Save the Date: Annual Meeting Is May 14, Featuring a Wicked Great Speaker
The Annual Meeting of the Foster's Pond Corporation will be held Wednesday, May 14. The featured presentation will be "A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Witch Trials."
A third of a millennium - 333 years - since the hysteria of 1692 unfolded, the Salem witch trials still resonate in the American psyche. The impact was particularly profound in Andover, where more residents were accused than in Salem itself. Among them: Ann Foster, the aging widow of Andover's 22d resident Andrew Foster, who gave Foster's Pond its name.
Our speaker will be Salem State University history professor and award-winning author Emerson "Tad" Baker, who has served as consultant and on-camera expert for historical documentaries and TV shows.
The meeting, which is co-sponsored by Memorial Hall Library, is free and open to the public. For more details, click here.
Pond Reaches Its Winter Level, Beavers Be Dammed
The 2024 annual drawdown of Foster's Pond achieved its target water level right on schedule by early December, but not without some determined pushback from resident beavers. In tit-for-tat battle, the beavers plugged the sluiceway of the Foster's Pond Dam night after night, constricting or stopping the outflow entirely, while volunteers cleared the debris the following day. For more details and a picture, click here.
Conservation Commission Extends FPC Role Through 2027
The Andover Conservation Commission unanimously extended for three years the long-standing Order of Conditions which authorizes a lake management program for Foster's Pond and designates the Foster's Pond Corporation as the entity in charge of implementing it. The vote, which came at the Commission's December 3 meeting, made no changes in the multi-pronged program. Click here for more details.
The Wandering Bear Who Visited Foster's Pond: An Obituary
A young black bear ambled through a half dozen nearby communities over the course of two months in the summer of 2022, eventually turning up in Andover. The first bear in living memory to be seen here, he spent four days around Foster's Pond. He then headed to Middleton, where he was shot and killed. For more, including pictures and a short video, click here.
Make Your 2025 Donation Today!
We can't protect Foster's Pond and our historic dam without your help. We rely on your donation. Check out our Honor Roll of Foster's Pond supporters in 2024. Make a donation today, so that we can place your name on our 2025 Honor Roll, which we will post in a few weeks. Earn the coveted 
, identifying you as an especially generous donor! Go to our donation page right now and give on-line or by mail. Your contribution is tax-deductible. Thank you!
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Get the latest news about Foster's Pond. Want to be alerted when the Pond will be closed for a weed treatment? Or that an algae bloom has been detected? Or if there's an upcoming event? Then sign up to get Foster's Pond e-mail Updates. Updates are sent out about once a month. They will keep you informed without cluttering your in-box. And we don't share your e-mail address with anyone. Click here to subscribe.
In an Emergency . . .
It's hard to imagine that the 165-year-old Foster's Pond Dam could ever fail, but that's not a matter to be left to the imagination. The Foster's Pond Corporation has developed an Emergency Action Plan, just in case. The plan, approved by State regulators in 2019 and distributed to Andover's emergency response officials, identifies the worst-case scenario for downstream flooding and specifies who needs to be notified and what steps need to be taken. While no homes would be inundated, some roads could be under a couple of feet of water, temporarily cutting access to two cul-de-sacs off Woburn Street and four off River Street until the water subsides. For more details and a map showing what areas would be inundated and what roads might be flooded, click here.
Wilmington Community TV Program on Foster's Pond
WCTV, Wilmington's non-profit community television station, has produced a 22-minute program devoted to Foster's Pond and the FPC. The "Where's Wilmington" show, hosted by Lisa Kapala, includes a tour of the Goldsmith Woodlands by long-time Pond resident Joan Ellis, interviews with FPC President Steve Cotton and Board Member David Adilman, and footage of the Pond, the Dam, and Goldsmith. To view the program, click here.
Watershed Study Looks to Control Algae By Curbing Nutrients Flowing Into the Pond
We routinely treat Foster's Pond for toxic algae. Can anything be done to prevent algae blooms? To find out, we commissioned a state-of-the-art study of the Foster's Pond watershed, using the latest computer modeling, on-line databases, and newly-assembled information. Our consultants delivered a Watershed-Based Plan for reducing the primary "limiting nutrient" that triggers algae growth. The first step is to give citizens of the watershed the information you need on how to protect the Pond. Start here.
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