Squantz Pond is a 288-acre lake in

Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is the List of counties in Connecticut, most populous county in the state and was also its fastest-growing from 2010 to 2020. ...

. It is located on the town line of

Sherman Sherman most commonly refers to: *Sherman (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname ** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General *M4 Sherman, a World War II American tank S ...

and

New Fairfield New Fairfield is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 13,579 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. New Fairfield is one of five towns that surround Candlewood Lake, the largest l ...

, and is bordered by manmade

Candlewood Lake Candlewood Lake is a humanmade lake located in Fairfield and Litchfield counties of Western Connecticut, in the northeastern United States. At , it is the largest lake in Connecticut and the largest lake in the New York metropolitan area. T ...

. The south shore is protected as Squantz Pond State Park (established in 1926), and is managed by the

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is a state agency in the US state of Connecticut. The department oversees the state's natural resources and environment and regulates public utilities and energy policy. I ...

. The pond is named for Chief Squantz, a leader of the Schaghticoke tribe.

Characteristics

Before 1929, Squantz Pond was recorded to be in area. However, the 1921 discovery of a 22 foot-long canoe at the bottom of the lake lead historians to speculate that it was once a larger body of water. After the creation of Candlewood Lake in 1929, the size and depth of Squantz Pond increased. It was one of four ponds that formed the larger lake basin, including Barse Pond, Creek Pond, and Neversink Pond. Squantz Pond is now separated from the rest of Candlewood Lake by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

. The watershed of Squantz Pond is , much of which is undeveloped. Lake Mauweehoo is located in the watershed. Squantz Pond is fed by Glen Brook. In 1980, it was classified as being a

mesotrophic lake The Trophic State Index (TSI) is a classification system designed to rate water bodies based on the amount of biological productivity they sustain. Although the term "trophic index" is commonly applied to lakes, any surface water body may be ind ...

Ecology

Squantz Pond is home to a diverse variety of fish. Common species include

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

white perch The white perch (''Morone americana'') is not a true Percidae, perch but is a fish of the temperate bass family, Moronidae, notable as a food and game fish in eastern North America. In some places it is referred to as "Silver Bass". The common ...

chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (biology), family (family Esocidae) of order (biology), order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (' ...

yellow bullhead The yellow bullhead (''Ameiurus natalis'') is a species of bullhead catfish, a ray-finned fish that lacks scales. Description The yellow bullhead is a medium-sized member of the catfish family. It is typically yellow-olive to slate black on the ...

banded killifish The banded killifish (''Fundulus diaphanus'') is a North American species of temperate freshwater killifish belonging to the genus ''Fundulus'' of the family Fundulidae. Its natural geographic range extends from Newfoundland to South Carolina, ...

, spottail shiner,

rock bass The rock bass (''Ambloplites rupestris''), also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, red eye, and black perch, is a freshwater fish native to east-central North America. This red-eyed fish is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (bi ...

redbreast sunfish The redbreast sunfish (''Lepomis auritus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. The type species of its genus, it is native to the river systems o ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands ea ...

, and

pumpkinseed The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as sun perch, pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small to medium–sized freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from the sunfish fami ...

. Rarer species found in Squantz Pond include

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish in the sunfish family ( Centrarchidae). It is endemic to North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie (''P. annularis'') in size, s ...

black bullhead The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish (''Ameiurus melas'') is a species of Ameiurus, bullhead catfish. Like other bullhead catfish, it has the ability to thrive in waters that are low in oxygen, brackish, turbid, and/or very warm. It also ...

, and

golden shiner The golden shiner (''Notemigonus crysoleucas'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae. This fish occurs in Eastern North America. It is the sole member of its genus. Commonly used as a bait fish, it is pr ...

. The lake is stocked with

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

. Alewives were introduced by 1973. Aquatic plant communities have historically included ''

Ceratophyllum ''Ceratophyllum'' is a cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only extant taxon, extant genus in the family Ceratophyll ...

'', ''

Vallisneria ''Vallisneria'' (named in honor of Antonio Vallisneri) is a genus of freshwater aquatic plant, commonly called eelgrass, tape grass or vallis. The genus is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe ...

'', and ''

Potamogeton ''Potamogeton'' is a genus of aquatic, mostly freshwater, plants of the family Potamogetonaceae. Most are known by the common name pondweed, although many unrelated plants may be called pondweed, such as Canadian pondweed (''Elodea canadensis' ...

''. A 2011 study found 11 species within Squantz Pond, including native coontail (''

Ceratophyllum demersum ''Ceratophyllum demersum'', commonly known as hornwort (a common name shared with the unrelated Anthocerotophyta), rigid hornwort, coontail, or coon's tail, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Ceratophyllum''. It is a submerged, free-f ...

''), western waterweed (''

Elodea nuttallii ''Elodea'' is a genus of eight species of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds described as a genus in 1803. Classified in the frog's-bit family ( Hydrocharitaceae), ''Elodea'' is native to the Americas and is also widely used as aquarium v ...

''), and slender naiad (''

Najas flexilis ''Najas flexilis'' is an aquatic annual plant native to parts of North America and Europe. It is native to northern and central Europe from Norway to Ireland to Switzerland, and from there across Russia (including Siberia). It is also considered ...

''). Two invasive species, Eurasian watermilfoil (''

Myriophyllum spicatum ''Myriophyllum spicatum'' (Eurasian watermilfoil or spiked water-milfoil) is a submerged perennial aquatic plant which grows in still or slow-moving water. Eurasian watermilfoil is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but has a wide geograph ...

'') and minor naiad ('' Najas minor''), were also found. Shallow water communities include plants such as waterwort (''

Elatine ''Elatine'' is one of only two genera in the plant family Elatinaceae, the waterwort family. It contains about 25 species of aquatic plants known generally as waterworts. These are annual or perennial plants found in wet areas worldwide. , Plant ...

''), spikerush (''

Eleocharis ''Eleocharis'' is a virtually cosmopolitan genus of 250 or more species of flowering plants in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἕλειος (''heleios''), meaning "marsh dweller," and χάρις (''charis'' ...

''), pickerelweed (''

Pontederia cordata ''Pontederia cordata'', common name pickerelweed (USA) or pickerel weed ( UK), is a monocotyledonous aquatic plant native to the Americas. It grows in a variety of wetlands, including pond and lake margins across an extremely large range from eas ...

''), snailseed pondweed ('' Potamogeton bicupulatus''), bur-reed (''

Sparganium ''Sparganium'' (bur-reed) is a genus of flowering plants, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread in wet areas in temperate regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The plants are perennial marsh plants that ...

''), and cattail (''

Typha ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrushStreeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. ' ...

''). Sterile

grass carp The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian ...

were released into the lake in 2017 to combat the spread of the invasive Eurasian watermilfoil. By 2019, the lake had lost almost all of its vegetation. Although reports have not confirmed a correlation, it has been theorized that the carp have consumed all accessible plants.

Recreation

Squantz Pond State Park covers 172 acres of the southwestern shore of the lake. The park offers swimming, fishing, and scuba diving, and motorized boating.

Cliff jumping Cliff jumping is the leaping off a cliff edge, usually into a body of water, as a form of sport. It may be done as part of the sport of coastal exploration or as a standalone activity. Particular variations on cliff jumping may specify the angle ...

into the lake is outlawed.

Blue-green algae Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteria' ...

blooms are frequent, and it is common for water quality issues to close the lake to swimmers.

References

{{reflist Lakes of Fairfield County, Connecticut