The IPA is pleased to announce that it will offer two $1000 scholarships this Spring to graduating seniors from Marstons Mills. The Schwarm Memorial Scholarship was established in 2005 in memory of Edward Schwarm, a former I.P.A. director and officer. It is in his memory and the goals of the IPA to select students who will balance their professional careers with a continuing effort to preserve our environment.

The scholarships are available to any graduating senior residing in Marstons Mills and attending public or private high school. You can download the application here (IPA Scholarship application ), or pick one up at the Barnstable High School Guidance Office. Deadline for submission is April 1st. We encourage our seniors to apply early.

Read the latest on the battle against hydrilla in Mystic Lake and the recent mussel die-off in Middle Pond.  The news isn’t all bad, though, and you can see the latest water clarity data from Mystic, which shows some improvement.  There’s also a recap of July’s annual meeting, and a welcome to the IPA board’s newest member, Alex Frazee.  All the pond news that’s fit to print, in the 2011 Summer Newsletter, which is brought to you, as always, from the indefatigable Geri Anderson.

Aquatic Control Technologies, the company that performed the alum treatment of Mystic Lake in September, 2010, is currently engaged in hand-pulling a newly-discovered patch of Hydrilla on the eastern shore of Mystic. They have written the articles about both of these projects, and you can read them in their newsletter, The Watermark.

Below is a brief update from Dr. Ken Wagner, the consultant for the Mystic Lake Alum Treatment. Ken will be the invited speaker at the IPA annual meeting on July 17.

Bob Nichols and I took a few samples Monday (5/23) afternoon at Mystic Lake and performed some assessment tasks. The next full sampling is scheduled for late June, but the opportunity for an intermediate assessment presented itself. Water clarity averaged 6 meters. Bob has gotten even higher readings lately, which is encouraging. Oxygen was depleted at the deepest area (ML-3) at 14 m depth, but was still high at 10 m there and in other areas of the lake. The alkalinity in deep water was much lower (15 mg/L) than last year (40-70 mg/L), but was similar to past measurements at the surface (12 mg/L). The lake is not really stratified yet, but the oxygen demand in that one deep hole remains substantial, and water from the bottom in that area turned orange 30 minutes after sampling, indicating high dissolved iron. It is expected that the phosphorus will not be high, as it should now be bound on aluminum, not iron, but we have to wait for the lab results to be sure. Samples from the top at ML-1 (north end, relatively shallow) and top and bottom of ML-2 and ML-3 were collected and delivered to the lab for testing of phosphorus and nitrogen. The pH is near neutral, conductivity is around 80-90 uS/cm, and turbidity is <2 NTU. There is no apparent sign of the alum treatment when viewing the sediment in treatment areas.

Zooplankton were abundant, including large bodied Daphnia, as was the case this winter. This population is usually decimated by early summer with the hatch of the annual alewife young. However, Annette Nichols has participated in the annual assessment of herring running in local streams, and reports the lowest count yet for the stream leading to Middle Pond and Mystic Lake; so we will see just how many alewife young there are this year, as reflected in the zooplankton. Planktonic algae appeared to be mainly diatoms, and I took samples, but have not yet looked at them. Filamentous green algae, most likely Spirogyra, was observed growing profusely on shallow sand and gravel, mainly along the west shore. This may be an indication of wastewater influence, but is not uncommon in Cape lakes at this time of year.

Benthic mats for hydrilla control remain in place. No hydrilla was observed, but it is still early in the growing season and we did not hunt specifically for plants. The mats will be removed in June and any germination of hydrilla from tubers will be monitored, with replacement of barriers as warranted.

Ken Wagner
Water Resource Services

If you’re an IPA member, you’ll be getting it in the mail, but the 2011 Spring Newsletter is also available right here, right now.

Take a moment to read about just how clear Mystic Lake is becoming, thanks to last fall’s alum treatment. Learn about the town’s hydrilla control efforts. Meet this year’s Schwarm scholarship winners. There’s also a piece on the dog park proposed for the former Danforth property, and an article on the planned mussel survey of Middle and Hamblin ponds.

The IPA has produced a color flyer alerting all users of the Indian Ponds to be on the watch for Hydrilla, an invasive water weed, which was discovered in several locations around Mystic Lake last August. The flyer includes photographs of Hydrilla patches and a closeup of the plant itself, to show what to be on the watch for in any of the Indian Ponds, and who to contact if any suspicious plants are found.

To guard against the spread of invasive plants and animals, whenever boats are transported between bodies of water they should be thoroughly checked and cleaned of any plant material and bilge water. Also, the contents of aquariums and ornamental ponds should never be dumped into water bodies.

Many thanks to Bob Nichols, who produced the flyer.

We’ve changed the look, layout, and function of our site in the hopes of making it more useful to the residents and visitors who use the Indian Ponds.  You’ll still be able to read the current IPA newsletter, browse our archive of old newsletters, and look at all the reports from our activities.  But you’ll also be able to find current information about our ponds and the surrounding areas.

To the right, you’ll find a calendar of relevant events, and we’ll post things like water quality warnings, reminders of important dates, and pond news right here on our home page.  Once we’ve covered the important stuff, we might stray into the frivolous and post pictures of our local wildlife or videos of local fishermen.  If it’s relevant to the Indian Ponds, it’s of interest to the IPA.

We hope you like our new site, and stop by every now and then.