tin­ue to enjoy Lake Maspenock for many years to come.  There are numer­ous ways that we all can work togeth­er to fur­ther the efforts to con­trol exces­sive plant growth, even if we do not agree on how best to accom­plish that goal.

The Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion urges your sup­port for the approved plan, which will help to pre­serve the lake in a safe and respon­si­ble way.

Thank you,

Mal­colm Page

Pres­i­dent

Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association