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

The Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion would like to invite you to attend an infor­ma­tion­al meet­ing about the cur­rent weed prob­lem that is hin­der­ing the recre­ation­al use of Lake Maspenock. The Meet­ing will be held on Jan­u­ary 8, 2015 at 7:00PM in the Hop­kin­ton High School Cafeteria.

This is a pub­lic meet­ing with the pur­pose of shar­ing infor­ma­tion about the sever­i­ty of the prob­lem of weeds, the research and inves­ti­ga­tion that has been done by the Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion to date, and rec­om­mend­ed actions. While this is a pub­lic meet­ing open to all, we strong­ly encour­age all mem­bers of the LMPA to join us and learn more about this prob­lem. We will be tak­ing a vote on future plans for weed con­trol. In order to vote you MUST BE AN LMPA mem­ber. If you are not sure if you are a cur­rent mem­ber, please email lmpa.org@verizon.net. If you are not a cur­rent mem­ber and you would like to join, you can do so at www.LMPA.org or there will be mem­ber­ship forms at the meeting.

Infor­ma­tion shared will include:

The Cur­rent situation

• Types of weeds over­tak­ing many areas of the lake
• Weed man­age­ment con­trol to date

Extend­ed draw-downs

• Mass­a­chu­setts Lakes with sim­i­lar problems
• What action has been undertaken

Intro­duc­tion of Aquat­ic Con­trol Tech­nolo­gies-Pond and Lake Man­age­ment Specialists

• Lake Sur­vey-Assess­ment
• Rec­om­men­da­tions for Her­bi­cide application
• Fund Rais­ing
• Activ­i­ties to date

Please join us and learn more about this prob­lem that is affect­ing us all and to fur­ther under­stand the require­ments nec­es­sary to prop­er­ly pre­serve the recre­ation­al use of the Lake.

NOTICE OF UPCOMING ASSOCIATION GENERAL MEETING

The Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion will be hold­ing a gen­er­al mem­ber­ship meet­ing on Mon­day, Novem­ber 18, 2013, at 6:30 P.M. The meet­ing loca­tion will be the Marathon Restau­rant, locat­ed at the cor­ner of South St. and Hay­ward St. All lake asso­ci­a­tion mem­bers are invit­ed, and encour­aged, to attend.

The agen­da of the meet­ing will include the fol­low­ing items, which must be vot­ed on at a mem­ber­ship meet­ing. They will seek to amend the Asso­ci­a­tion By-laws so must receive a 2/3rds vote from the mem­bers present in order to pass.

1. The LMPA exec­u­tive board has vot­ed to rec­om­mend to the mem­ber­ship that an increase to the annu­al dues be approved. If approved by a mem­ber­ship vote the dues would increase on Jan­u­ary 1, 2014 to $35 per year/$65 for 2 years, if paid in advance for both years. The dues are cur­rent­ly $25/$45. The annu­al dues for seniors (62 and old­er) are rec­om­mend­ed to remain the same at $10.

2. The by-laws do not cur­rent­ly define senior mem­ber as “62 and old­er”. This is the cri­te­ria cur­rent­ly fol­lowed, how­ev­er it is not stat­ed in the By-Laws. It is rec­om­mend­ed that the def­i­n­i­tion be spec­i­fied in the By-laws.

An update on this years’ draw­down will also be provided.

We are aware that the Patri­ots play that evening so Asso­ci­a­tion busi­ness will be fin­ished in time to view the begin­ning of the game.

Please attend; we need a quo­rum of at least 20, to con­duct vot­ing on the two By-Law amend­ments. Come join us in a new meet­ing loca­tion. The LMPA will pro­vide some appe­tiz­ers and a cash bar will be available.

Thank you,

The Offi­cers and Exec­u­tive Board Members

Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

Lake Area Residents:

After a beau­ti­ful sum­mer, it is now approach­ing the time that the annu­al draw down of the lake begins. The tim­ing of the draw down is man­dat­ed by a per­mit received from the Hop­kin­ton Con­ser­va­tion Com­mis­sion and must begin no ear­li­er than Sep­tem­ber 15th and no lat­er than Octo­ber 1st. The exact date can vary from year to year based upon the lev­el of the lake com­ing out of the sum­mer. This year it is antic­i­pat­ed that the draw down will com­mence some time dur­ing the week of Sep­tem­ber 15th.

**********IMPORTANT**********

We have per­mis­sion to con­duct a more exten­sive draw down of the lake, 7–8 feet this year, in an effort to con­trol the inva­sive weeds which were a prob­lem this sum­mer. The nor­mal draw down is a lake lev­el reduc­tion of 4–5 feet. Please be aware of the draw down process and arrange for the removal of boats and docks accord­ing­ly.

Have a great autumn,

The Offi­cers and Exec­u­tive Board

Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

THURSDAY, JULY 4th

SANDY BEACH — 2:00 PM

Line­up starts at 1:45 PM and all are welcome!

Down­load the fly­er and tell your friends.

LMPA 4th OF JULY BOAT PARADE 2013 (3)-1

Did you know that the LMPA has a Face­book Page?  Like our page today to see when water test­ing results and meet­ing min­utes have been post­ed as well as pic­tures from events at the lake.

Who says bananas can’t be patriotic?

Check out the pho­to gallery from our lat­est event, the July 4 Boat Parade.

Hap­py Friday.…and ‘like’ us on Face­book today!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4^th

SANDY BEACH — 2:00 PM

We will start the line­up at 1:45 pm

ALL Boats Are Welcome
Motor Boats, Kayaks, Canoes, etc.

Dress your­selves, your kids and
your boats in fit­ting regalia!

Spon­sored by
Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association
(www.lmpa.org)

Please renew your LMPA membership!!
Your Lake needs Your Support!!!

      Email news, updates and pho­tos to us at
lmpa.org@verizon.net