Pollutants at forefront of Raymond Waterways’ Annual Meeting

By Nancy Crilly-Kirk
Special to The Windham Eagle

Many diverse topics were discussed during the Raymond Waterways Annual Meeting on July 19 at the Raymond Village Church, but those who attended remained committed to protecting and improving the water quality of Raymond's lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams and foster watershed stewardship in the community.

Guest speaker

While eroding soil still holds the top pollutant spot for Raymond’s lakes, ponds, and streams, Raymond Waterways members took a deeper look during the meeting at the cumulative effects of water pollutants with Ali Clift, Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District, who was the main speaker. She presented a “YardScaping” workshop, explaining how landowners within a lake’s watershed can improve their property to benefit themselves and lake health.

Clift said that a waterbody’s “watershed” is all the land area that drains into that waterbody. It is much bigger than just the shoreline. Panther Pond itself, for example, covers 2.28 square miles, but its surrounding watershed encompasses more than 12 square miles of woods, homes, yards, farms, roads, and development.

She said that individual lake watersheds also combine, with the watersheds of Crescent Lake and Raymond Pond flowing through streams into Panther Pond, adding considerably to the 12 square miles, which are then part of the larger watershed of Thomas Pond and Sebago Lake. Moreover, water falling on any of this land has the potential to carry soil, pet waste, herbicides, and pesticides into our waterways, which eventually lead to the Presumpscot River, and into Casco Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Waste pollutants

According to Clift, many people believe that dog waste in the woods, seemingly far from waterfront property and human activities, is harmless, or is comparable to wild animal waste. However, dog waste is double trouble for local lakes and streams because it contains high levels of coliform bacteria and nutrients that can be washed to nearby waters in the next rainstorm or attached to eroding soils. This can contribute to increased algal growth and elevated bacteria levels that require towns to close beaches and take other precautions to protect human health.

The Conservation District’s strong recommendation is for all pet owners to: Scoop up pet waste, Bag and Trash it. Every. Single. Time.

Watershed Workshop Landscaping

Clift continued her program by giving explicit instructions on how everyone in Raymond can help maintain lake health and property values in town:

** Avoid using pesticides and herbicides.

** Take a soil test before adding any fertilizer, lime, or other plant care products.

** Create winding paths, rather than “straight shots” to lower areas, such as the waterfront.

** Use erosion-control mulch, which is available from local gravel companies, instead of commercial bark mulch or wood chips as its extra dense fibers help it stay in place, prevent weeds, filter out some pollutants, and slow down water to prevent erosion and encourage absorption.

** Consider reducing lawn areas in favor of adding more native plants, which are numerous and varied enough to thrive and beautify any landscape.

Here is a link to the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Yardscape Program: https://www.cumberlandswcd.org/yardscape

Bob French of Panther Pond, a champion for lake health around the state, raised his hand and summed up Clift’s advice by saying, “Being lazy, I have found the easiest way to landscape is just to let nature take its course – the survival of the fittest. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel with fancy landscaping. Native plants grow fine, without any help.”

“That’s the best advice of all,” Clift said.

Other activities

Raymond Waterways members at the meeting also heard from various officers of the board reporting on the past year’s activities:

 
** A new program of hand removal of invasive milfoil from Sebago Lake’s Turtle Cove was initiated by Raymond Waterways Board Members Pete Rowland, Ron Schanze and John Pritchett, as well as other volunteers in that neighborhood.

** The first Annual Raymond Waterways Water Quality Report and executive summary for our lakes, edited by Environmental Officer, Steve Craine, is available on our website, raymondwaterways.org.

** The continuation of the LakeSmart Program, a free, voluntary, and non-regulatory service that will evaluate your lakefront property and help you protect the lake by ameliorating erosion, is again available for sign-ups on the raymondwaterways.org website.

** The establishment of an experimental self-reporting kiosk at public boat launches in Raymond was started in July to compensate for times when our Courtesy Boat Inspectors cannot be there to check boats for invasive plant fragments.

 
** Acknowledging the great contributions of three retiring board members, Marie Connolly, the treasurer and “collective memory” of Raymond Waterways for several years; Angelo Conti, who oversaw the Courtesy Boat Inspection program for the last two years; and Jessica Fay, who handled membership lists and relations with local and state-wide organization. Wayne Eckerson, Raymond Waterways President, thanked all three of them for their great service.

** Wayne also thanked the many, many ‘IPPERS” – volunteer, trained, invasive plant patrollers on our lakes under the guidance of Sibyl French and Bunny Wescott.

** John Pritchett and Ron Schanze, who have a home on Raymond Neck, were elected as new Raymond Waterways board members. <