Stockbridge Bowl

Notwithstanding anything you have heard or read, neither the Stockbridge Bowl Association (SBA) nor the Town of Stockbridge has final decision-making power over what happens in the lake.

The lake is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Through their governmental departments, such as the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Commonwealth makes the ultimate decisions.

For example, when SBA wanted to put the herbicide fluoridone in the lake to kill an invasive called Eurasian Milfoil, and the Town did not want to put a pesticide in the lake, SBA sued. SBA won but it was a Pyrrhic victory.

DEP placed conditions on using fluoridone — a four-step process to be completed over four years. At each step, SBA had to meet conditions before proceeding to the next step. It has been two years, and SBA has been unable to meet the first condition. SBA wanted to improve its odds of meeting the first condition, bypassed the Town and went directly to DEP.

SBA is approximately 80 years old. For the first 70 years they worked cooperatively with the Town. No more. However, DEP sent them back to the Town. Select Board Chair McCaffrey stated her belief that it indicated SBA needed Town approval. SBA President Pat Kennelly disagreed and thought it required coordinated efforts. Kennelly is probably right.

Here's why. Both Town and SBA have conditions placed by DEP. The Town cannot harvest in the same places where SBA is testing for percentage of invasives. The two activities would have to be coordinated.

Select Board member Patrick White thought DEP disallowed dredging in the same year that pesticide is put in the lake. Kennelly disagrees. However, it only matters what DEP allows. White suggested Kennelly ask DEP.

Here is where we are, SBA testing limits the area of the lake that can be harvested for three years in which SBA is meeting the three steps required by DEP. In the fourth year, putting fluoridone in the lake limits dredging.

In the last two years, as SBA sought testing areas that met DEP conditions and could not find any, two methods proven effective, dredging and harvesting, have been limited or nonexistent. No dredging can turn a lake into the depth of a puddle; no harvesting can turn Stockbridge Bowl into a wetland. Is a fruitless search limiting lake-saving efforts? SBA has the power to decide.

Foggy morning. Photo: Patrick White.