We Are in a DROUGHT!
How do you spell DROUGHT? According to Merriam-Webster, a drought is “a long period of time during which there is very little or no rain.” Sound familiar?
The Belgrade Lakes region is in a DROUGHT! Regular column readers will recall that NOAA had forecasted another 26% less precipitation drought for the summer of 2026. So, as a result, we have once again tried to keep all of our ponds at 3″ above full pond for a little breathing room. If you recall, at 3″ above full, the water level shouldn’t float off any one’s dock and more importantly, not flood out any of our native hummock style loon nests.
Unfortunately, the lack of rain has the water level at Great Pond’s Village dam down to 1.44″ below full pond with the main gate still closed. Long Pond’s Wings Mill dam is today on the 29th of July, 5.28″ below full pond with both gates also still closed as they have been for the past 6-7 weeks. But, our neighbors on upper Long Pond, a full nine miles north of the Wings Mill dam, are a full 7″ below full pond, or 10″ below where we started the summer on Memorial Day So, another friendly reminder! For those of you with boat lifts, confirm TODAY that you can still get your boat off the lift! It might also be a good time to remove the boatlift canopy from your boat, while it is still there for easy access.
Salmon Lake/McGrath Pond is, because of the mandated 1
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