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Date: 6/14/2023
LUDLOW — The Ludlow Pond Committee shared an update on the progress of working to clean up five of the local ponds in Ludlow.
The Pond Committee consists of eight members with some living on Harris, Haviland and Minechoag ponds.
The committee joined together to work on fixing the quality of the ponds in town.
Pond Committee Chair Judy Breault said, “People who live on these ponds have noticed a huge decline in the quality of the pond. I live on Harris Pond and when we moved here 30 years ago, it was a gorgeous pond, you could go out, take a canoe out and enjoy it. Over the years, all these ponds have significantly declined from the weed, the algae. It’s a nasty looking pond in August and attracts bugs so a group of us decided we wanted to clean up the pond we live on so we can enjoy it.”
At the end of summer 2022, the firm Water and Wetland conducted a survey on the vegetation, water quality, algae in Haviland, Harris, Murphy, Minechoag and Alden ponds.
Water and Wetland is a local company whose goal is to provide unique individual attention to each waterbody they are hired to work on.
It provided the committee with a comprehensive report of findings and recommended treatments for the dense vegetation these ponds.
The Board of Selectmen approved the Pond Committee’s request to begin the process for the recommended treatments at it March 7 meeting.
Breault said the first step requires a permit from the state before any work can begin and the permitting process for Haviland and Harris ponds are currently in the works.
There will be a public hearing on June 21 at 6:45 p.m. in Hearing Room 1 at Town Hall to answer any questions people may have about the project.
Once the committee gets past the hearing process, Breault said her hope it to begin scheduling the treatment process within a few months.
She added that if you live near either of these ponds, you probably already received a certified letter from Goddard Consulting notifying you of the intent to treat Harris and Haviland ponds with herbicides and algaecides.
One of the questions residents might be asking is the safety of the treatment.
Breault said, “The treatment is to begin to reduce or remove the dense vegetation in the ponds and is absolutely safe for wildlife. It will actually have a positive impact as the current conditions are by no means good for the wildlife in these ponds. There is also no impact to humans or domestic animals. None of the products being used have a restriction on recreational use.”
Harris Pond will require yearly treatments for a few years due the invasive weed in that pond, according to Breault but added that each year the pond condition will greatly improve.
Haviland Pond may need additional treatments, but Breault said the Pond Committee will continue to monitor after the initial treatment.
She said, “Based on the different weeds that are both Haviland and Harris, they require different timing of treatments, so the ideal is to get Haviland pond treated within the next few months and Harris the same thing so over the summer we are looking to start the treatments.”
The committee made Harris Pond its main priority because of the severity of the evasive plants, water chestnuts and proximity of Harris Brook Pond.
Harris Pond is mostly used to go out on their canoes but not a lot of use for swimming.
“This is a little but more involved.” Breault added. “This is a water chestnut invasive species and because of the density of the vegetation in that pond is choking out the entire pond. Each year we wait, that water chestnut will continue to fill in the pond and make it harder to fix.”
Breault added, “When you hear about people taking out kayaks or rowboats, they are getting stuck in this grassy pond weed.”
The next priorities of the ponds after Harris Pond included Haviland, Minechoag, Alden and Murphy ponds.
Even though Haviland Pond presented no invasive species, the density of the vegetation is something that could be looked at.
Haviland Pond has public beach access but has not been opened for beach use since before coronavirus pandemic since they are struggling to get lifeguards.
The Pond Committee is also working on the permit for Minechoag Pond, but Breault said due to the identification of some protected plant species around the pond, the permitting process requires a bit more work and time.
“We must go through a little bit of a process getting approval to treat that pond because anything we do we need to make sure to protect those plants. We can’t kill of those plants,” Breault added.
Murphy and Alden ponds are next on our list to begin the process.
Breault said residents should follow the Ludlow Pond Management group on Facebook to receive updates.