I have kept quiet about the issues facing the Bare Hill Pond Watershed Management Committee this year, mostly because as the spouse of the committee’s chair I might be perceived as less than objective. But I am also the chair of the Harvard Climate Initiative Committee, and I am dedicated to addressing climate change impacts on our lives and the actions we all can take to address our warming planet.
The biggest climate issue for us is rising temperatures as each year summer temperature averages are hotter. How fortunate we are as a town of 6,000 to have the pond as a refuge to cool off. Without a scientific and data driven 6.5-foot drawdown, we will see the reappearance of invasive non-native weeds and most likely will have an algal bloom that will close the pond come August. This is what happened in the two years the drawdowns were 4 feet or less or none at all.
We all agree the pond is lower. It is not due to the drawdown. It is due to the drought. This may sound incomprehensible to some, but the pond refilled to the level of other ponds this spring that didn’t have drawdowns. If there hadn’t been a drawdown, it still would have been at the same level. It didn’t rain enough here as it didn’t in all the other lakes and ponds around us which are also below normal height levels.
Our pond is clear and clean without green algal blooms, which other lakes and ponds had this summer, because of the results of our drawdown. We need to embrace how the pond is managed as it is a cooling, enjoyable asset of the town and because if we don’t follow the scientific data and do what we are doing, we might be sitting out in the hot sun next year.
Our world is confronted with much bigger problems of climate change. It’s time to move on and focus on the big challenges that will have lasting effects on us all.
Ellen Sachs Leicher
Warren Avenue
