With the arrival of daylight savings time, we can begin to feel the approach of spring. In a similar manner that Wednesday is “hump day” in the workweek for many people, March is the “hump month” in our cycle of seasons. Winter is on the wane and we can look forward to sunnier skies, warmer temperatures, disappearance of snow, and “ice off" on the lake surface.

Let’s hope the prevailing winds do not project icebergs toward our dock piers. However, the reality is some of us have damage each year, depending on the whims of nature. I have come to view this unfortunate occurrence as one of the risks lakefront property owners take and accept it as a random act of nature. The Water Level Committee continues to observe what happens during ice off, the direction the winds are blowing and which properties get damaged to determine if the lake level has anything to do with damage incurred. As we develop a broader base of information, we may be able to determine some cause-and-effect relationships and adjust our plans. Please let me know if your property has damage or what your general observations are; they can be valuable to our overall understanding of the ice-off process.

As I mentioned in my winter article, I wrote a grant to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), attempting to receive $15,000 from their new Invasive Plant Grant program. The Town of Winchester cooperated, and the grant application and narrative (65 pages) were delivered to the DEP by the Town Manager last December. I have talked with Bill Foreman, Environmental Analyst for the Inland Fisheries Division that is in charge of the grant program. Decisions regarding who would be awarded the grant were to have been made by February 15, 2009. However, many programs that had money allocated in the 2009 State of Connecticut budget are on hold due to the need for the State to cut expenses. The budget is undergoing a “mitigation” process; all programs that were to be funded in 2009 are being scrutinized for possible dissolution. The money may be pulled back into the State’s General Fund to cover miscellaneous “general expenses.”

For the Town of Winchester and funding for treating the invasive milfoil in Highland Lake, the bottom line is we have to wait for the state legislature and Governor Rell to determine which specific programs will be eliminated from the 2009 budget. Bill Foreman is keeping us informed regarding the progress on legislative decisions.

As you pursue your usual house and yard maintenance, please read the labels of cleaning products before you purchase them to avoid filling your home, yard and our lake with contaminants. Many of the chemicals on the market are poisonous or potentially poisonous. Depending on your genetic portrait and amount of exposure, you may inadvertently be harming your own body or those of young children whose neurological systems are more fragile than those of adults. Fertilizers, especially if over- or improperly used, are feeding the aquatic plants and algae in the lake even if you have a retaining wall. Much of what you add to the land percolates through the soil and, to some degree, ends up in the lake. Likewise, any pesticides or other chemicals you may use for powerwashing house siding, cleaning boats and cars, or ridding yards of unwanted insects wash into the lake and are a detriment to the natural environment of the land and lake. Look for biodegradable alternatives.