Freedom, December 5, 2015 — It has been more than seven months since my last report for several reasons,  Most important is that nothing exciting happened regarding the lake level. Thanks to the constant attention and rapid response of the Ossipee Dam Authority and State Dam Bureau, the lake level followed the “Operating Rule” almost every day of the season.

This was accomplished by a significant and labor-intensive effort to open the dam 20 times and close the dam 22 times during the four summer months. No tricks by Mother Nature this summer.

A big thanks to everyone involved with control of the lake level!

As of December 3rd, the lake level is reported as 405.38′ and continuing to go up slightly because of light rain the last two days. That is approximately two feet below summer level and about 1.5′ above the lowest winter level.

This level matches the “Operating Rule.” Our dog does not like it because his trail along the high water edge is blocked by stored property items. He remembers the 404.6′ level of late October.

Since early October we have had a few rain events that took the level as high as 408.63’—which is more than 2′ above summer level—for  for a few days.

I was at the dam last week. All north side stop logs are out and all stanchions are up in winter storage position. All south side gates are open. There was a steady flow of lake water going to Maine.

We had a loon in front of our place two weeks ago. Also had some skin ice in the morning last Tuesday. Drove north on Rt. 153 yesterday morning (in the rain). King Pine had man-made snow on the south mountain, and there was a large ice cover on Crystal Lake all the way to the beach.

Note: Local historian Carol Foord died last week. Her memorial will be at the Freedom School Saturday the 12th at 1 p.m.

Ice-out is only five months away.

Bob Smart