Raymond Waterways Protective Association
A friend of mine wrote to me this month while unhappily vacationing on a lake in Wisconsin. Her lake, once clear and healthy, was now weed-choked, stinking, and too warm. The culprits? Climate change, erosion, and invasive weeds that went unchecked by boaters and citizens. As Ernest Hemingway wrote in “The Sun Also Rises” about how long it took to go bankrupt, “Gradually, and then all of a sudden,” lakes can seem healthy for a while, but the work of invasives can become swift and seemingly conclusive.
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| Motorboats enjoy excursions on Sebago Lake after being inspected for invasive plants by Courtesy Boat Inspectors from the Raymond Waterways Protective Association. PHOTO BY JAN PARMALEE |
Courtesy Boat Inspectors
Raymond Waterways is a registered Maine non-profit, and uses some support from the state and town, but is mostly funded through private donations to help protect Raymond lakes, brooks, and ponds. It hires Courtesy Boat Inspectors (CBI) at the major boat-launching sites on Raymond waterways. They will help you check your boat for weeds, help you identify any dangerous plants, and advise you to dry your boat far away from shore if you move between different lakes, especially out-of-state lakes. The inspectors are specially trained to recognize invasives, but they are only at each launch site for about 10 percent of the time that launches are accessible to the public. Please, check your own boats, cooperate with the CBI’s and drain bilge on land far from the waterfront. The simple advice is to Clean, Drain, and Dry.
What Harm Do Invasive Plants Do?
As Down East magazine’s Jesse Ellison wrote: “[Eurasian Milfoil] can wreak havoc. Even a mild current can pull a piece loose and that little piece can drift a long way, sprouting its own tiny roots wherever it lands. Over time, a patch of the milfoil can grow so thick that it blocks out sunlight, choking off natural life cycles, killing native plants and the fish and other aquatic animals that depend on them. In the Midwest, some lakes have grown so thick that recreation [boating and swimming] has become virtually impossible.”
Handy Info available at Local Businesses
Raymond Waterways has distributed free cards at local businesses with advice for summer visitors about how to keep our lakes healthy. The printing was funded by Sabre Yachts, and the cards are available at Aubuchon Hardware, Jar Cannabis, and Dugout Ice Cream in North Windham, Great Northern Docks in Naples, and Krainin Real Estate, Good Life Market, Paris Hardware, Mosquito, and Town Hall in Raymond. Please take a card and put them on your refrigerator, especially if you have visitors this summer. You can also distribute them as party favors to all your lakefront and boating friends, too!
Volunteer Opportunities
Sibyl French is the Regional Coordinator of Invasive Plant Patrolers (or “Ippers” for all the Raymond lakes, under Lake Stewards of Maine, and she works with Bunny Wescott who mentors the 66 ‘Ippers,” people who look for invasives and measure water quality on Crescent and Sebago Lakes and on Panther, Thomas, and Raymond Ponds. By volunteering to help, you can join a congenial group of people who will be glad to have you help insure healthy lakes. Sibyl would be glad to give anyone information about how they can learn more and, possibly, become certified. She can be reached at 207-655-6379.
Volunteer board members Jess Fay and Peter Rowland have just surveyed Dingley Brook and the Jordan River between Panther and Sebago and reported no invasive weeds this year.
For more information about Raymond Waterways, please visit raymondwaterways.org, where you can also make a donation via Paypal or credit card, or by mailing a check to Raymond Waterways, PO Box 1243, Raymond, Maine, 04071. Let’s all protect the lakes we love! <
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