Last year the Town of Wayland purchased a harvester for the purpose of controlling indigenous weed growth in Dudley Pond by cutting it. These weeds (primarily lily pads and tape grass) are a problem for boaters and swimmers, and have become more prevalent in recent years.
Now that our successful treatment of non-indigenous Eurasion Milfoil has been completed, harvester activity began the week of July 10th. Two of our fellow pond residents - Allison LeClaire and Jim Ogletree - are spending many hours using the harvester to make Dudley Pond cleaner and safer.
The map below is included to help identify the different areas being serviced by our harvester effort
Jim and Allison have been providing regular updates on their work and the results, which you can read below:
HARVESTER WEEK 1:
Hi everyone,
Jim and Allison spent week one training to operate the harvester, dodging thunderstorms and pitchforking heavy weeds around a dumpster. We filled 1.5 dumpsters full of weeds cut from Mansion to Simpson Rd shoreline, the weed-clogged Island cove area and started to clear the weed-infested areas on the southwestern side of the peninsula. We ask for everyone’s patience as we learn how best to use the harvester to cut and reduce floating weed debris. The operative word is ‘reduce’. During week two, we will continue to focus on shallow waters around the Chateau cove and Rocky Point area.
HARVESTER WEEK 2:
Jim and Allison (our dedicated and hardworking harvester maestros) started their week cutting and raking out the southern side of the peninsula. Floating debris collects at the southwestern end of the peninsula, so they, along with a homeowner, Butch, raked up a harvester full of weeds. It was backbreaking work, but with three of them, they managed to clear the apex of that cove, at least until the wind changed direction. Afterward, we traveled up and down the Chat cove and inlet coves cutting and raking the whole way. Our wish to continue weed wacking those areas on Tuesday morning ceased when the harvester incurred a mechanical problem. The DPW trailered our Swamp Monster to the garage for a day and a half of service work. Mid Thursday morning, the DPW returned it, with a new paddlewheel motor, and off I went to cut the Mansion Beach area and the North cove. Like other coves, a few neighbors end up with the majority of floating weeds amassing against their shoreline. Allison spent over an hour raking with one of those neighbors, clearing his and his neighbor’s shoreline and filling the harvester full.
Where Next for Week Three? North Cove and Outlet area
How Can You Help? We need volunteer rakers
Where: North Cove, Mansion Beach and/or Island Cove
How: By boat or by shore
What to bring: a rake, gloves (if you wish) and a container to put weeds in, then take to the Mansion beach dumpster
For How Long: Do what you can, 30 min to one hour but we leave that up to you. Remember to use your legs and not your back when lifting the wet, heavy weeds.
Share a pic of your efforts with the DPA Communication Committee (email your pic to [email protected]) and let us know how you did.
HARVESTER WEEK 3:
Last week we focused on cutting the north side of the pond. Early in the week, we followed the tape grass from the northern part of the North Transect into North Cove. On Friday, we spent hours cutting and capturing floaties in the outlet. By that evening, we saw more mats floating out there before the Saturday storm blew plant debris to the eastern shoreline of the outlet. Jim and Allison will start our week 4 back in the outlet to cut and capture more of those tape grass forests.
Thank you to the neighbors and other pond abutters and friends who came out to rake and help us direct the floating plants toward the harvester. The machine creates debris we find difficult to capture but we’re testing cutting speeds, skimming maneuvers and revisits to help reduce leftovers. Please understand that we can’t get it all. The past few storms have also increased the amount of debris with wind-driven water dislodging plants. This is part of the plant propagation to dislodge on its own and float down the pond to reroot. Also, the plant has grown taller sending up the thin, spiral-stemmed, female flowers to the surface. The male part of the plant sits low in the water and produces pollen, the small white grains that float to the surface riding the water current to pollinate the female flowers.
HARVESTER WEEKS 4 and 5:
We began week four praying the harvester would start given recent starter malfunctions and chasing tape grass mats looking like small islands. For us, it’s an indication that more weeds hide below the surface catching the mats above. Tree and I headed to Outlet Cove to clear mats and create a path to the weir where Dudley Pond flows into Dudley Brook which snakes past Happy Hollow Elementary school, ripples under 126 before skirting the high school and emptying into the Sudbury River. Many weeds, including milfoil, tape grass and lily pads have grown together in front of the weir outlet slowing the water flow. We stayed in the outlet for two days to cut as much tape grass as possible removing four full loads. Because of the distance, .70 miles from Outlet Cove to Mansion Beach dumpster and slow harvester speed, 30 minutes round trip, Tree and I experimented with filling the harvester 1.5 times by raking half the load on top of the other half before adding more. Once we return to Mansion Beach, we cut our way in through four large forests of tape grass to create a corridor. Later in week four, we headed over to the southwestern side of the peninsula to cut and skim floating weeds while giving the north pond side ears a rest from the Swamp Monster’s diesel engine. In this 3.5 acre area, we spent a whole day raking, scooping and cutting five more loads of weeds out. To date, we’ve taken seven full loads out of this SW peninsula area. Late in the week, after needing DPW to fiddle with the starter to get the harvester running, I worked alone to cut and skim four loads for our neighbors in Rocky Point Cove. Although a small cove at less than an acre, this area has grown in and holds debris that floats its way.
While Jim takes a well earned vacation, I began week five revisiting the northeastern shoreline of the Chat Cove where more floating mats build up next to the Chat parking area and in the Little Island Cove where floating debris comes to rest. The Little Island Cove at less than a half acre held a full harvester load of floating and cut weeds, the second full load taken from here. By the end of the week, I began work confidently with a new starter in the harvester and shoreline maintenance to get the harvester purring. Unfortunately, while cutting a test area in the North Transect, with a plan to add the lower cutter for Monday and cut next to the test area, the harvester engine conked out. I floated northeast to the Snyders, thank you Elaine for coming out to check on me, and called the DPW mechanic. Jason picked up right away and we created a plan. The Swamp Monster started after a cooling off period but shut off in the North Transect leaving me to float northeast again, this time to the Stockwoods shore. Thank you to Linda Stockwood for checking on me and allowing the DPW to park and walk through her yard to fix our machine. Jason could have said to tie it to a tree and deal with it later but he didn’t leave me there stranded. He spent two hours working out the issue and got the harvester running so I could drive it back to Mansion to dump the last load and secure it as our Thursday storm blew in. More work and parts are needed before our Swamp Monster runs again, hopefully no more than a day or two, but I really appreciated the DPW knowledge and support given to me. Now for a few days of rest.
Now that our successful treatment of non-indigenous Eurasion Milfoil has been completed, harvester activity began the week of July 10th. Two of our fellow pond residents - Allison LeClaire and Jim Ogletree - are spending many hours using the harvester to make Dudley Pond cleaner and safer.
The map below is included to help identify the different areas being serviced by our harvester effort
Jim and Allison have been providing regular updates on their work and the results, which you can read below:
HARVESTER WEEK 1:
Hi everyone,
Jim and Allison spent week one training to operate the harvester, dodging thunderstorms and pitchforking heavy weeds around a dumpster. We filled 1.5 dumpsters full of weeds cut from Mansion to Simpson Rd shoreline, the weed-clogged Island cove area and started to clear the weed-infested areas on the southwestern side of the peninsula. We ask for everyone’s patience as we learn how best to use the harvester to cut and reduce floating weed debris. The operative word is ‘reduce’. During week two, we will continue to focus on shallow waters around the Chateau cove and Rocky Point area.
HARVESTER WEEK 2:
Jim and Allison (our dedicated and hardworking harvester maestros) started their week cutting and raking out the southern side of the peninsula. Floating debris collects at the southwestern end of the peninsula, so they, along with a homeowner, Butch, raked up a harvester full of weeds. It was backbreaking work, but with three of them, they managed to clear the apex of that cove, at least until the wind changed direction. Afterward, we traveled up and down the Chat cove and inlet coves cutting and raking the whole way. Our wish to continue weed wacking those areas on Tuesday morning ceased when the harvester incurred a mechanical problem. The DPW trailered our Swamp Monster to the garage for a day and a half of service work. Mid Thursday morning, the DPW returned it, with a new paddlewheel motor, and off I went to cut the Mansion Beach area and the North cove. Like other coves, a few neighbors end up with the majority of floating weeds amassing against their shoreline. Allison spent over an hour raking with one of those neighbors, clearing his and his neighbor’s shoreline and filling the harvester full.
Where Next for Week Three? North Cove and Outlet area
How Can You Help? We need volunteer rakers
Where: North Cove, Mansion Beach and/or Island Cove
How: By boat or by shore
What to bring: a rake, gloves (if you wish) and a container to put weeds in, then take to the Mansion beach dumpster
For How Long: Do what you can, 30 min to one hour but we leave that up to you. Remember to use your legs and not your back when lifting the wet, heavy weeds.
Share a pic of your efforts with the DPA Communication Committee (email your pic to [email protected]) and let us know how you did.
HARVESTER WEEK 3:
Last week we focused on cutting the north side of the pond. Early in the week, we followed the tape grass from the northern part of the North Transect into North Cove. On Friday, we spent hours cutting and capturing floaties in the outlet. By that evening, we saw more mats floating out there before the Saturday storm blew plant debris to the eastern shoreline of the outlet. Jim and Allison will start our week 4 back in the outlet to cut and capture more of those tape grass forests.
Thank you to the neighbors and other pond abutters and friends who came out to rake and help us direct the floating plants toward the harvester. The machine creates debris we find difficult to capture but we’re testing cutting speeds, skimming maneuvers and revisits to help reduce leftovers. Please understand that we can’t get it all. The past few storms have also increased the amount of debris with wind-driven water dislodging plants. This is part of the plant propagation to dislodge on its own and float down the pond to reroot. Also, the plant has grown taller sending up the thin, spiral-stemmed, female flowers to the surface. The male part of the plant sits low in the water and produces pollen, the small white grains that float to the surface riding the water current to pollinate the female flowers.
HARVESTER WEEKS 4 and 5:
We began week four praying the harvester would start given recent starter malfunctions and chasing tape grass mats looking like small islands. For us, it’s an indication that more weeds hide below the surface catching the mats above. Tree and I headed to Outlet Cove to clear mats and create a path to the weir where Dudley Pond flows into Dudley Brook which snakes past Happy Hollow Elementary school, ripples under 126 before skirting the high school and emptying into the Sudbury River. Many weeds, including milfoil, tape grass and lily pads have grown together in front of the weir outlet slowing the water flow. We stayed in the outlet for two days to cut as much tape grass as possible removing four full loads. Because of the distance, .70 miles from Outlet Cove to Mansion Beach dumpster and slow harvester speed, 30 minutes round trip, Tree and I experimented with filling the harvester 1.5 times by raking half the load on top of the other half before adding more. Once we return to Mansion Beach, we cut our way in through four large forests of tape grass to create a corridor. Later in week four, we headed over to the southwestern side of the peninsula to cut and skim floating weeds while giving the north pond side ears a rest from the Swamp Monster’s diesel engine. In this 3.5 acre area, we spent a whole day raking, scooping and cutting five more loads of weeds out. To date, we’ve taken seven full loads out of this SW peninsula area. Late in the week, after needing DPW to fiddle with the starter to get the harvester running, I worked alone to cut and skim four loads for our neighbors in Rocky Point Cove. Although a small cove at less than an acre, this area has grown in and holds debris that floats its way.
While Jim takes a well earned vacation, I began week five revisiting the northeastern shoreline of the Chat Cove where more floating mats build up next to the Chat parking area and in the Little Island Cove where floating debris comes to rest. The Little Island Cove at less than a half acre held a full harvester load of floating and cut weeds, the second full load taken from here. By the end of the week, I began work confidently with a new starter in the harvester and shoreline maintenance to get the harvester purring. Unfortunately, while cutting a test area in the North Transect, with a plan to add the lower cutter for Monday and cut next to the test area, the harvester engine conked out. I floated northeast to the Snyders, thank you Elaine for coming out to check on me, and called the DPW mechanic. Jason picked up right away and we created a plan. The Swamp Monster started after a cooling off period but shut off in the North Transect leaving me to float northeast again, this time to the Stockwoods shore. Thank you to Linda Stockwood for checking on me and allowing the DPW to park and walk through her yard to fix our machine. Jason could have said to tie it to a tree and deal with it later but he didn’t leave me there stranded. He spent two hours working out the issue and got the harvester running so I could drive it back to Mansion to dump the last load and secure it as our Thursday storm blew in. More work and parts are needed before our Swamp Monster runs again, hopefully no more than a day or two, but I really appreciated the DPW knowledge and support given to me. Now for a few days of rest.