The decline of the Mill Pond is such a sad commentary. . . As stewards of this lovely gift to the town of West Tisbury - and to the Island as a whole - we must maintain it, at the very least in memory of Donald Campbell and his generosity and foresight. Clearly he thought it was worthy of preserving, as did the town. Any of us who are pond owners (we have ponds on both MA property and CT) realize that we must at times carefully dredge. It takes time and money, but it is a commitment we have as the stewards of these bodies of water. Similar to preserving Alleys, the Town Hall and the Grange, West Tisbury must come together behind this initiative!

We strongly believe that the Selectmen should take action to dredge the Mill Pond this fall - 2015. The study being conducted on the whole brook and pond system is not due to be finished until well into 2016. If the report calls for future actions on the brooks as well as the pond, so be it. But right now we are losing our iconic and beautiful town landmark. As most people know, friends of the Mill Pond have raised significant pledges of funds to carry out necessary dredging. The three Selectmen should stand up, take action, and save our pond.

Each time I walk past the Mill Pond with my grandchildren on my way to the Library or Alley's, we stop and remark on each season's changes. Prominent in our observations this year has been the continuing increase in the algae and invasive vegetation ("Nana, is the pond getting smaller? What's that stuff floating in it?") We who love the pond have demonstrated our concern by raising money to help fund the needed work. It's time for the town government to take this situation in hand.

In fact, the selectmen of the town of West Tisbury are carrying out the wishes of West Tisbury town meeting voters. While the town meeting article in favor of dredging Mill Pond failed by a narrow margin in April, 2014, an article funding a study of the entire Mill Brook watershed in order to obtain a better understanding of the whole system was unanimously approved by town meeting voters in 2014, for the second year in a row. In June of 2014, the selectmen appointed the nine member Mill Brook Watershed Management Planning committee which has been hard at work since then. Check out their page on the West Tisbury town website, in particular the appendix for the Mill Brook watershed study request for proposals. There you will find information/data/reports pertinent to the Mill Pond, the Mill Brook which creates it/flows through it, as well as Tisbury Great Pond, into which Mill Brook flows at Town Cove.

I was married on a property which is adjacent to Mill Pond in 1994 and have been returning to West Tisbury nearly every year since then. It is alarming just how overgrown Mill Pond has become. Clearly, a careful and sensible dredging of the pond would preserve this important ecological and visual treasure. The Selectmen were "selected" for a reason, I trust they will take action to preserve Mill Pond before it is too late.