By Ed Pierce
Windham Town Council members were given a final report of milfoil mitigation efforts in the Windham Area completed in 2021 during a council meeting on Feb. 8.
Councilors reviewed projects and expenditures as part of a
required process to obtain annual Watershed Protection Grant funding for
milfoil mitigation in the town.
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| A grant program for protection and preserving local watersheds and remediating milfoil is funded every year by the Windham Town Council for nonprofits and neighborhood associations. Grants for 2022 will be awarded by Windham in March. COURTESY PHOTO |
Lessard told the council that the Collins Pond Improvement
Association successfully wrapped up its “Invasive Milfoil - Get Rid of It
Campaign” last summer.
The Collins Pond Improvement Association received a total of $4,000
overall for mitigation from the town in 2021 and it reported removing 20,980
gallons of invasive milfoil plants from the pond during the 2021 season. Since
2007, association has removed 155,594 gallons of milfoil from Collins Pond.
The Highland Lake Association received a total of $12,600 overall from the town for milfoil mitigation on Overlook Road and it reported that three sites were remediated as identified in the 2018 Highland Lake NPS Watershed Survey. Those three sites were estimated to wash 54 tons of sediment or about 46 pounds of phosphorus into Highland Lake each year prior to remediation, so an immediate improvement was achieved.
The Water Stewardship of the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust
received $4,500 for milfoil remediation in 2021. The land trust reported that
it trained 22 citizen-scientist volunteers to test water quality throughout the
spring and summer in Windham. A total of 21 sites were sampled in Windham, with
volunteers completing 600 hours of service and all data was collected and
compiled with the ability to view on the land trust website.
Little Sebago Lake Association received $2,000 in funding for maintenance of Hopkins Dam and $8,000 for milfoil remediation. In 2021, the Little Sebago Lake Association spent 230 volunteer hours on maintaining, monitoring, as well as opening and closing Hopkins Dam in 2021. The dam’s gear operating system failed in October and three people were required to manually operate the gate. It reported because of worker and supply chain issues, removing, and replacing the gate, repairing the gear operating system, and adding various safety features, dam work will be completed this winter. It also removed 221.5 bags of milfoil from the lake during the 2021 season, with 91 bags removed from the Windham portion of the lake. Since 2004, the association has removed about 129 tons of invasive milfoil plants from Little Sebago Lake.
The Lakeside Drive Homeowners Association received $6,000 in
funding and reported remediating two sites as identified in the 2017 Forest
Lake NPS Watershed Survey to prevent stormwater from washing gravel road
material and water sand directly into Forest Lake.
Lessard told the council that the final amount of funding
awarded to applicants from the town in 2021 was $37,100. She said the total
match from grant recipients (volunteer in-kind and cash) was $85,573.66. That
means the total match from grant recipients with all funding sources included, less
Windham’s award, was $188,264.41.
According to Lessard, a committee is reviewing applications
for 2022 milfoil initiatives and will make recommendations to the council for
action and funding in March.
Each year, the Windham Town Council funds a grant program for
protection and preserving local watersheds. The purpose of the program is to
provide small grants for volunteer and educational organizations to complete
projects within the town that promote community-based efforts to protect and
restore diverse natural resources. <
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