29 January 2014: Announcing the Clary Dam Project, a computer mediated discussion group

Now that the State’s Water Level Order has been issued, the dam owner faces a number of daunting tasks and a challenging time line to complete the work of bringing the dam property into compliance with the Order. The Clary Lake Association has made it publicly known that we are ready and willing to assist the dam owner in completing this work but to date they have not expressed any interest in having us help them. It also remains to be seen just how willing the Membership really is to help Mr. Kelley with his problem. Nonetheless the Clary Lake Association is confident that sooner or later we will be asked for help or even asked to take over ownership of the dam completely and feel therefore that it is in our current best interests and long term goals to start acting like the stewards of Clary Lake that we claim to be.

Complying with the Water Level Order will involve a lot of money and a daunting amount of work on the part of many people and while we may all personally relish the prospect of this work, it is daunting nonetheless. Success depends on a committed and coordinated group effort which in turn requires organization and planning. Failure is not an option. It is our belief that full adherence to the conditions specified in the Water Level Order and implementing the water level regime contained therein are crucial steps to meeting the goals of the Clary Lake Association of protecting and preserving Clary Lake, now, and into the future. To this end I have setup the Clary Dam Project. This is a collaborative, interactive, computer-mediated discussion group for the express purpose of facilitating the exchange of information and ideas between like-minded people with a common goal.

The Clary Dam Project uses Google Groups as a platform and you can participate in it through a web-based interface and/or by email, depending on your preference. It is a closed group meaning that access to it is restricted. Unlike the Clary Lake Association’s Google+ Community, the Clary Dam Project is a working group for people with a common goal. It is not yet another social networking site. If you would like to take part in the group, all you have to do is ask: send me an email requesting access to the forum and I’ll send you an invitation with instructions on how to sign up. At this point the group is more of a think-tank but pretty soon the focus will start to shift to who’s going to do what, how, and when. If you think you have something to offer, anything at all, I encourage you to get involved. Don’t be shy. This is going to be a blast 🙂

I will periodically post some information about our progress, that’s all I’m going to say about this now.