A cyanobacteria bloom in Squibnocket Pond has rendered its waters unsafe for both humans and animals, according to an advisory made by the Chilmark board of health.
Signs will go up around Squibnocket Pond reminding residents that the use of pesticides is a violation of town zoning bylaws. The select board agreed this week to add the signs at the request of the board of health.
Health agents and water quality experts have identified cyanobacteria blooms across Martha’s Vineyard, closing parts of Squibnocket Pond and issuing warnings about the toxic blue-green algae.
The Navy has taken a leasehold right for the duration of the war from the commonwealth of Massachusetts and others on that portion of Squibnocket Pond which lies west of a line drawn north and south through the westerly shore of Beachgrass Island, so called. This line is marked by a series of buoys. The area around the pond has been conspicuously posted, warning people off the waters of the pond.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is the purchaser of one of the most important open tracts of land on the Vineyard, specifically 375 acres of strategically placed property in the Squibnocket Pond area of Gay Head.
The Gazette confirmed Mrs. Onassis' ownership after a widespread check of sources in Washington, New York and elsewhere.
Until now the acquisition of this land, variously known as the Hornblower property and the Red Gate Farm, has been clouded in secrecy.
A two-year effort by a group of Chilmark landowners to use herbicides to combat phragmites in Squibnocket Pond came to an end this week. The Hon. Gordon H. Piper on Monday vacated his own ruling from last January that had found a Chilmark bylaw banning herbicides on the pond was not valid.
A group of riparian owners on Squibnocket Pond pressing for permission to use herbicides to control phragmites found no relief from the Chilmark zoning board of appeals this week.
The board of appeals voted unanimously to uphold a cease and desist order that bars the Squibnocket Pond Organization from using the herbicide Rodeo on the invasive plants.
For much of the work week, Emily Bramhall inhabits a world devoted
to the creature comforts of the indoor world - stuffed pillows,
luxurious bedsheets and cozy handknit sweaters sold at her store on Main
street Vineyard Haven.
It was all the more shocking then to see Ms. Bramhall wearing a
crash helmet and scrunched into the wooden cockpit of a vessel capable
of reaching 60 miles per hour across the ice of a frozen pond.
On almost the last day of summer my husband and I loaded our kayaks on top of the car and found our way to the entrance of Squibnocket Pond for our last waterway exploration of the summer.
