September News

Echo Lake by Greg A. Hartford



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We are resending our newsletter today to include an article that

was inadvertently left out of the original version.

Hello Maine Lakes,

The closer we get to the end of the summer, the faster time flies. And boy is it ever flying by! 

Our summer staff will be leaving soon as both Sarah and James wrap up their time with us. James had an incredibly successful summer recruiting more than 40 Look Out For Loons volunteers, and Sarah kept busy helping new (and old) volunteers fine tune their LakeSmart evaluation skills as well as doing some major organizational work with LakeSmart files. Margo, who has been with us this summer looking into the potential to build a bacterial monitoring program for freshwater swim areas, will continue to work on this project at a much-reduced schedule this fall now that she’s back at Colby College. I feel incredibly grateful to have had such amazing dedicated and enthusiastic seasonal employees. Many thanks, James, Sarah, and Margo for your help!

I’m also incredibly grateful for the year-round team that keeps Maine Lakes going outside of the busy summer season. Leah, our new office manager, has jumped feet first into keeping Maine Lakes finances in order, making much needed updates to our webpages, answering phone calls, and keeping everyone organized. Both Andrea and Caroline have been working very hard to support and expand LakeSmart teams all across the state, from York County up to Cross Lake. Many of these teams are doing more evaluations than ever before. Look for an update on the LakeSmart program in the next e-news. Many thanks to Leah, Andrea, and Caroline for their dedication to the Maine Lakes mission.

And it’s the Maine Lakes mission – protecting and preserving the value of Maine’s lakes to benefit all who use them, both today and long into the future – that always provides the framework for our e-news. We try to find and write about issues that both interest you and offer opportunities to take action for lake protection. This month there are three surveys where we are looking for your input in order to better shape the work we do. We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us!

We hope you find the news useful, and please forward it on to friends, neighbors and family who are looking for more information about ways to keep Maine’s lakes safe and healthy. 

Many thanks for all you do for Maine’s lakes. May the last fleeting days of summer bring you great days on Maine’s lakes!

Susan Gallo

Executive Director

In This Issue

1. Clean Drain Dry Bill Takes Effect
2. Share Your Wake Experiences to Help Shape Wake Policy
3. Lake Association Question: Who can you recommend as an insurance provider?
4. Healthy Beaches Update
5. Planning for 2024: Does Your Association Need a Speaker?
6. Conference News: Recordings are LIVE
7. Conference News: Your Input is Needed for 2024!
8. New Film From Lake Stewards of Maine: The Battle for Big Lake

1. Clean Drain Dry Bill Takes Effect

North Dakota Fish and Game

The Maine legislature passed a “Clean Drain Dry” bill this past session that will reduce the risk of spread of aquatic invasive species in Maine by requiring boaters to open drains for hulls, bailers, live wells, and ballast tanks from their watercraft prior to entering a water body or leaving a launch site (click here to read the bill language). Aquatic invasive species are any fish, wildlife, or plant species that spread to a water body where they do not naturally occur. These species are often transferred to new locations on watercraft, watercraft trailers, and other equipment associated with water recreation, and they impact the health of our waters, fish, and wildlife.

Click here for more information from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

As of June 16, 2023, boaters are now required to do the following:

• Prior to entering a water body and when preparing to leave launch sites, boaters must remove or open any devices designed for routine removal/opening (for example, hull drain plugs, bailers, live wells, ballast tanks) to encourage draining of areas containing water (excluding live bait containers). 
• This must be done in a way that does not allow drained water to enter any inland water of the state.
• Boats should NOT be drained on the boat launch ramp. Since the transfer of aquatic invasive species to new areas within a water body can worsen the infestation, especially in high traffic launch areas, the preferred practice is to prevent direct draining back into the water body even when leaving the water body.
• Motorboat operators should lower the boat motor to encourage additional draining.
• Jet Boats and Personal Watercraft (PWCs) users should run the engine 5-10 seconds to blow out excess water and vegetation from the internal drive before leaving the water access.

This law adds tremendous value to the educational efforts already in place by Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW), the Department of Environmental Protection, the Courtesy Boat Inspection program and many others to raise awareness about the risks of invasive species spread (Click here for IFW’s Clean, Drain, Dry outreach campaign page) The new law will help these educational efforts by adding additional incentives to ensure all boaters are draining water when it is from a different source than the inland water body they are about to enter. It also reduces the risk of spreading aquatic invasive species, including some that are not always visible by eye, to new areas. 

Similar laws are already in effect in more than 20 other states, including neighboring New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. This law will limit the spread of aquatic invasive species we already have in Maine while proactively limiting potential for the introduction of aquatic invasive species that would be new to the state such as quagga mussels and the spiny water flea.

This new law also serves as a good reminder that the legislative process can be long! Different variations of a Clean Drain Dry bill have been introduced the past several legislative sessions, and while all had great support, they didn’t get the votes they needed to make it through committee. We are thankful that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife worked diligently to craft acceptable language for the bill this year, and that so many of you spoke up once again about the importance of reducing risks of invasives spread. Huge thanks to the bills sponsor, Walter Riseman (xx), and to the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee members who supported the bill.

2. Share Your Wake Experiences

to Shape Smart Policy

A large wake from Kezar Lake Watershed Association's remote camera. Note the loon nesting platform in the background.

Representatives from Maine Lakes, Maine Audubon, and Lakes Environmental Association have been asked to participate in a stakeholder group reviewing impacts from large wakes generated by wake surfing/wake boats, including risks to shorelines, water quality, docks, personal property, wildlife, and safety. The stakeholder group has its first meeting at the end of August and will meet through the fall. The group is charged with submitting a report to the legislature early in 2024 with recommendations about wake policies.

In order to better understand the impacts of large wakes, we have created a survey to collect information about experiences you’ve had with large wakes on freshwater lakes and ponds. We have the opportunity to take your experiences to the stakeholder group, and ask that they be considered as the group creates its legislative report that we hope will help create smart policy to manage large wakes in the years to come. 

Many thanks for sharing your experiences with us today. The survey is anonymous, but you can add your contact information for further follow up/clarification if you would like. We will not share your contact information with anyone outside of the three organizations listed above and your name and contact information will not be shared with the stakeholder group or for any fundraising or other purposes by any of the organizations. We would appreciate you passing along this survey along to others who may have wake encounters to share. 

PLEASE NOTE: In addition to the survey, we are building a library of videos showing the impact of large wakes on the shoreline, water quality, and wildlife because as you know, sometimes a video can be worth thousands of words. If you have any video of wakes or wake encounters that you can share, please send to info@lakes.me along with a short description, the source of the wake (if known), and location where it occurred. 

3. Lake Association Question:

Who do you recommend as an insurance provider?

We often get questions from our wonderful lake association members who are looking for help with a question or issue they are grappling with. Starting this month, we will be reaching out to share some of those questions, and hopefully compiling answers from all of you that we can share not just with the association asking the question but with all of you as well.

This month’s question comes from an association looking for help finding an insurance provider. They have been struggling to find an insurance provider for their association that will cover their volunteers doing water-related activities, such as collecting water samples, setting hazard buoys, etc. 

We know there is an association out there that has faced this problem and would appreciate any suggestions you can share!

Please send your answers about insurance providers to info@lakes.me. We’ll compile and include a link to the answers we receive in the next newsletter! Many thanks!



If you have a question you’d like to pose to your lake association colleagues, please send along to info@lakes.me and we’ll do our best to get it out in an upcoming newsletter. 



4. Healthy Beaches Update

The public beach at Lily Bay State Park, Moosehead Lake by The Maine Mag

Margo Kenyon, our summer intern, has returned to her junior year at Colby College after a very busy summer working to identify where public swim areas are located, who manages them, and how many people use them. As part of her work, she created a Freshwater Bacterial Beach Monitoring Survey. If you haven’t yet taken it, there is still time! We appreciate your time and effort to help make this project better!

The purpose of the survey is to help us evaluate the feasibility of creating a bacteria monitoring program for public freshwater swim locations. Margo’s project aims to determine the need for such a program, how it might operate and be funded, and if it could be modeled after and operate like the DEP’s Maine Healthy Beaches program for coastal, saltwater beaches. She has been working with staff at Maine Lakes, Lake Stewards of Maine, and the Department of Environmental Protection, and talking to municipalities, agencies, individuals, and lake association leaders to find out where our public beaches are and how they are currently managed. Any additional feedback through the survey link above before her project wraps up would be greatly appreciated. 

Why are we concerned about bacteria in freshwater swim areas? Over the past 20 years, Maine has experienced summers with more days with above-average temperatures compared to the previous 100 years. Freshwater temperatures track closely with air temperatures and thus have also warmed considerably. People seek out local freshwater swimming areas to escape the heat, and more people crowding into freshwater swimming locations can increase the presence of disease-causing pathogens in the water. 

Warmer water temperatures allow those pathogens to grow and persist in the environment compared to colder water. Sheltered, slow-moving swimming areas may have stagnant water during high-use periods, as water flushing and dilution in lakes and slow-moving rivers is often insufficient at dispersing bacteria during periods of hot, calm weather, which is often when recreation pressure is the greatest. 

Testing for the fecal indicator bacteria E. coli, which is harmful to human health but also an indicator of fecal waste and possible disease-causing pathogens from warm-blooded organisms, including humans, is a means of protecting public health and adapting to Maine’s changing climate. 

As part of the project’s initial research, this electronic survey has been created to gather information about public freshwater swimming locations, current monitoring activities, and local contacts. Participation in the survey before this summer draws to an end is greatly encouraged and very much appreciated. Any additional questions/comments/suggestions may be left at the end of the survey or emailed to Margo.

5. Planning for 2024: Does Your Lake Association Need a Speaker?

Even though we aren’t quite done with the 2023 season, we are planning ahead to for 2024.

Does your association need a speaker for your

annual meeting or membership event?

Staff from Maine Lakes would love to come to your meeting and can present on a variety of topics. If you are interested in scheduling a talk in 2024, please send us an email. with the date and location and we’ll see if we can help! We look forward to seeing more of you in 2024!



2024 Lake Topics: Note that most talks use Powerpoint slides, though a talk without slides can usually be arranged. Talks are generally 30-45 minutes but can be tailored to be shorter, depending on your needs.

Look Out For Loons: Do your members want to learn about the history of loons on your lake, and some essential loon natural history facts? Learn about loons and about how your members can join fellow loon advocates around the state in a program that engages community members with actions to improve the likelihood of success for Maine’s loon families on your lake.

Strategies for Healthy Lakes: Do your members want to know more about the simple steps they can take to improve lake health? This program includes an introduction to lake science, and shares work that Maine Lakes and others are doing that can help your association engage with your members. It also runs through many easy steps that people living on lakes can take to reduce pollution and improve lake health.  

Introduction to LakeSmart: Has your association been thinking about starting a LakeSmart program? Would you like to learn more about the principles and practices that make LakeSmart such a successful homeowner engagement program? This presentation covers the history of LakeSmart, where it is today, and how your association can take the steps needed to have a fully trained LakeSmart team up and running on your lake.



6. Conference News: Recordings are LIVE

Some of our guest speakers from 2023 Lake Conference. Right to left: Tony Sutton, Jim Skinner, Whitney Baker, Nell Houde, Dianne Kopec, Alex Wong

We were very happy to see so many familiar faces at the 2023 conference at the China Lake Conference Center in June. We have been working since then to get our conference website updated with additional support material and videos. Click here to view presentation slides from the presenters. A link to each presenter’s slides is under each presenter’s photo.

To view the Presentations themselves, you can find links at the bottom of the page here or click the links below. Many thanks to Tristan Taber and the Lake Stewards of Maine team for the technical assistance in creating these recordings. Please note the start time for each speaker is listed in the text below the video.

Morning Session - Welcome, Advocacy, and Keynote Speaker Anthony Sutton, PhD - Welcome, Advocacy, and Keynote Speaker Anthony Sutton, PhD

Morning Session - Tristan Taber and Zach Gosselin

Afternoon Session Alex Wong, Linda Bacon, James Reddoch, Nel Houde, Gary Fish, Tracy Webber

Afternoon Session Dining Hall - Dianne Kopek, Jason Seiders, Avery Lamb

Afternoon Session - Jen Jespersen, Dave Rocque, Whitney Baker, Jim Skinner, Anthony Wilson

7. Conference News:

Your Input Needed for 2024

Tony Sutton, keynote speaker, addresses the crowd at the 2023 Together for Healthy Lakes Conference, jointly sponsored by Maine Lakes and Lake Stewards of Maine.

We had a very successful joint 2023 conference and were so happy to share the hosting responsibilities with our good friends at Lake Stewards of Maine. Both organizations will be deciding this fall if another joint conference will happen, but in the meantime, both organizations are looking for input and ideas for what might happen in 2024. The short survey (button below) has questions about formats, topics and locations for future conferences. If you have attended past conferences or would like to attend a conference in the future, please take a few minutes to fill in the survey and help make the 2024 conference (or conferences) the best they can be!

8. New Film from Lake Stewards of Maine:

The Battle for Big Lake

We are excited to share that Steve Underwood, a dedicated Lake Stewards of Maine volunteer and talented videographer, has produced and released a new documentary The Battle for Big Lake. The 20-minute film is an impressive example of how a community has come together to fight variable milfoil, a highly competitive, fast growing and easily spread aquatic invasive plant. This impactful and high-quality film aims to raise awareness about the threats posed by aquatic invasive species, even in remote areas far from population centers.

By shedding light on this issue, Steve and our colleagues at Lake Stewards of Maine hope to inspire individuals to take action and join in the proactive work that is needed to keep our lakes free from invasives. 

To learn more about opportunities to volunteer with Lake Stewards of Maine, email stewards@lakestewardsme.org.

And if you happen to be in Downeast Maine next week, check out the community screening of The Battle for Big Lake on Friday, September 15 at 7:30pm at the Downeast Lakes Land Trust office, 4 Water St, Grand Lake Stream. The screening is free and outdoors. Bring a chair. If inclement weather, viewing will be moved inside the schoolhouse. 

Please contact stewards@lakestewardsme.org if you would like to coordinate a community screening of the film in your lake community

Look for our next newsletter in October!

Click here if you need to renew your membership or would like to donate to Maine Lakes

Thank you for your support!