Umbagog Lake

Umbagog Lake
Moose in the Umbagogsee reserve
Geographical location	Coös County , New Hampshire and Oxford County , Maine , USA
Tributaries	Magalloway River , Rapid River, Dead Cambridge River
Drain	Androscoggin River
Data
Coordinates	44 ° 45 '25 "  N , 71 ° 2' 57"  W Coordinates: 44 ° 45 '25 "  N , 71 ° 2' 57"  W.
Altitude above sea level	379 m
surface	31.8 km²
length	18 km
width	3.1 km
Maximum depth	15 m
Middle deep	4.6 m

The Umbagog Lake is a 31.8 km² large lake on the border between the US states New Hampshire and Maine . He is therefore in Coös County and Oxford County . The 287 km long Androscoggin River rises in the lake, and the Magalloway , Rapid and Dead Cambridge Rivers flow into the lake . There are a number of islands in the lake, namely Big Island, Blake Island, Bear, Metallak, Blueberry Island, then "C" Island, finally Pine, Mosquito, Absalom and Black Island. On the New Hampshire side is Errol , which has 300 residents, and Upton on the Maine side , which has a little over 100 residents.

The name goes back to Indian roots. Wombagwog means 'the white lake' or 'the clear lake'.

The lake is the core of Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge , which includes forests, lakes, and rivers, as well as wetlands. The lake can practically only be reached by canoes that are rented out in Errol.

history

Below the lake, mostly on the Androscoggin River, lived the Androscoggin, Ammaroscoggin or Arrosaguntacook , who gave the river its name , in pre-colonial times . Your own name seems to have something to do with fish, but the meaning can no longer be reconstructed more precisely. They probably lived around Lewiston in south Maine and only became, in pandering to Governor Edmund Andros (Governor of New York (1674–81), New England (1686–89), Virginia (1692–97), Maryland (1693–94) ), with the name "Andros-coggin". One path, the Androscoggin Trail or Namas-ek-guagon (fish spear path), ran up the river from Merrymeeting Bay in Maine to the lake. From there, a path led north over the mountains known as the Magallibu Path (Caribou Path).

The local Indians mentioned lived close to the early English settlements and came into conflict with the settlers. Most of all, they have been decimated by epidemics. In 1690 their village was burned down by the English , their leader, Benjamin Church , killed some of the prisoners and took the wives and children of chiefs Kankamagus and Worombo away as prisoners. In exchange for the relatives, several sachems negotiated a peace with the English in Sagadahoc on November 23, 1690 . But with the help of the French, who were enemies with England, counter-attacks broke out, such as on July 17, 1694 on Oyster Bay. Under the pressure of the English settlement, the Wawenoc , who lived at the estuary, moved further upwards and united with the Arrosaguntacook. As the pressure increased here, too, the united tribes moved upwards to the Rocameca , with whom they now lived together. When the Pequawket lost to the English in 1725 , the tribes moved on to St. Francis in Canada . The local residents adopted the Abenaki language of the leading Arrosaguntacook tribe.

In the 1960s, the lake was to be cleared for the mining of diatomaceous earth , and in the mid-1980s a six-kilometer tunnel was to be dug under the lake to build a power station. Both projects were rejected. When logging was no longer worthwhile, lakeside properties were to be privatized and built on. Although the Forest Society bought the 156 acre Big Island in the lake in 1983 , the lakeshore was still threatened by the fate of most of New England's lakes , namely the development, such as Lake Winnipesaukee . In 1986, the Forest Society founded the Trust for New Hampshire Lands , which organized and financially helped enforce the New Hampshire Land Conservation Investment Program , which provided for $ 48.6 million in land purchase. In 1988 negotiations began with the two largest landowners, the paper manufacturers James River Corporation and Boise Cascade . Usage bans could initially only be enforced in a few core areas because the companies insisted on their logging rights. This affected 2,258 acres , and in 1992 there were 3,348 acres of waterfront properties from private owners who retained their usual rights of use. The US Fish and Wildlife Service was to acquire 7,000 acres of wetland to turn it into a wildlife refuge , as the National Wildlife Refuge System has operated since 1903. This refuge was established in 1992 after resistance initially arose in Berlin in 1990 . As early as 1972, the Federal Ministry of the Interior ensured that the designated area was protected to a limited extent as a Floating Bog National Natural Landmark . Since 1997, the Wildlife Improvement Act has not only provided priority for nature conservation in these areas, but also precise documentation, monitoring and management plans. This shifted the focus, which until 1973 had been the protection of migration areas for birds, then shifted to the protection of threatened species, now to the preservation of all habitats and their species. The sanctuary's headquarters are in a small cabin on Route 16 on the Magalloway River. In 2001, the Hancock Timber Resource Group acquired 6,218 acres , bringing the reserve to 16,300 acres . Today, in addition to the previous tasks, the focus is on balancing the consequences of tourist use.

geography

flora

According to the Northern Forest Alliance , 29 endangered plant species lived on Umbagogsee in 2002. The groups recorded include 16 ferns , 4 horsetail and 3 club moss plants , around 60 tree and shrub species and 160 bedspreads .

fauna

Moose , black bears , bobcats (more precisely Lynx rufus gigas (Bangs) ) and spruce marten (Martes americana) live in the area around the lake at Umbagogsee . The Umbagogsee is one of the most biodiverse and best protected lakes in New England.

So far, 229 bird species have been counted, of which 137 breed in the area of ​​the lake, of which 24 passerine birds and nine loon pairs of a diver species with a particularly distinctive reputation. The scientific observation and recording of the bird populations was initially carried out mainly by the amateur William Brewster († 1909), who did pioneering work here between 1871 and 1909. His more than 600-page documentation was published posthumously by Harvard University in 1924 . When the loons were wiped out in almost all of New England, they survived on Lake Umbagog. After 39 years of no more breeding bald eagles could be detected, they reappeared in 1988.

In the area of ​​the lake you can find ospreys ( Pandion haliaetus ), peregrine falcons ( Falco peregrinus ), hen harriers (called Northern Harrier), great blue herons ( Ardea herodias ), but also the merlin ( Falco columbarius ) and a number of water birds. Most of New England's birds are migratory birds, of which the yellow-billed shearwater in the subspecies Calonectris borealis even crosses the Atlantic from the Canary Islands , or the Hudson's snipe , which comes from the southern tip of America in autumn. The lake is a breeding ground for various bird species, some of which are threatened. The species that can often be observed include the blue-winged duck ( Anas discors ) and its green-winged counterpart ( Anas carolinensis ), which can be found here all year round; then the ring-necked duck or collar duck ( Aythya collaris ) Schellente ( Bucephala clangula ), the Wood Duck ( Aix sponsa ), the dark duck ( Anas rubripes ), cap sawyer ( Lophodytes cucullatus ) or the American subspecies of goosander ( Mergus merganser ).

Diadophis punctatus edwardsii , a collar snake

Five species of snakes may be encountered in the field, namely Red Belly Snake , the common garter snake , then Thamnophis sauritus septentrionalis , a subspecies of the Eastern bands Natter , the collar Natter Diadophis punctatus edwardsii or Northern Ringneck Snake, finally, the smooth green snake ( Opheodrys vernalis) , a Grasnatternart . Furthermore, there are three species of turtle, namely the snapping turtle , the forest turtle and the ornamental turtle .

The lake is extremely rich in fish. The most common species include brook trout ( Salvelinus fontinalis ), Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ), black bass ( Micropterus dolomieu ), arctic smelt ( Osmerus mordax ), American perch ( Perca flavescens ), chain pike ( Esox niger ), the sucker carp species Catostomus catostomus and Catostomus commersoni , catfish or dwarf catfish ( Ameiurus nebulosus ), also common sunfish or pumpkin seed perch ( Lepomis gibbosus ), the Semotilus corporalis referred to here as 'fallfish' , as well as Alosa pseudoharengus (alewife) and American char ( Salvelinus ).

literature

• Charles Millard Starbird: The Indians of the Androscoggin Valley. Tribal History, and Their Relations with the Early English Settlers of Maine , Lewiston 1928.

Web links

• Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge

Remarks

1. ^ Charles Errol Heywood: History of Upton, Maine , Oxford Hills Press, Norway (Maine) 1973.
2. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski (Ed.): The Indian Heritage of New Hampshire and Northern New England , McFarland, Jefferson ( North Carolina ) 2002, pp. 162, 190.
3. ^ Tadeusz Piotrowski (Ed.): The Indian Heritage of New Hampshire and Northern New England , McFarland, Jefferson ( North Carolina ) 2002, p. 162.
4. ↑ Frederick Webb Hodge (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Vol. V, 1, 1912, p. 89.
5. ↑ Linda Landry: Classic New Hampshire. Preserving the Granite State in Changing Times , University Press of New England 2003, Chapter Lake Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge , pp. 170-185.
6. ↑ Extensive lists of the plant and animal species on the Umbagog can be found here .
7. ↑ Linda Landry: Classic New Hampshire. Preserving the Granite State in Changing Times , University Press of New England 2003, p. 171.
8. ^ William Brewster: The birds of the Lake Umbagog region of Maine , 1924.
9. ↑ Eric A. Masterson: Birdwatching in New Hampshire , University Press of New England 2013, p. 4.
10. ↑ Eric A. Masterson: Birdwatching in New Hampshire , University Press of New England 2013, pp. 135f.