Water quality has always been top of mind for the Twin Lakes Association. But it is especially topical now—on a global scale as nations battle climate change and on a local scale as the Town of Salisbury wrestles with discretionary revisions to the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission regulations. For these reasons, the TLA has been beefing up its education effort and has made several additions to the TLA website lakefront best practices page. Peter Neely, a member of the wetlands commission, is preparing a presentation for the Twin Lakes Beach Club board on the topic of eutrophication, which is the gradual filling in of lakes, some of which is natural and some of which is the result of human activity. For an explanation of this process, click here.
Eutrophication is at the heart of wetlands restrictions and the 300-foot lake protection overlay district. Neely notes its severe effects in the north cove and the channel, both of which used to be far deeper. The silt buildup at the beach club, since it involves runoff from the driveway and the beach, also has been dramatic the past two decades, he says. Register to attend one or more of the symposiums highlighted nearby if you want to learn about how lakes fill in and other threats to the water.
The wetlands commission rewrite of local regulations remains a hot-button issue in the community. The group known as Salisbury Lakes Homeowners (SLH) wrote a sixth letter to Town officials this week. The letter was signed by more than 220 property owners representing more than 125 properties. The SLH purchased a two-page spread in this week’s Lakeville Journal to publish the letter and the names of those who signed. The letter along with other relevant documents can be found on the SLH website.
In plenty time for the holidays, a new coffee table book from Patricia Carroll Shuss is a collection of photos and essays from around Twin Lakes between 1910 and 1945. A Summer Place: Memories of the Gardner Camp is 120 pages filled with photos and descriptions, mostly on East Twin. Some of the photos are more than 100 years old. The book is available on Amazon.com for $11.99. Here is how the author describes her work:“I began by chronicling my grandparents’ early summers, and then I segued into my own summers, which were wondrous. I included a few essays I had written some years ago which were evidence of my continuing love for the lake all these years later and my feelings of sadness when I could not be there.
“But it is a happy book. I returned to the lake many times as an adult with my own children. My mother returned often as well, loving the fall colors, crisp air, and serenity of that season. I am grateful to her for entrusting me with her collection of special photos and negatives, and for her comments on each one. My daughter Ariana, as well, has always been supportive of my writing and urged me to publish such a book as “my family legacy.” I was writing my autobiography at the time, which had to be put on hold while I thought about possible chapters, scanned photos, and tried to master Amazon’s demanding art of self-publishing.
“The photos are centered on summer life at Twin Lakes, mostly the larger of the twin lakes, although some photos show excursions to what we called ‘the second lake’ or the smaller twin. Most of the photos are of people—my grandparents, their neighbors and other family members. I begin with photos of my grandparents, Stella and Edgar Gardner, as young people, and follow them as they bought property at Twin Lakes, raised their two girls there in the summer, and enjoyed visits from cousins and friends who also had cottages on the lake.
“I break down the content into a descriptive history of the lake and early property owners, then on how the camps were built, and then how families enjoyed being on the water, followed by other summer pursuits. Interspersed are essays I wrote about my personal feelings for the lake; how I loved it and missed it when I could no longer be there. I still feel that way.”
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