Big Alum faces development pressure

By Taryn Plumb
Turley Publications Reporter

Spread all across Worcester County, appearing like puddles from above, there are 104 "great ponds" - or fresh bodies of water greater than 10 acres.
Sturbridge is dense with these treasures: There are five within its boundaries. And, as is the case with most things, each is distinct, each has its own personality and beauties - as well as its own set of pressures.
In this series, we look at how development, recreation and environmental changes have affected these great ponds, and offer guidance from experts on what can be done to ensure they survive well into the future.

It might just be one of the most pristine water bodies in central Massachusetts.
Big Alum Pond, the second largest of Sturbridge's five "great ponds," is known first and foremost for its fresh water. Averaging 45-plus feet deep, it has a transparency - or in simple terms, a visibility when staring down into the water - of 14 to 15 feet.
"It's one of the cleanest lakes around," said Tammy Chase, environmental chair of the Big Alum Lake Association.
With a lake area of 195 acres and a watershed area of 579 acres, Big Alum is marked by a sandy, rocky shoreline and - unlike other local water bodies - is home to minimal weeds. It is rounded in shape, with a large central section.
Because of these wide dimensions, the Native Americans once called it Pookhookapaug (or "pig water"). The reason, according to Lee Lyman, who grew up on the lake and now runs Southbridge-based Lycott Environmental: If you stand on the hills on the northwest side and look down, it look like a pig's head.
Big Alum came to being about 10,000 years ago in the ice age, when the Great Wisconsin Glacier receded northward, depositing "geologic boulders" in its wake, according to the writings of Louis E. Roy.
Over the thousands of years that followed, erosion, cracking and splintering of large quantities of rock and movement of soil shaped the lake, Roy wrote. More recently, it was inhabited by Native Americans; in 1912, it was enhanced by an outlet dam built by Fiskdale Mills for hydropower.
"It is a naturally-occurring water body enhanced by man," said Lyman.
What also makes it environmentally distinctive is it has a "recharge" of one to two years. That means, essentially, that if the lake were to completely dry up, it would take one to two years to refill, according to David Mitchell of the Sturbridge Conservation Commission. (In contrast, most other lakes and ponds have a recharge time of weeks or months.)
Big Alum is also one of Sturbridge's biggest fishing attractions, getting exemplary ratings on such sites as AnglerWeb.com. In the spring, it is stocked with trout. According to AnglerWeb, it's also home to smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, bluegill, pumpkinseed, red-breasted sunfish, yellow perch and brown bullhead.
Because of its distinct characteristics, it's similarly a popular spot for all other types of recreation: swimming, fishing, kayaking, waterskiing and jetskiing. Once, long ago, it even hosted a seaplane that took off at sunset.
Plus, it's just nice to look at, say locals. "It has some nice views," noted Mitchell.
Yet as the years go by, Big Alum, like many other water bodies, faces increasing pressures.
For starters, the percentage of the developed shoreline is at about 98 percent, according to Lyman. That comprises 160 dwellings, 40 percent of which are year-round.
Also, in the last five years, a sewer system has replaced septic systems around the lake. That will prove beneficial in the short-term, according to Mitchell, because it means there will be less of a chance for seepage. However, it also means more room for housing, and the town has to "be careful about over-development."
Another significant environmental concern for the lake is erosion. Many older cottages that dot the shoreline are preceded by windy dirt roads; when it rains, as it did copiously this summer, that washes into the lake and makes for mud and bacteria, Chase explained. Similarly, excess soil runoff adds phosphorous and nitrogen into the water, Lyman noted, not to mention herbicides and fertilizers from people's lawns.
More development coupled with runoff could also cause significant erosion, Mitchell said.
Therefore, into the future, the town must address what are known as "non-point" pollution sources, as well as erosion, he said. The latter could be achieved by developing naturalistic buffer zone of shrubs and plants, although he admitted that it's "sometimes a tough sell because people like to have a lawn right down to the edge of the water."
Lyman added that the area could also benefit from paved roads, although he said he understand that people like the rustic feel of dirt beneath their tires.
In the summers to come, recreation might also become a problem, locals say. Boat traffic is getting gradually busier every year, Chase noted, and one ramification of that is wave action that can further lead to erosion.
"We love our lakes," said Mitchell, "and sometimes that means loving them to death."
Unlike other lakes in the area, however, Big Alum has an advantage: It has very few invasive weeds.
Part of this is due to its natural defenses. "It's so deep and cobbly," said Mitchell. "Plants might not get as good a strong-hold."
Chase explained that the lake has always been privy to "nuisance weeds;" the only invasive it has become a permanent home to is curly-leaf pondweed. The majority of those have cropped up at the edge of the boat ramp and follow boat traffic along into the center of the lake.
Milfoil -- the pervasive invasive that makes most lake residents shudder -- did crop up once about a dozen years ago, but it was successfully treated and has never returned, Chase said.
All told, Big Alum is a beautiful place -- and what has kept it that way is its tight-knit and caring community, Chase said. "The people make it what it is," she said.