Announcements

To the Members of the Joe's Pond Association:

As are many of you, the JPA is looking forward to celebrating the Independence Day holiday, this being a special one: the 250^th anniversary of America's declaration of independence.

This message is a reminder to those who plan to go out on the lake on Friday evening 07/03 to view the fireworks, that numerous plants and patches of invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) have been confirmed in the Second (middle) Pond.  These plants have exhibited surprisingly robust growth through this past spring and now early summer such that some plants have already grown near and even reached the water surface.

It is in this condition that EWM becomes extremely vulnerable to fragmentation by watercraft activity.  Fragmentation is the primary vector of EWM proliferation and spread to other parts of the lake; either drifting by wind and current or direct transport on watercraft.

Mike & Sue Yesalonia and Michelle Parker and Larry Rossi, JPA Lakeshore Coordinators for lakeshore sections B & C, have recently conducted surveys in an attempt to identify any additional established EWM in the Second Pond.  Jim Bernotas, leader of the JPA EWM Harvesting Team will have pulled as many plants as possible in the Second Pond prior to the fireworks event.  However, as always, there will undoubtedly be remaining plants either not found or not harvested.

If you do go out on the water to view the fireworks, please consider not entering the Second Pond.  The fireworks should be fully visible from the lower end of the Third Pond above (upstream of) the Upper Narrows.  If, for whatever reason, it is essential that you enter the Second Pond, stay within the navigation channel delineated by the yellow marker buoys.  Another good reason not to enter the Second Pond is that it would not be desirable at all if a marker buoy anchor rope were to become entangled in a boat prop. The buoys won't be all that visible at night.

The JPA expended tremendous efforts and financial investment in 2025 in an attempt to eradicate EWM from the Third Pond.  These commitments were largely successful.  So far in 2026 we have found EWM in the Third Pond only in a small area adjacent to the inlet channel where, in response, hand pulling operations have recently been conducted.

Every JPA member has a responsibility to help protect these gains accomplished through our EWM management operations both last year and this year.  Please do your part during this 250th Independence Day celebration (and after) to avoid jeopardizing everything we achieved in 2025.

Let's work together to keep the known major EWM infestations in the First and Second Ponds from spreading back up to the Third; so that our limited resources can be focused in 2026 on the lower two ponds and so that full eradication of EWM from all of Joe's Pond remains potentially within our reach.

Thank you for your help.

For the Joe's Pond Association

Joe Hebert, President

Barry Cahoon, Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Coordinator

 

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Please join us for the 2nd Annual Paint & Sip event at Joe’s Pond!

Come unwind, paint, and enjoy an afternoon filled with laughter, creativity, and good company. My daughter-in-law—a high school art teacher who regularly hosts these events—will be leading us again this year.

Event Details:

• When: Monday, July 27, from 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM

• Where: JPA Pavilion

• Cost: $50 (Includes all painting supplies, wine, cheese, crackers, and seltzer)

Special Shopping Table: In addition to painting, we will have some beautiful, donated items for sale:

• Jane Brown: Handcrafted earrings – $4 each or 3 for $10

• Jules Chatot: Framed watercolor sketches of Joe's Pond scenes – $40 each

Supporting a Great Cause: All proceeds from the ticket sales and shopping table will go directly toward our ongoing efforts to fight milfoil at Joe’s Pond.

RSVP: Seating is limited and we need to order supplies, so please let me know as soon as possible if you plan to attend. I will be at the JPA meeting [Saturday, July 4, 10 a.m.] 

so I will be able to sign you up.  Feel free to bring a friend!

Thank you, and I hope to see you there!

Susan Bouchard

978-590-9342

chatotbouchard@icloud.com

Important Information

 The following is from JPA secretary Jamie Stewart: (Thank you, Jamie - this is very helpful.)

In a blog this past week you had a question on what was going on with the harvesting on Joe's Pond of the Eurasian Water Milfoil.  I would like to direct you to:  https://www.joespondvermont.com/ewm-committee-meeting-minutes.html

     I encourage all of your readers to keep up with the JPA website and the meeting minutes which should answer a lot of the questions.  The milfoil committee is determined to be as open and communicative as possible.  Below is an explanation of our rationale with respect to harvesting for 2026.  We do not want to wear out our divers and snorkelers.  The below is within the 6/9 milfoil meeting minutes:

2026 EWM Harvesting Plan & Priorities - Below is the draft plan by Barry that was discussed:
 In recognition that the pond is taking its sweet time warming up this spring, it is anticipated that EWM growth will also lag a bit and may not become easily observable until mid-late June at which time the harvesting team’s efficiency would be enhanced.  Therefore, it is likely the Harvesting Team may not be mobilized until the 3rd or 4th week of June.
It is important to consider conserving the team members’ energy level and commitment over a long season.  If we shorten it up by a few weeks on the front end, we might be able to better maintain our participation and effectiveness later. The DASH work by VTHozers should be focused on the 1st and 2nd ponds scheduled for July 13-17 (unless the June aquatic vegetation survey by AE reveals unanticipated growth in the 3rd pond.
Prior to July 13-17, we may choose to mobilize the harvesting team only if we are seeing EWM (on the 1st and 2nd ponds) approaching the surface where it is most vulnerable to boat-induced fragmentation or in close proximity to a dock.  The marked navigation channel and the warning signs should provide some level of protection here and this becomes another measure to conserve our limited harvesting resources.  If it can be left to the DASH operation with minimal risk, we should consider it.
If EWM growth is observed in the 3rd pond at any time (including early June) the harvesting team's priority will be to hand pull those areas as soon as they can be visited.
 

The main concern about our dive teams is burnout.  We need to wait until the plants are more visible.  If we find plants in the 3rd pond we need to get them fast.  We will have DASH concentrate in the First and Second pond.  If we do find plants in the littoral zone, we could let it go until the DASH team arrives.  In any event, we need to wait for next week’s survey.  Jim Bernotas wants to do an exploratory dive 2 weeks before DASH.  This would not be a full-blown harvest day.   He wants to get in a reconnaissance dive prior to the Fireworks when we can expect boats to crowd into the 2nd pond and not stay out of the littoral zone.  Discussion then occurred about benthic barriers.*  They will likely be used in the second pond but not the first pond.  These barriers will be staged on Jim Bernotas’ lawn.  We are not to cut the rebar.  Leave them at 20-foot length.  Lake Eden has extra barriers for our use, and we need to pick them up.

 

As an update:  Harvesting has happened in the upstream area of the inlet channel.  This is upstream of the 2025 treatment area.  Fully grown plants were at the top of the water and beginning to mat over.  There are orange buoys up there to be geolocated and 2 warning signs placed there to keep people out.  Kayakers are the hazard here.  Their paddles will fragment the plant.  This will be very difficult for the kayakers to stay away from that area as it is so  beautiful to kayak in.  

Hope this helps and please encourage your readers to stay away from the channel area, stay within the navigable water way delineated by the yellow buoys in the middle pond, and stay completely out of the 1st pond.  Many thanks.

Jamie

 

* Benthic barriers (often called lake blankets, bottom screens, or weed mats) are physical sheets or screens placed directly on the bottom of lakes, ponds, or rivers to suppress the growth of aquatic plants. They act as an underwater "sunblock," depriving plants of light and physically pinning them down. 

 

 

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I thank Jamie for this information and add a note to remind readers that the dive teams  work very hard and continuously, and they will appreciate any help you can give them. If you are interested in diving - GREAT! They will train you in the procedure being used; but if you aren't a diver, there are a variety of  supporting teams that can use your help. Just ask what you can do. They are a dedicated and serious but fun-loving group, and I'm sure you will enjoy being part of this important work. Even if you are here for only a short period of time but want to help - get in touch with Barry Cahoon or Jim Bernotas. 

 

Barry: bear817@hotmail.com, or 802-748-5333.

Jim: 802-684-1205, or 413-665-5044 

Reminder

 For those of you who were not at our Spring Meeting and therefore may not know that the boat parade that had been planned to celebrate the Fourth of July will not happen. It was decided that because of there being so much Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) around the perimeter of the pond, it was not a good idea to have unnecessary boat traffic that might spread the invasive weed even further. So if you had planned to decorate your pontoon boat or kayak for that event, take your thinking cap off for the time being. Reviving the Boat Parade would be really nice - and perhaps that could be a great way to celebrate having EWM well under control or, with lots of luck and hard work - GONE! What a celebration that would be!

Photo on the left above is of the fire boat, manned by the late Ralph Hastings and his crew in the 1978 parade, and on the right, Jules Chatot, Sr. in front, and John LaGue - both fondly remembered as JPA members cutting up a bit in probably the same parade, or perhaps 1979.

So instead, we hope to have a candle-lit shoreline in the evenings of the 3rd and 4th. Marti Talbot is hoping to bring back that custom. Luminaries are available at Hastings Store in West Danville, or get in touch with Marti at  802-563-5022, and her cottage is at 1279 West Shore Road, if you want to pick some up from her. They are $1 each, and proceeds will go towards the expense of fighting EWM.  

With many folks visiting the pond for the holiday weekend, please be reminded to minimize your boating if possible, and when you do take your water craft out, please stay away from the marked areas close to the shoreline. Unfortunately, that leaves very small sections in the two smaller ponds for boats to navigate in - so best to not go into those two ponds for the present.

I haven't had a report of recent diving excursions from the Milfoil Exterminators crew, but I expect they will be diving and reporting findings soon. 

An interesting comment came to me today regarding the loss of one of our loon chicks. Mary W. sent the following message that set me wondering about that large turtle the dive crew came face-to-face with last year?! Here is what Mary's found:

 

Loon Report

 Sadly, we have lost one of the two baby loons hatched by the loons in the third, or big, pond. All seemed to be going smoothly until about a week ago while walking on the rail trail near the bridge, Jane Segale noticed something going on with the loons. She later sent me an email saying she had seen something in the water that seemed to be one of the chicks in trouble, so she took her kayak out to see if she could help, but by the time she got there, it was obvious the chick was gone - badly mauled by something. The suspect is the eagle, but nobody knows for certain, and the loon chick sank before she could retrieve it. She said it seemed to have a broken neck and a gash on its chest, and was obviously dead.

Several people have asked, having heard rumors that one chick is missing. I wrote a post after Jane contacted me, but apparently it never actually published. I have hunted for it, but I wasn't able to find it, and her email has also been deleted. Unfortunately, I purged my trash last week before I realized there was a problem. I suspect it may have been due to an update that was going on about the same time as I was blogging. My apologies to Jane for not getting the news out to everyone sooner.

We are experiencing a remarkable stretch of very pleasant weather - surprisingly, we had a lovely weekend and the sun shines on us today, as well. The forecast was for thunder storms late Saturday and Sunday, but that didn't happen - at least, not here at Joe's Pond. We'll take it! Enjoy it, and we can only hope we have a repeat performance next weekend!

One More Thing To Do!

 I intended to include the following announcement in my last blog, but I think I was hurrying to finish because I was hungry - or maybe tired. It happens.

Here it is, from Chelsea Hewitt:  (This sounds like a really fun new activity that has something for everyone. Joe's Ponders - take note!)

Danville Market

The first few weeks of the new and improved market have been a rousing success and a wonderful time to gather with our fellow community members. If you haven't stopped by yet, please come and check us out!

On July 1st from 3:30-7pm on the town green we will have 15+ vendors, tons of kids activities + bounce house, cookout with NEK Catering - smash burgers, hot dogs & corn on the cob plus Miracle Mary's serving up hot paninis! There will be a kids decorating party from 4pm-4:45pm with a parade to follow at 5pm - kids are encouraged to bring their bikes, scooters, wagons or anything they can parade with! 

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Just a quick personal note - I ran into a bit of difficulty this morning out on my back lawn. My indoor weather station has not been registering recently. Actually, the whole darned weather station has been really wonky ever since the components needed a battery change. Normally, replacing the batteries goes pretty smoothly, but not this time. Now sometimes everything shows up on the indoor display screen as they should, other times, only indoor temperature, the date and time show up. The wind thing has not been registering for quite a while, but during snowy, rainy weather I didn't want to go out by my pond to retrieve it to replace the batteries. So this morning when I was doing a walk around my pond, I decided to take a look at the wind gauge to see what tools I'd need to take it down and bring it in. Almost immediately, as I approached the post which has on it a bat house (that no bats go near!) and a bird house (that I wasn't sure was being used) in addition to my wind gauge, I was suddenly a target for two very angry swallows. They literally came out of nowhere. They dove so close to my head I could feel the breeze from their wings. I lost no time getting away from there, but they followed me all the way to the porch, diving at me and screeching. I guess I will leave the wind thing alone until their baby swallows have fledged! Lesson learned: Don't mess with angry bird parents.

Things To Do!

Summer is here - the weather is getting better every day and there are so many things to do in the communities around Joe's Pond - so here are just a few that I've had notice about and will share here.

Today the Cabot Historical Society building will be open for visitors from 1 to 3 o'clock. Our friends and members, David and Cindy Young will be there to welcome visitors - Amanda and I will be there for a bit to work on a few things, and we hope word is getting out that the building will be open every Saturday from one to three o'clock this summer. It will be open all day on July 4th - and there are new exhibits we hope you will stop by to see.

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 28, there is an evening service at the Old North Church in North Danville. Liz Sargent let me know there will be special dulcimer music at the 7 p.m. service.

Then, on July 4th, North Danville Community Club will have a parade and so much more at their annual Fourth of July gathering. This is always a great event - good food, lots of music, fun floats in the parade, vendors, and fun for everyone.
 

This morning I had a note from Marti Talbot who is hoping to revive the custom of having luminaries along the shore of Joe's Pond to help celebrate this special Fourth of July. These were popular a few years ago, but like so many wonderful customs, became a thing of the past. A few of us remember how pleasant and beautiful it was to see a ring of flickering lights all along waterfronts on all three pond. She hope people will set them out on the 3rd when the fireworks will also be going off, weather permitting, and then light them again on the 4th. Marti points out that since we are being asked to restrict boating because of the Eurasian watermilfoil infestation (EWM), setting luminaries along waterfronts will be an added celebratory nod to this special Fourth - the 250th Anniversary of our Nation. Luminaries are available at Hastings Store in West Danville, or get in touch with Marti at  802-563-5022, and her cottage is at 1279 West Shore Road, if you want to pick some up from her. They are $1 each, and proceeds will go towards the expense of fighting EWM. The luminaries are fun and so pretty along the shoreline. They are the original fairy lights - the real deal, a candle in a white paper bag with a little sand to hold them in place! Fun for the family to put together and sent out - space them 3-4 feet apart along your dock and waterfront area. The more home owners who participate, the more beautiful the effect. If you have never experienced seeing our pond dressed up with a "ring of fire" you have a real treat in store. Let's make it happen! Happy 250th Fourth!

Sunfish Results & More

 The first Sunfish race of the 2026 season began at 1 p.m. today. The weather had looked doubtful and at times during the morning there was little or no wind and scattered rain showers. This was Jamie Stewart's first time as Commodore, and not knowing exactly what to expect, he enlisted the aid of Jamie Dimick (former buoy-boy) who was also filling in to place buoys for this race. With a careful ear tuned for thunder, buoys were set and finally, with no sign of worrisome storms, the race began as scheduled at 1 p.m.

Acting Commodore Jamie Stewart sent this report:

 Here are the results of the First Race of the Season.  The weather changed to a partly sunny day by 1:00 pm on Sunday.  The wind was fairly strong and consistent. After the third leg and heading to the finish line it started to rain on the Cabot side of the pond but the Danville side stayed dryer.  The wind was squirrely and the usual Joe's Pond weird. The sailors finished with smiling faces but were drenched.

 

Singles Race:

1st Place - Jules Chatot, Sr.

2nd Place - Jack LaGue

3rd Place - Jules Chatot, Jr.

4th Place - Rob Stewart

5th Place - Phil Crosby

6th Place - Sharon Trull

Doubles Race:

1st Place - Josh Ventrice & Scott Spencer

 And after I finished posting this, I found more emails from Joanne - so here is another photo. Also Joanne said they were particularly pleased to have two sailors from Wolcott, Josh Ventrice and Scott Spencer, and one from Parker Pond, Sharon Trull, join today's race. That is great, I hope they had a good time and will come back! 

Joanne also said that there was a slight mishap when one of the Jamies wind breaker flew overboard as they dashed up the pond. Fortunately, sailor Jack LaGue saw it and retrieved it - I hope it didn't cost him time and that's how he ended up in 2nd place! It's all in fun and Jack is a good sport.

The picture above right is Jules Chatot, Jr. and in the background you can see there seems to be a rain storm descending on the sailors. Also notice the sky in these photos as the weather changed from blue skies to dark, threatening clouds in a matter of minutes. Very normal at Joe's Pond. One last photo  - Jamie Dimick looks like a wet ride by the end!

Thank you for the report, Jamie S. and Joanne - and I'm so glad it was just a jacket that went overboard! And, Joanne - thanks for the photos. 

 

 

Last night we had the first dinner of the 2026 season at the Joe's Pond Association pavilion. The menu was "Treasure Island Chicken," one of the late Virginia Bently's recipes. It was delicious, served with perfectly-cooked rice, carrots, and a delicious salad. There was a good crowd of happy people and I was able to chat with a number of long-time friends and met some new ones. These are always very nice events. We were a bit worried about the weather and many of us layered up thinking it would be very cool and drafty - but it wasn't uncomfortable at all, and we were maybe even a little too warm as the crowd grew larger. I'm sure the folks in the kitchen were grateful for the cooler temperature. 

I spent a couple of hours at the Cabot Historical Society yesterday afternoon. The building will be open from one to three every Saturday this summer, plus on the Fourth and for Fall Foliage Day. Other times by appointment. It was cool and damp at the building as rain showers passed through, but we had a couple stop by who were driving through Cabot on their way to their new home in Stannard. They have only recently moved to Vermont and were exploring their surroundings. They said they wanted to see where Cabot cheese is made - and just happened to notice the historical building was open. Amanda (Legare) and I had a very nice chat with them. They have no connections to Vermont or Cabot - but were interested in learning about their new state of residence. 

Here's a special event to put on your calendar - it's a few weeks away, but best to plan ahead! This is at the Old North Church in North Danville, on July 26th. North Church is a lovely old church that has been kept in good repair and is much the same as when it was built in 1833. There is no electricity, so the evening service is by lamplight. Be sure to take a flashlight to aid in getting out of the church after the service as there are no outside lights, either. The church is in a very rural setting - no street lights, just starlight or a moon, if you are lucky.

Howard Coffin is giving his presentation, "Vermont Women in the Civil War," and it is very interesting. Howard is an expert on the Civil War and Vermont's contributions to the effort, and always delivers a great story. This will be a very special event - well worth the scenic trip to experience. Set your GPS for 2724 Old North Church Road, Danville, VT and experience a bit of what life was like in the early 1800s. 

When I sat down to write this post, there was sunshine and I was thinking I would have time for a walk around my pond before supper; but now the sky is clouded over, there was a brief rain shower, and even if the sun comes out, the grass is too wet (and maybe slippery) so I've given up on taking my little walk. It is also eerily still outside - not a leaf stirring. That makes me a little nervous - something is brewing in the weather department.

Stay safe, be healthy and happy.