Raymond Waterways’ annual meeting to feature speaker discussing camp road maintenance

By Nancy Crilly-Kirk
Special to The Windham Eagle

The 2026 annual meeting of Raymond Waterways Protective Association, a local non-profit dedicated to maintaining lake health in all of Raymond’s lakes and brooks, will host its annual meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at the Raymond-Casco Historical Society Museum on Route 302 in Casco.

The annual meeting for the Raymond Waterways
Protective Association will be held at 9:30 a.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 5 at the Raymond-Casco
Historical Museum, 1 Shadow Lane in Casco.
COURTESY PHOTO

The main speaker will be Heather Huntt, Senior Project Manager for the Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District (CCS&WD), who will discuss maintaining camp roads and managing stormwater runoff, which can harm area lakes and waterways. She will offer steps residents can take to maintain private roads and reduce long-term repair costs, as well as how to budget for road maintenance, and prevent erosion.

Available at the meeting will be Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District fact sheets about road maintenance and Huntt can also facilitate on-site assessments from CCS&WD engineers.

During the meeting, Raymond Waterways will also elect board members, report on its extensive work this year of running the Courtesy Boat Inspection Program at four boat launches in town, the milfoil-removing diving program at Turtle Cove in Sebago Lake, and the free LakeSmart lakefront advisory program for Raymond lakes, ponds, and brooks, and will invite stakeholder questions and comments.

The Courtesy Boat Inspection program involves trained, paid and volunteer inspectors (CBI’s) at the Sebago boat launch on Route 302, at Crescent Lake on Route 85, at Panther Pond on Mill Street, and at Thomas Pond on Route 302, checking incoming and outgoing boats for invasive species that could ruin the quality of our lakes.

A recent University of Maine study revealed that property values in any town with lakes, not only for lakefront owners, but for non-lakefront owners and businesses as well, are very much tied to the health of their lakes and ponds.

Courtesy Boat Inspections check boats, from paddleboards to pontoon boats, for signs of invasive weeds on trailers, propellers, live wells, and any other obvious surfaces, and report their findings to Lake Stewards of Maine in Bridgton and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. They also urge boaters to check their own boats for weeds far away from any waterways.

This year, Raymond Waterways increased the hours of inspections from 97 hours each week last year, to 122 hours each week for 2026. Thorough and reliable coverage should continue through Labor Day weekend, ending on Sept. 7.

LakeSmart is a state-wide program that educates landowners about the role of erosion and stormwater runoff (also known as non-point-source pollution) in degrading water quality. Importantly, the voluntary, non-regulatory program offers homeowners concrete suggestions for reducing these negative impacts on lake health that are tailored to the specific challenges of each property.

The Raymond-Casco Historical Society Museum is located on Route 302, west of Raymond’s public safety (firehouse) complex, and features a wonderful array of historical displays, including a working blacksmith shop. Refreshments will be served, including coffee donated by Aroma Joe’s.

The public is welcome, free of charge, to attend the Raymond Waterways’ Annual Meeting and no registration is required.

The Raymond Waterways Protective Association is a non-profit association dedicated to protecting and improving the water quality of Raymond's lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams and fostering watershed stewardship for the benefit of residents and visitors to the area.

The RWPA is an important aspect of local environmental protection because:

** Most Raymond lakes, ponds, and brooks are connected, so invasives or phosphorus can flow from one waterway into another.

** Not every lake or pond has an association, so RWPA helps them all.

** There is an economy of scale with the RWPA where we oversee larger programs, such as the Courtesy Boat Inspectors on boat launches throughout town, and receive state and town grants.

** Raymond property values, both shoreline and non-waterfront property, depend on clean lakes.

To learn more about the Raymond Waterways Protective Association, visit raymondwaterways.org. <