Thanks to a grant from the John Sage Foundation, we are now able to begin collecting data to build bathymetric maps for each of the lakes and ponds in the watershed. In the same way topographic maps represent elevation features of overland terrain, bathymetric maps illustrate the land below the water in a lake or pond – allowing us to visualize variations in underwater terrain and create depth contours along the lakebed. This project also allows us to calculate more accurate estimates of lake volume and surface area across various depth intervals. Starting with a small pond to test our methodology, on October 6th, we collected data on our first body of water, Basin Pond, with the help of 30 Mile volunteer Bob Harradon.

Now that our busy summer field season is wrapping up, we are ready to begin renovations of our building in Mt. Vernon! (See our previous newsletter article about this project). This new regional center for watershed protection will have space for a classroom/ meeting room, exhibits, water quality lab, offices, field equipment storage and more. The first phase of construction will be to finish the barn so that we can move in for next year’s field season.  

To bring our vision to life, we need your help! Do you have skills that could support our project? Our needs include carpentry, plumbing, electrical, sheetrocking, painting, basic labor, fundraising, and more. Maybe you know of a contractor who might be willing to discount or donate their services, or have a connection for materials?

If you’re interested in volunteering, please complete this short volunteer form. If you have other ideas to support this project, email lidie@30mileriver.org.

On September 28th, we completed the Pocasset Lake Watershed Survey. Fourteen volunteers led by six technical leaders worked together for a full day of fieldwork, traveling throughout the entire watershed looking for erosion problems that threaten water quality. Seventy erosion sites were identified, and a full report of our findings, recommendations, and prioritized next steps will be available this winter. Follow-up letters will be sent to all landowners with identified erosion sites. 

To the watershed landowners who cooperated and participated in the survey, THANK YOU! A special THANKS to the survey volunteers who dedicated much time to this effort: Marianne Butak, Fred Duplisea, Desi Fyler, Mary Ann Hayes, Cynthia Giguere-Unrein, Sue Heard, Lloyd Irland, Andrew Kittel, Kelly Kittel, Patt Koscinski, David Randall, Jeremy Smith, Dick Windecker, and Patti Windecker.

The survey was organized and facilitated by 30 Mile staff with support from the Pocasset Lake Association (PLA), Maine DEP, and the Town of Wayne, and with financial assistance through a grant from the Davis Conservation Foundation.

CONGRATULATIONS to our Summer 2023 Photo Contest winners!

To see the the full images, visit our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Lovable Loons

Spectacular Scenes

Watershed Wildlife

Winter Wonderland

Beth Trehu has joined 30 Mile’s Board as the representative from Vienna. After many years of sailing on the Maine Coast, Beth and her family spent a week at a camp on Great Pond in 2007 and were hooked on lakes. They soon bought a camp on Flying Pond and within a few years decided to move to Maine full time. Beth and her husband, Steve, live in Vienna year-round and she loves swimming, kayaking, hiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and growing fruit, as well as cooking with all of the wonderful local meat and produce. She is a graduate of Princeton University and New York University Medical School and is a hematologist-oncologist who recently retired from 20+ years developing new drugs for cancer in the Cambridge, MA biotech industry. She belongs to the Flying Pond Improvement Association and is a member of both the Invasive Plant Patrol and LakeSmart teams for Flying Pond.  

Visit our website to read bios for all our board members.

Water Clarity (Secchi Disk Transparency) in Androscoggin Lake has slightly improved to 2.7 meters at our regular monitoring station. This means the lake is no longer experiencing “lake-wide bloom” conditions. View our most recent water clarity readings on our website here. Learn more about the algal bloom and get the latest updates here.

30 Mile recently developed and will continue to update a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). 

To support this effort, please consider donating to the Save Androscoggin Campaign. Photo: Androscoggin Lake - September 2023

Support 30 Mile! Your gift today will make a difference in protecting our lakes from phosphorus pollution, invasive species, and other threats. Find the giving level that works for you.