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The New England Aquatic Services team searches for water chestnut embedded in extensive lily pad growth.
Andrew Cahill
SHARON — Invasive management efforts on Mudge Pond began in earnest last week, though the removal team quickly realized that more intensive methods may be required to deal with what is a growing problem on the lake.
The Mudge Pond Association, a community lake protection and management organization formed earlier this year, received approval from Sharon’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission on July 14 to hand pull invasive water chestnut from the lake. The approach was notable in that it omits the need for herbicide use, a contentious topic in aquatic invasive species management but a route that many other lake protection groups have taken to combat their own infestations.
On July 31 and Aug. 1, a team led by Matt Vogt of New England Aquatic Services floated out on a pontoon, a paddle board and a kayak to begin the process. The team found far more of the invasive waterweed than anticipated, and in a complex environment where plentiful lily pads shielded many floating tendrils of water chestnut.
Vogt said that after two days on the water, the team realized that the issue had progressed to the point it “needs a different sort of attention.”
Water chestnut was identified as a first target by the Association because it is less established in Mudge Pond than the other invasive plants, and as such is primed to be dealt with before it becomes a more pervasive issue.
A study published earlier this year on the lake’s ecological health and water quality identified five colonies of water chestnut in the pond, and while New England Aquatic said they don’t have reason to believe it has extended beyond those colonies, the density of the plant where it is growing in complex environments will require more than hand-pulling to be dealt with effectively. Vogt recommended a mechanical harvester, which is a powerful but less precise removal method, to Mudge Pond Association Chair Andrew Cahill as a means to eliminate the plant without resorting to herbicides.
“Trying to pick around the other plants is going to be beyond hassle — it’s going to be detrimental,” said Vogt, explaining that attempting to locate each plant by eye will inevitably lead to missed weeds.
A mechanical harvester clears all the floating biomass from an area, which would include native lily pads, but Vogt affirmed that lily pad roots grow back. Crucially, the water chestnut reproduces from its floating leaves, so clearing those from the pond will prevent future growth since it does not grow back from its roots.
Cahill said that he’s been in conversation with the Land Use Office about amending the approval to include mechanical harvesting, but may have to return before the IWWC with a new application before the work can begin.
Water chestnut is just one of five invasive species identified in the report, which was conducted between April and December of 2024. The report recommends that the more established populations — the most pervasive of which are Eurasian milfoil, curly-leaf pondweed and fanwort — be treated with herbicides.
Cahill said that he recognizes the community’s reluctance to use herbicides in Mudge Pond, and feels ambivalent about the prospect himself. “I was paddle boarding on the lake yesterday and, like, do I want to be paddle boarding in some kind of herbicide? I don’t know,” he said in a recent phone call.
He recognizes, however, that the topic is becoming unavoidable. “Yesterday’s meeting was eye-opening for me,” he said, referring to the Saturday meeting of Salisbury’s Twin Lakes Association, where invasive management professionals advocated for herbicide as the only effective path to an invasive plant free lake.
Cahill said he hopes to organize a meeting in Sharon where experts and residents may discuss the topic in a constructive public format, and let the community decide how best to address the problem.
“This is what the experts are saying, and this is what the other lakes are doing,” he said. “What do we think?”
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Ready for a change
Aug 06, 2025
The Millerton News has been a trusted source of news and information for our community for nearly a century. That’s at least four generations of readers who have turned to the paper for a weekly report on life in our towns, maintaining a tradition as a reliable go-to for news and information. And we’re still here, thanks to our readers, advertisers and donors.
It’s reassuring to realize that through all those decades — and all the necessary change that came over time — the many generations of reporters and editors have stayed the course, fulfilling our mission of providing in-depth news and arts coverage of the communities we serve.
Today, the paper once again is ready for a change — to hand over the reins to the next generation. John Coston, Editor-at-Large, who has spent a career in newsrooms — including The Millerton News and The Lakeville Journal since 2022 — will step back from the top editorial role in September. This week, we will launch the search for an Executive Editor who will work with Managing Editors Nathan Miller and Riley Klein, Arts & Lifestyle Editor Natalia Zukerman and the rest of the newsroom staff to lead the newsroom into the next era.
You, our readers, can be assured that through this transition, one thing that won’t change is our commitment to community-centered journalism. But it is an opportunity to build on the progress we’ve made — to expand our coverage, grow our digital presence, and continue finding new ways to serve and connect with our communities.
Our newsroom is stronger, even as we continue to tackle the challenges facing local journalism. Because of community support from our readers, advertisers, and donors, we have been able to bring on additional staff, making it possible to expand our coverage to give you a solid weekly report on what’s happening in your towns and across the region.
That continued support has also put The News on stronger footing, allowing us to plan for a change like this without missing a beat. As it has for generations, the paper will continue to evolve — not only to keep pace with the times, but to serve our communities with deeper, more meaningful coverage in the years ahead.
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Farewell public broadcasting
Aug 06, 2025
Editor’s Note: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday, Aug. 1, that it would shut down next year.
On July 15 the Senate voted to rescind$1.1 billion in funding that they had voted to spend under the Biden administration for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the organization that funds National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).
For more than fifty years, Republicans have been trying to to cut off funding for public broadcasting. President Trump’s longstanding dislike of public broadcasting together with his threat to support primary challenges against any Republican who voted against the rescission all but guaranteed the 51 to 49 vote for the rescission with only the Republican senators of Maine and of Alaska voting no (all the Democrats voted no).According to Sen. Edward Markey (D; Mass.) who has led the effort to protect public media, Republicans who had supported PBS and NPR for decades this time voted to kill it solely because of pressure from President Trump.
Back in the mid 1960’s the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Newton Minow gave a speech in which he castigated commercial television for being ‘a vast wasteland’ of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder. He beseeched broadcasters to “make a conscientious effort to serve the public interest with higher quality fare”.
A study shortly after by the Carnegie Corporation concluded that the federal government should finance a system of stations to produce programming that was “of human interest and importance” without regard for the free-market incentives of ratings or ad revenue.
Although detested by President Richard Nixon who tried unsuccessfully to defund it, public radio and television were a success despite their small budgets.
In 1972 veteran newscasters Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil were assigned by the station to cover the Senate Watergate hearings. What at first appeared to be a boring event turned out to become a captivating spectacle as PBS covered it hour after hour.Their Emmy award winning gavel-to-gavel coverage led to a new half hour news program, a first for PBS, named in early 1976 The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. In 1983 the program expanded from one half to a full hour. Public television’s longest lasting and most notable news program continues today as its early evening newscast, The PBS NewsHour.
Throughout its 55-year history PBS has produced a remarkable array of memorable programs and long running series.
Many years ago while being interviewed for another public affairs program, MacNeil was asked about what made his program special, what set it apart from other news programs. “We have a motto here,” he said, “we dare to be dull!”In contrast, the most popular network news show these days is one that features excitement: killings, spectacular rescues, screaming fights, etc.The PBS NewsHour, at a slower pace, tries to leave its viewers more knowledgeable.
The day after Congress rescinded all federal funding for NPR and PBS, Edith Chapin, the top Editor and acting Chief of Content Officer of NPR announced that she was resigning at the end of the fiscal year. Although she said her resignation was totally independent of Congress’ decision, both events promise a serious blow to NPR’s situation as Ms. Chapin has been a guiding force at NPR for nearly a quarter century.
PBS and its member stations get about15% of its funds from the federal government, NPR only 2%. For some isolated tribal and rural stations federal funding represents nearly half of their overall budgets. The recent federal rescissions will hit all public broadcasting stations hard but for many rural stations, they may be a death knell as these stations have no access to big donors or corporations.For them the federal grants really matter, they’re a lifeline not a luxury.
Throughout its 55-year history PBS has produced a remarkable array of memorable programs and long running series. For many years the wonderfully avuncular Alastair Cooke introduced us to modern English drama and after his retirement, the extraordinary program Masterpiece Theater continued to flourish with its biggest hit Downton Abbey charming audiences for a decade. Julia Child’s The French Chef and This Old House each introduced these popular activities to the home screen. Characters from children’s shows such as Sesame Street were even called to testify before Congress and Mr. Rodgers became the de facto pedagogue for thousands of schoolchildren.Originally known as “educational television,” NPR continued educating its audience with The American Experience, Finding Your Roots and Nature.
The annual budget for President Trump’s ICE force is $28 billion and for continuing construction of his border wall: $46.5 billion.The total amount of federal funding for NPR and PBS that had been budgeted and then rescinded last week by Congress was $1.1 billion, little more than what budget analysts would call a rounding error. The $1.1 billion that the federal government has rescinded from the CPB represents approximately 1/100 of one percent of the federal budget.
This act has nothing to do with saving public money but was instead a shortsighted, vituperative move by President Trump and the Republican party to stifle independent expression not subservient to the President and the Executive branch.
Architect and landscape designer Mac Gordon lives in Lakeville.
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Bears with multiple cubs have been a common sight this summer.
James H. Clark
CORNWALL — Bear sightings, encounters and even home break-ins have been on the rise in Connecticut this summer.
According to Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the number of reported home break-ins over the last year has nearly tripled since 2019. It has caused some in the Northwest Corner to call for a bear hunting season and other measures as a matter of public safety.
Roxanna Robinson of Cornwall encountered this issue first-hand. After multiple home invasions and a car break in from the same bear, she called DEEP to see what to do.
“They trapped him, and then released him on the same site,” said Robinson. “They don’t relocate bears. What they try to do is to teach the bear never to come back, and hopefully to educate him to stay away from humans.”
This particular bear has not been euthanized, but if trapped again it likely will be.
Robinson’s ecperience is not unique. Many other car and home break ins have been reported around the Northwest Corner.
In North Canaan, Troop B’s response to a June home entry resulted in the killing of a bear. Later that month, a North Canaan man out walking his dog was clawed in the chest by a bear on his property. DEEP set traps and advised the man to remove bird feeders from his land.
“It’s a problem,” said Cornwall First Selectman Gordon Ridgway this summer.
Cornwall submitted 45 pages of bear incident reports to the state last year, but “the environment committee did not send a bear bill out,” said Ridgway. “It seems to be a western Connecticut problem... they’re not paying attention to what’s happening here.”
Ridgway heard from residents who have grown fearful to leave their homes. “I think it really is a public safety issue,” he said.
DEEP has tended to focus on public education when it comes to safety. In 2024, it began the “Be Bear Aware” campaign, which can be accessed on portal.ct.gov.
The primary goal of this was to use education over action. Instead of a hunting season, residents could learn both lethal and nonlethal options tor defense, such as scare tactics, electric fencing and increase documentation of bear sightings. Euthanizing bears is only permissible for those with a history of behavioral issues.
“Education is essential and I think part of it is making ourselves invisible,” said Robinson. “What happens when we leave trash out or put bird feed out is we are making ourselves attractive to the bears.”
Town officials have been struggling with finding ways to keep communities safe, especially considering the complicated nature of the problem. The lack of bear safety regulations in such a highly bear populated area has caused public frustration.
According to a July article on CTMirror.org by Susan Masino, a Trinity College professor, “There is a relentless push for a bear hunt — most recently under the guise of public safety. But the public pays hundreds of professionals across the state to protect public safety and the public trust, and all these professionals can remove problem bears.”
Following bear protocols and reporting issues has been the most effective safety measure so far.
Yet the issue begs the question — are we bear aware?
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