Sharing the shoreline

South Pond touches three communities

By Taryn Plumb
Turley Publications Correspondent

All told, this curvy, creviced recreational favorite is rich with history.
South Pond - or Quacumquasit, its Native American name - has been home to factories, resorts, a chugging, smoke-belching steamboat and a popular, long-standing summer camp.
It's also unique in its geography. It essentially has a sibling: North - or Quaboag - Pond, with which it maintains a symbiotic relationship. Like most close relatives, there's an intimacy and collaboration between the two water bodies - but there are struggles at times, too.
"They're very much related, but at the same time, they are entirely different bodies of water," noted Curtis Fazen, a part-time Sturbridge resident who has penned a graduate thesis, "Great ponds of Massachusetts: A Case Study of Quaboag and Quacumquasit."
But it hasn't always been that way: 10,000 years ago, the two ponds were actually one body of water, according to Fazen. Over hundreds of years they finally evolved into two, with Quaboag becoming wide and shallow and Quacumquasit ending up as narrow and deep.
Today, South Pond holds the distinction of being the deepest of Sturbridge's five great ponds - averaging 60 feet or more - as well as its largest, at 225 acres. Still, it's not solely Sturbridge's asset - its shoreline also spans East Brookfield and Brookfield.
One of its most unique characteristics, however, is its connection with Quaboag. Centuries ago, when brick factories settled on the shores of both ponds, factory owners dug a curvy channel to connect them. Since then, the passage has been equipped with a weir - or a water flow controlling device - that has been sporadically opened and shut during extreme fluctuations in water levels.
But last November, the practice was abandoned - leaving the middle gate constantly open - due to an expired "order of conditions" that dictates the weir's oversight and operation. The state Department of Environmental Protection is now reviewing a temporary order of conditions approved by the East Brookfield Conservation Commission. In the interim, there has been some quibbling between residents of both ponds - as well as those who live along the channel - about how to best deal with the situation.
Over the years, the mechanism has been critical to both ponds, according to David Mitchell of the Sturbridge Conservation Commission. The natural drainage of the ponds is from south to north, he said, but that flow can be naturally reversed during storms or high water levels, thus trading weeds between both water bodies.
All told, weeds and algal blooms have been a constant problem of late for South Pond; it's dealt with Eurasian water milfoil, fanwort and water chestnut, explained Mitchell. Those have been beaten back with herbicides, hand-pulling and cutter blades - the latter of which is essentially underwater lawn mowing, according to Mitchell.
Still, invasive plants aren't a recent phenomenon on the pond. They started emerging during the 1970s with increased development and recreational stresses, Fazen said. Before that, "The water was crystal clear," he said.
Indeed, the pond has a "fairly cluttered shoreline," agreed Mitchell. Similarly, when it comes to recreation, it's "very heavily used," he said.
The result of both factors has been erosion, caused by run-off from dirt roads, as well as increased waves rocking against the shoreline. "That leads to slumping and sometimes you can lose trees," Mitchell said.
However, development has been controlled to some extent by the Quaboag Quacumquasit Lake Association (QQLA), which has blocked proposed housing projects in the past, according to Fazen. QQLA President Judy Nielsen was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
Today, Fazen said, there's more pressure than ever being placed on both lakes, due to continued development, run-off, weeds and overall global warming issues. "Like anything else, it's up to people to make the difference," he said.
They've certainly been trying, Mitchell said. He called the QQLA the most "proactive" of all the local lake associations; it has been able to unite both lakes, despite their differences. "They're trying to better both lakes," he noted. "They're fighting very strongly against these invasive species."
Still, he added, because invasives get so strong a foothold, "They might have to keep fighting forever."