The culvert that drains one of the upper lakes at Stafford Forge has been clogged and half the dam had fallen away this past spring. The immediate response by the state was to pile earth up as barriers so people would not drive over the damn and they left it to slowly crumble over the summer. WHIRLPOOLS and natural drains have been draining the lake since that time and slowly eating away at the substructure of the earthen dam.
It was just a matter of time before it gave way and it did sometime over the weekend. The entire lake drained and the sedimentary deposits have buried 5-10 acres (hard to assess) of bogs/stream bed below. The sediment has also partially blocked the original stream and formed a new one parallel to the old one. Although this was the smallest of all the lakes, it had the most unique habitat aspect to it and was very protective for birds and otters etc. The main loss here is the habitat for amphibians as this particular lake was the most populous lake for turtles. I made a short VIDEO below the dam and posted some before and after shots. You can seen the sedimentation and the live trees that were swept away in the video. The location is HERE. I am sure it can be repaired and the lake will come back, just sad to see what could have been prevented and the habitat below the lake will take quite a while to recover.
Using this tree as a measuring stick you can see what I would call the normal lake level over the past few years.
This was taken November 7th of this year. Very high.
This was taken this morning.
The aftermath and profile of the earthen dam.
Note the water mark on the trees in the background.
It was just a matter of time before it gave way and it did sometime over the weekend. The entire lake drained and the sedimentary deposits have buried 5-10 acres (hard to assess) of bogs/stream bed below. The sediment has also partially blocked the original stream and formed a new one parallel to the old one. Although this was the smallest of all the lakes, it had the most unique habitat aspect to it and was very protective for birds and otters etc. The main loss here is the habitat for amphibians as this particular lake was the most populous lake for turtles. I made a short VIDEO below the dam and posted some before and after shots. You can seen the sedimentation and the live trees that were swept away in the video. The location is HERE. I am sure it can be repaired and the lake will come back, just sad to see what could have been prevented and the habitat below the lake will take quite a while to recover.
Using this tree as a measuring stick you can see what I would call the normal lake level over the past few years.
This was taken November 7th of this year. Very high.
This was taken this morning.
The aftermath and profile of the earthen dam.
Note the water mark on the trees in the background.
