Hogan-Whitney Ponds Association

09/05/2026

Milfoil Removal Update:

New England Milfoil (NEMF) worked the last three weeks and removed a significant amount of milfoil between (in front of) Gordon Sweet's property and the entrance to the Winterbrook Stream channel. I will report back later with additional details on amount of gallons of milfoil removed after all the data is logged.

There are still some patches of milfoil in front of Alisa's and Paine's property. We have placed a milfoil buoy in this area. PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE YOUR BOAT BETWEEN THE SHORE AND THE BUOY. This is where the milfoil patches are located. Thanks!

08/06/2026

Milfoil Removal Plans (August 10-28):

Starting next Monday (Aug 10th), New England Milfoil (NEMF) will be pulling and removing milfoil on Hogan Pond for three weeks. The plan is for them to work primarily on the southern end of Hogan Pond near Dunn's Camp beach area and surrounding camps. We should get a lot of bang for our $bucks (Thanks to all who paid the dues and gave extra donations!) while their crew is working in that area.

In order to make this operation more efficient, we will be providing trailers at a designated Dunn's Camp beach location (Jeremy will rope off an area) for the NEMF crew to load the removed milfoil. We will then transport the trailers to the Oxford Transfer Station or some other location and dump the milfoil. We're thinking it would be best to have 2-3 trailers at the site for them to load, one will be ours.

Here's how you all can help assist this important effort:
1. Provide a trailer during weeks 1, 2, and/or 3 for the NEMF crew to load the milfoil
2. Please let us know if you would like to receive the milfoil for compost/fill at your property or know of another site
3. Stay clear of the southern end of Hogan while NEMF crew is working. Please no wakes from your boats in this area.

Please comment below or contact me if you have input for (1) or (2) above.

Thanks,
Tom

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08/01/2026

Water Level Update:
Happy August everyone! Norm (Whitney) and myself (Hogan) continue to monitor the ponds' water level on a regular basis. Since the grade controls were fixed, the level has creeped up from around -17.0 inches (below desired level) to -13.0 inches. We really need a good or couple good rainstorms to bring the level back to normal. It seems each forecasted rainstorm has not panned out 🙁🙁 The good news is the repaired grade controls are maintaining the water level, even when we have several hot, dry days.

07/15/2026

Grade Controls Status (15July26):
Jim Bennett's Oxford Public Works crew and Dave Cloutier (VHB) are on-site now fixing the grade controls. HOORAY!!! They have brought in additional boulders and crushed stone for chinking the leaks. Looking good! Water level should start rising again 🙂

07/13/2026

Grade Controls Status (13July2026):
I just visited the grade controls site, see following picture and video.

Please visit the Town of Oxford site and see my comment under the Welchville Dam post to see the latest status:

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BYhnkckLT/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Town of Oxford Maine using Facebook to reach more townspeople with Town information, Oxford busi

07/04/2026

Hogan/Whitney Ponds fishing derby results: Our most successful tournament ever (32 participants)! This was the tenth anniversary of the derby. Thanks so so much to Kathy Tayman for organizing and hosting this event every year!!

First Place: River Brackett
Second Place: Dave Dutton
Third Place: Ryder Brackett and Mark Cyr

Congrats to the Winners and all participants!! What a fun day! 🎣🐟🐠

07/03/2026

Reminder about tomorrow's fishing derby from Kathy:

Reminder: Fishing Derby on July 4th from 8am to 5pm. Hogan and Whitney Ponds only. Registration is $10 per person. You can bring it to the Tayman’s house at 144 Hogan Pond before start of derby. Biggest fish wins, weigh-in at 144 Hogan.
Catch and Release only!Good luck! See you on the water!

07/03/2026

4TH OF JULY BOAT PARADES:
Hogan and Whitney Ponds will be having boat parades for our country's 250th Anniversary. Decorate your boat, yourselves, etc. and join in on the fun. All are welcome!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸
- Hogan Pond boat parade will be July 3rd (Friday) at 5:00pm. Meet in front of Susan Bowyer's camp (southern end of Hogan) at 4:45pm
- Whitney Pond boat parade will be July 4th (Saturday) at 3:00pm. I believe you meet at southern end of Whitney

06/30/2026

GRADE CONTROLS DISCUSSION WITH ADAM:
I just met with Adam to discuss the current situation of the grade controls. You're probably not going to like what I'm going to say.

The Oxford Public Works Dept (Jim Bennett's team) will be repairing the grade controls but they can't start until July 15th because the Maine DEP needs to first visit the site and approve the upcoming repairs. The Town of Oxford is on the hook now to make the repairs since we've entered the second year of grade controls monitoring. In the meantime, Dave Cloutier (VHB Engineering) has requested to Adam to leave the Welchville Dam gates open. He is saying that our current water is still above the minimum level spec at the input to the grade controls.

I stressed to Adam everyone's concerns that were expressed during our meeting and no one was satisfied with the current level. I also mentioned what would happen if the level dropped below the minimum spec. He said he would discuss this with Dave. I just sent an email to Dave asking him if would reconsider closing the gates. I will let everyone know what comes out of this and any other updates I hear of.

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06/28/2026

Grade Controls Water Level Specs/Data:
As a follow-up to discussions at yesterday's meeting, here's some info regarding the grade controls.
- Requirement for water level before grade controls is: "297.2 to 298.0 feet (NAVD88)"
- Current reading at GCs is 297.63 feet (within spec)
- Current reading at our house is -9.0 inches (i.e. 9.0 inches below what we decided was our ideal water level)
- All things being equal, our ponds' water level could drop down another 0.43 feet (about 5 inches) and still be within spec

From the looks of the second row of the GCS, the water level could still drop another 10-12 inches before this row blocks the water flow. If we get some type of drought conditions our water level will go way down which isn't good. Boating through channel between ponds is probably dicey right now and not recommended