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PHOTOS: Amanda Laliberte awaits boats at Haines Landing in Oquossoc for courtesy boat inspections (above), while Lucinda Wigfield identifies aquatic plants growing in the slips of a local marina(below). (RLHT photos)
RANGELEY – For the 20th year, Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust conducted courtesy boat inspections at public boat launches in the region, with 2,391 inspections between May and September.
Since the program began, inspectors have educated more than 25,000 boaters and visitors to Cupsuptic, Mooselookmeguntic, Richardson and Rangeley lakes about the dangers of invasive aquatic plants.
“This season, courtesy boat inspectors found 59 plants on boats in our region, which was a record for us,” said Lucinda Wigfield, Headwaters Lake Protection Program coordinator at RLHT. “Thankfully none were invasive, but it is alarming how many plants were found. Always check your boat and gear before and after launching, especially if you are leaving a waterbody with a known invasive plant infestation.”
The Rangeley Region lakes and ponds are a precious economic and incredible natural resource. Invasive plants can be devastating to a water body and the local economy. A tiny fragment or a single seed carried on a boat trailer or fishing gear can start an infestation. Invasive aquatic species are self-sustaining and can double in size within a year, often outcompeting beneficial native plants. They have no natural predators and, left alone, can fill in shorelines with mats of thick fronds, making lakes unsuitable for recreation.
In August and September, volunteer invasive plant patrollers also mapped the shorelines to identify invasive species on 13 water bodies. Volunteers surveyed Beaver Mountain Pond, Cupsuptic Lake, Cupsuptic River, Dodge Pond, Gull Pond, Haley Pond, Kennebago Lake, Little Kennebago Lake, Loon Lake, Mooselookmeguntic Lake, Quimby Pond, Rangeley Lake, Round Pond and Saddleback Lake.
Community Conservation Corps volunteers donated 338 hours, the equivalent of $10,123.10 (2022 volunteer time is worth $29.95/hour). The hours they gave demonstrate their dedication and enthusiasm, along with the quality of their work, support, and attendance to plant identification webinars on the Lake Stewards of Maine website.
Plant patrollers get free training to detect invasive aquatic species before the infestation reaches an acre. Early detection is the key to cost-effectively managing an infestation. By patrolling each season, volunteers become familiar with the flora native to their lake and are more likely to recognize an infestation before it grows.
To date, there are no invasive species documented in the Rangeley Lakes.
Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust thanked Janet Bissell, of Oquossoc, who volunteers to coordinate all the lake leaders and their teams.
Lake associations and shorefront owners are encouraged to connect with RLHT to learn more about preventing aquatic invaders by emailing headwaters@rlht.org.
