{"id":492,"date":"2018-11-01T07:14:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T11:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/?p=492"},"modified":"2020-08-23T17:32:38","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T21:32:38","slug":"492","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/?p=492","title":{"rendered":"President’s Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Pond Association continues to work for you using an all<\/span>–<\/span>volunteer board. \u00a0<\/span>The Board has been busy this last year, working with City and State officials to ensure the continued quality of our precious resource. Here\u2019s what\u2019s been happening since our Annual Meeting in July of 2017:<\/span><\/p>\n

Flooding Issues:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Over the years we have been able to create a budget surplus that we drew down this year in contracting two major engineering studies that we felt were in your best interests. \u00a0Both studies were done by Joseph McLean of Wright-Pierce engineering and provided us with the level of expertise to make well<\/span>–<\/span>informed recommendations.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We contracted for the first study to help us reduce the chance of flooding on the pond. \u00a0Mr. McLean surprised us when he determined that beaver dams control the usual water level. \u00a0He found that the Hotel Road culvert and a public road accessing the Kendall property both obstruct water flow during flooding events. \u00a0His findings will help us to reduce flooding and possibly eliminate many homes need for flood insurance. Please read the <\/span>full <\/span>article <\/span><\/a>for more details.<\/span>–<\/span><\/p>\n

Potential construction at Lost Valley:<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The City of Auburn contacted me last summer about a commercial development at Lost Valley by <\/span>Kassbohrer, <\/span>the manufacturer of snow-grooming equipment. \u00a0Ultimately, the manufacturer decided against the site at Lost Valley and instead chose what most would consider a more appropriate site in the industrial park off Merrow Road. \u00a0In contacting us, the <\/span>City<\/span> wished to know if we had projects that needed funding for phosphorus reduction. \u00a0The planned project for Lost Valley was expected to generate additional phosphorus runoff into the pond and the <\/span>C<\/span>ity was looking to offset this by funding improvements in other known phosphorous<\/span>–<\/span>generating areas. \u00a0The TPA board met and had three concerns about the project: \u00a0<\/span>(1)<\/span> Noise generation from running heavy equipment at the site<\/span>;<\/span> (2)<\/span> Large trucks negotiating access along Youngs Corner Road<\/span>;<\/span> and <\/span>(3)<\/span> The magnitude of phosphorus runoff. \u00a0An increase in the pond\u2019s phosphorus could trigger serious algal overgrowth. \u00a0We turned again to Wright-Pierce <\/span>E<\/span>ngineering<\/span>,<\/span> who provided us <\/span>with <\/span>a comprehensive analysis of the projected impact of this project. \u00a0The most important conclusion was<\/span>:<\/span> The information provided regarding the Phosphorus Standard does not appear to be in compliance with State regulations and the development appears to be dramatically increasing phosphorus export from the developed parcel.<\/span><\/i> We believe the impact of this report helped to steer Kassbohrer to a safer site in the interests of the health of the pond.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor Pond\u2019s water quality continues to be excellent and is monitored throughout the summer by Woody Trask. \u00a0Woody uses his expertise in chemistry to provide us with timely and accurate data to protect water quality. In the past we paid over $4,000 yearly for similar services that now are provided free by Woody. \u00a0Please see his annual summary of water quality <\/span>later in this newsletter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taylor Pond provides a rich habitat for wildlife<\/span>,<\/span> including fish and birds. \u00a0Annually the Maine Department of Marine Resources catches over 3000 adult alewives at the Brunswick dam and places them in our pond. \u00a0These fish spawn and the young develop over the summer in our rich waters before returning to the ocean. All summer people enjoy catching bass and during the winter large pike retrieved through holes drilled in the ice. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wildlife abounds on the water, surrounding wetlands and woods of Taylor Pond. \u00a0This area serves as the breeding ground and a resting spot for migratory birds. \u00a0Please read my article on \u201cYear of the Bird\u201d<\/a> to understand the variety that can be observed.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor Pond Association continues to work for you using an all–volunteer board. \u00a0The Board has been busy this last year, working with City and State officials to ensure the continued quality of our precious resource. Here\u2019s what\u2019s been happening since … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taylorpond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}