(HOST) There’s a court fight going on over the use of Berlin Pond, which is the City of Montpelier’s water supply. Commentator Tom Slayton has some thoughts on the subject.
(SLAYTON) Berlin Pond is a pretty little lake that nestles at the bottom of Irish Hill in central Vermont. Because the pond provides Montpelier’s drinking water, swimming, boating, and fishing have been banned there since 1926.
And because of that the pond has remained completely undeveloped, even though the Interstate crosses its outlet to the north and the busy cities of Barre and Montpelier are but a few minutes away.
Because it is a public water source, Berlin Pond has become an enclave of wildness, a haven for wild birds and animals, and a resource for those who love untrammeled nature. It is a sprawling, wild pond with marshes at both ends and – thank goodness – no public beach or boating facilities.
America’s first great naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, declared that "…we need the tonic of wildness" – basically to know ourselves better by re-connecting with nature.
I go to Berlin Pond often for just that reason, sometimes to look for birds, sometimes just to look at the pond itself. Along its marshy borders, right now, red-winged blackbirds are establishing territories and nests. Later there will be warblers and swamp sparrows, wood ducks and osprey, loons, and even bald eagles.
The pond is incredibly rich in wildlife, as only an undeveloped pond can be. And it is all the more remarkable for being so close to the urban centers of Montpelier and Barre.
Lately there have been trespassers on the pond. A Barre man wants to fish there, and another couple wants to kayak there. They want to open Berlin Pond for more human recreation. And there will undoubtedly be more like them.
The City of Montpelier has opposed these efforts in court because of its duty to protect the city’s water supply. There are good reasons to support those efforts, and not only if you drink the pond’s water.
The fact is that Berlin Pond as it now exists – protected and wild – is a rarity: a wild lake within minutes of central Vermont’s two largest cities. There is no shortage of other, more appropriate fishing spots nearby – more than two dozen fishable lakes with public access can be found within a half-hour’s drive.
But there’s nothing like Berlin Pond’s accessible wilderness anywhere nearby.
A lot of Vermonters have places like this where they like to go by themselves to think long thoughts – or not think much at all, just be, in nature. It’s an important part of the Vermont I grew up in.
I like the pond’s quiet beauty in every season. I like it more and more as the years pass and it remains the same as I grow older.
I hope it never changes.