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RANGELEY — Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust wrapped up its courtesy boat inspection program with the close of fishing season in the Rangeley Lakes Region. This year was highly successful, with nearly 1,700 boaters participating in the program, a few boats more than the previous year.
Since 2002, RLHT has diligently checked more than 25,000 boats for aquatic hitchhikers, like milfoil. Paid and volunteer inspectors focused their efforts in high traffic public boat launches.
The boat inspection program’s purpose is threefold — to educate the public of threat aquatic invaders pose, to educate boaters on how to inspect their recreational equipment, and to change the behavior of recreational users to instinctively inspect their boats when entering and exiting a water body.
It only takes one plant fragment on one boat for an infestation to take hold in a lake. Once established, there is no native predator to slow its progress, and it grows at an exponential rate, rapidly taking over shorelines and leaving the area unsuitable for swimming or fishing.
Support for the courtesy boat inspection program annually comes from the voters of Rangeley, Rangeley Plantation, Dallas Plantation and Sandy River Plantations, along with private donations, and grants from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Brookfield Renewable Energy.
Boaters and landowners are asked to report any unusual plants growing in your water body to RLHT at 207-864-7311 or the Maine Volunteering Lake Monitoring Program at VLMP.org
The Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust maintains traditional public access and uses of its land for recreation, education, and scientific study. Members also offer a summer youth program, maintain a water quality program, and offer remote and traditional camping through their social enterprise, Cupsuptic Lake Park & Campground. To learn more about Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust or how to get involved, visit www.rlht.org.
PHOTO: A courtesy boat inspector checks for aquatic plants at Rangeley’s Town Park. (Submitted photo)
