• Upstream Border: Brook Street, up to Conant Brook
• Downstream Border: Ice House Pond, northern border

Team: Michael, Therese, Diana, & Daniel Huffaker, Ray Flynn

Plants: Duckweed, dead turtle, NBICE. Excess nutrients in the water can lead to excess plant growth. When the plants die, they sink to the bottom and decay--using up oxygen needed by fish and other aquatic life, and leading to unpleasant odors.

Ice House Pond is an approximately 11 acre pond (300 x 1800 ft.) at the intersection of Route 2A and Concord Road. It is formed by a darn on the other side of Concord Road. It has a parking lot for about 15 cars at the south end. North of the lot is a grove of trees with a picnic table and a few paths. Above this are farm fields leading to a 10 ft. strip of trees/brush along the western shore. The eastern shore has about a 20-60 ft. strip of trees/brush, an unused railroad track and then mixed residences and offices. The northern end is shallower as water comes into

Dams, beavers: Beaver work, NBICE

the pond and dumps silt and has wetland sections. Depth is about 1 foot to 6 feet. The pond seems to be clean and in fairly good shape.

It is used for non-power boating, picnics, fishing (it is stocked), ice skating and wild life habitat. There are beaver, frogs, turtles, bugs and birds to eat the bugs.

Items:

• The pond was dredged a couple of years ago. It will fill up again (as all ponds do) and plans should probably be made to do it again (or at least re-evaluate it).
• There are signs of old brush dumping behind some of the

  Dams, beavers: Beaver work, NBICE

  residences/businesses. I don't think it is worth a cleanup, but it would be nice not to see new stuff added.
• There is some purple loosesrife and phragmites in the northern wetlands.
• There are two upright concrete cylinders, about 2 ft. across and 2 ft. high, with metal caps next to the railroad tracks. One cap is removable. Both contain large old lead acid batteries, probably rail road equipment. This might be a child hazard.
• Water is pumped from the pond for agricultural use. The farmer keeps an old, old truck engine which runs a pump next to the pond. The water is piped under Rte. 2A. Is a gas/oil leak from the engine an issue? (It has been there a long time). Is the water used for food crops? If so, is it safe enough? Are there limits on the amount of water that can be taken?
• There is not a lot of cover around the pond for wildlife and care needs to be taken to preserve/expand this with future uses.