Help Save the Trails at Upton’s Peppercorn Hill Conservation Area!

Peppercorn Hill
Let’s Keep Enjoy­ing the Pep­per­corn Hill Con­ser­va­tion Area

Sud­bury Val­ley Trustees (SVT), Meta­comet Land Trust (MLT) and the Town of Upton are col­lab­o­rat­ing to pur­chase the 66-acre Kel­ly Prop­er­ty and add it to the Con­ser­va­tion Area so that the com­mu­ni­ty can always access the entire trail network.

Part of the trail net­work at Pep­per­corn Hill in Upton cross­es pri­vate­ly owned prop­er­ty (the ‘Kel­ly Prop­er­ty’), that is not present­ly a part of the Con­ser­va­tion Area. These por­tions of the trails—which include the scenic over­look with a spec­tac­u­lar view to the west—could be lost for­ev­er if a new own­er restrict­ed pub­lic access.

Please help save the trails! For updates and to learn how you can help: www.svtweb.org/kelly

2021 Spring Lake Clean-up

Mask-up with your friends and fam­i­ly and join us for the annu­al spring lake cleanup!
Sat­ur­day, March 20th — 9am — 12pm
Pick­up your trash­bags and hand san­i­tiz­er at Sandy Beach. 

We will have a table set up start­ing at 9am in the beach park­ing lot with a map of the lake. We will assign indi­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies areas to clean up so we can hit as many places around the lake as pos­si­ble. We are hop­ing to take advan­tage of the low water lev­el to get areas around the shore­line!  

We ask peo­ple to please keep a safe dis­tance from oth­ers and wear their masks at all times.

Please send us an email if you have any ques­tions or concerns.

Lake Maspenock Cleanup Day

Saturday’s weath­er is look­ing a lit­tle iffy for our Lake Clean-up. But with the water so low we should take advan­tage of being able to access the shoreline!! 

If it’s more con­ve­nient and/or you feel more com­fort­able, please feel free to clean up in your area pri­or to Sat­ur­day and then drop off the trash you col­lect­ed at Sandy Beach between 9 and 12 on Saturday.

Information About Deep Winter Drawdown

Last evening, the Hop­kin­ton Con­ser­va­tion Com­mis­sion vot­ed to grant exemp­tions this year to cer­tain aspects of the Order of Con­di­tions for the extend­ed draw­down of Lake Maspenock.  This action will allow the Hop­kin­ton Depart­ment of Pub­lic Works to con­duct the deep draw­down this win­ter in an attempt to con­trol the exces­sive aquat­ic veg­e­ta­tion in the lake.

This is very good news and the LMPA would like to thank the DPW and Con­Com for work­ing togeth­er in order to achieve this out­come. Now we must hope for a good, deep freeze while the water is low in order to impact the weed beds.

Please be aware that this extend­ed draw­down may low­er the lake as much as 8′ this win­ter.

Best Regards,
The Offi­cers and Exec­u­tive Board of the LMPA

Drawdown Update

The DPW has informed us that the win­ter draw­down will com­mence Octo­ber 1. Please plan accord­ing­ly.

Thank you,
The LMPA Exec­u­tive Board

Private Fishing Tournament — Saturday, September 19th

Please be aware that the Hop­kin­ton Parks and Recre­ation Com­mis­sion approved the Kayak Bassin’ Club’s per­mit to hold a tour­na­ment on Lake Maspenock from 6 AM to 2 PM this Sat­ur­day, Sep­tem­ber 19. They will be allowed to park cars and trail­ers (pos­si­bly more than 4) in the Sandy Beach Park­ing lot but will not use the beach. 

Thank you,
The LMPA Exec­u­tive Board

Lake Drawdown

Lake Area Res­i­dents:   After a beau­ti­ful but unique sum­mer, it is now approach­ing the time that the annu­al draw­down of the lake begins. The tim­ing of the draw­down 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.  The exact date that the draw­down will com­mence has not been set, but giv­en drought con­di­tions and the asso­ci­at­ed low­er lake lev­els, it will most like­ly begin towards the lat­ter part of this win­dow. This year’s reduc­tion in the lev­el of the lake is antic­i­pat­ed to be the nor­mal 48–52 inch­es.  Please be aware of the draw­down process and arrange for the removal of boats and docks accordingly.