8615-R4_ML&P_LSLA_2024_SummerNewsletter_Web

Spring/Summer 2024 - Hopkins Dam Report Rod Bernier

Hopkins Dam will be closed to the State mandated minimal flow on the State mandated date of April 15 th . Our goal, as always, is to have a full lake by Memorial Weekend. There isn’t much of a snowpack, but we shouldn’t have any problem reaching Summer level. The 134 year-old Hopkins Dam survived the winter very well. The new gate and operating system are still working great. There are a couple very small sink holes on the surface of the ~135’ by 30’ earthen dam structure. There are currently minimal leaks in the sidewalls of the sluiceway. There were several trees that came down on the Dam property. A couple landed on our fencing and caused minor damage that I was able to repair. In addition to performing our regular maintenance, we plan on mulching and vegetating the eastern side of the dam where equipment was staged during the major repairs done a couple of years ago. We’re looking into installing a safety barrier/guardrail on the eastern side of the dam to prevent any vehicle from sliding into the dam from the steep hill there. We’ll also be repairing/replacing the orange safety buoys and one of the striped Dam marker buoys

that broke free from the northern side of the sluiceway this winter. Our next major project will be performing maintenance of the riprap on the north side of the dam. We evaluate the status of the riprap yearly. We are still projecting that this will be required in the next 5 to 10 years. Justine Beaudoin has continued to lead our communication efforts with information postings on Facebook. She will post water levels on Facebook on a weekly basis this spring as we bring the lake level up. Gary Kenny will be updating the lake level postings on the LSLA website. Gary and Justine continue to partner with me on the darn Dam Committee. Many thanks to them both for all of their volunteer efforts. Thanks also to the Board of Directors of the Little Sebago Lake Association and to all of the LSLA membership for your tremendous support. We’ll be providing a full Hopkins Dam report during the Centennial Annual Meeting in July. I hope to see you there. Rod Bernier Hopkins Dam Keeper

Any Wordpress Ninjas Out There? LSLA has outgrown our current web hosting site. We have been with them for a few years and it’s time to look for a more stable and scalable home for LittleSebagoLake.com. We will not only just move content, but there will be some cleaning up to do as well. I’m looking for a volunteer position, someone who loves Little Sebago and wants to do their part to help support the Association. If you have the skills and the time, please contact Kevin Murphy at kmurphy@ littlesebagolake.com.

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