CAMDEN, Maine — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection toured Camden Snow Bowl on Friday as complaints from neighbors about erosion flowing into Hosmer Pond continue.
Town Manager Patricia Finnigan said the town has been working hard to control the erosion.
Camden Snow Bowl General Manager Landon Fake, who is also the town’s director of parks and recreation, said the town has had a contractor working exclusively on dealing with the erosion for the past three weeks.
Fake acknowledged Friday the scheduled Dec. 20 re-opening of the Snow Bowl, following the 6.5 million redevelopment of the Ragged Mountain Recreation Area, will be delayed. He said construction work has been delayed because of the persistent rain during the past few weeks. Pouring cement and getting heavy equipment on the mountain has been difficult during the rainy period, he explained.
But, he said, the main reason for the delay of the opening is the projected warm weather for the next week. He said the ski resort needs 48 consecutive hours of temperatures at or below 26 degrees to make enough snow.
School vacation begins Dec. 20, and school vacations often are some of the busiest times for the ski resort.
The DEP has received numerous complaints about erosion since June, according to DEP spokesman Karl Wilkins. The environmental agency issued the town a notice of violation on Sept. 18. No consent agreement has been reached, and a fine amount has not been set.
The erosion was the result of a logging operation that began March 17 and cleared about 15 acres for new trails through the end of June.
In June, heavy rains carried uncovered soil into the adjacent Hosmer Pond. The town acknowledged the logger went beyond what was supposed to be done during the final weeks of the job in June.
This is when the DEP stepped in, meeting with the town and several neighbors to discuss ways to prevent continued erosion. The town then took extensive steps to reduce the problem.
Lee Schneller Sligh, a volunteer lake monitor who is certified in erosion control practices, said neighbors along the pond again noticed brown sediment in the body of water this week.
“This is about the fifth major sedimentation event on Hosmer Pond,” Sligh said. “Sediment can cause serious problems on down the line with possible effects ranging from algae blooms to fish kills to smothering of fish eggs on the pond bottom.”
Sligh said she asked to attend Friday inspection tour but that the town manager said she could not come. Finnigan said the tour was a meeting for town officials and the DEP and was not a public meeting or event.
The town manager pointed out DEP has been doing inspections every few weeks and the town has followed the recommendations.
The Bangor Daily News went along during the first half-hour of the Friday inspection tour. DEP stormwater engineer Arthur Mcglauflin said he could not comment to the media during the tour. During the inspection, he pointed out to town officials steps the town could take to reduce erosion, which included enlarging a holding pond next to the brook that flows into Hosmer Pond to capture sediment before it flows into the pond.