Concordians may not be aware of the potential plan to permanently drain Warner’s Pond. I want to preserve this wonderful resource, and I don’t believe I’m alone.
In response to increasing invasive vegetation, three options are proposed: remove the dam and let the pond drain back to a creek/river with a tiny pond near Gerow Park, dredge the area between Gerow and the public boat launch on Commonwealth Avenue or do nothing.
At the meeting on March 2, we heard a presentation that seemed in favor of removing the dam. However, I think that the value of Warner’s Pond was not adequately portrayed and I feel this decision should be slow and deliberate.
We don’t have many usable ponds in Concord. Walden Pond is crowded with intermittent bacterial overload. White Pond has blue-green algae. Fairyland Pond is pretty but not usable. Warner’s Pond has a phosphorus problem. But Warner’s pond is also a hidden wonderland: It feels expansive and wild and undeveloped, and it’s freely accessible to everyone for kayaking/canoeing, fishing, ice skating, ice fishing and just exploring.
Additionally, we just invested in Gerow Park – is now the time to shrink the pond and create banks of drying muck and rotting fish? True, it was created artificially over 300 years ago, but now it is an amazing town resource, with otters, beaver, eagles, foxes, herons, ducks and turtles of all types. Children growing up here use the pond to boat, play ice hockey, camp on Scout Island and more. What better way to create a future generation of environmentalists? Concordians asked the town to help with the eutrophication limiting use of the pond, and the solution is to drain the 300-plus year-old pond altogether? Let’s slow down and think this through.
Anna Feldweg
Commonwealth Avenue