Preventing the spread of milfoil is the focus of a new group.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

OQUOSSOC – In just a handful of years, a fragment of milfoil no bigger than a person’s pinkie finger could fall off an outboard motor and multiply until it choked the life out of an entire lake.

It’s a scary scenario to imagine, especially in the Rangeley Lakes region where 56 percent of residents surveyed said their employment is dependent on the tourism generated by those pristine lakes, and 87 percent of tourists surveyed said they come to the area for its scenery.

“The Rangeley community is absolutely reliant on the lakes,” said Rebecca Kurtz of Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, an Oquossoc-based organization that strives to protect the area’s water bodies. “If the water quality declines, there are going to be significant impacts economically.”

Kurtz, along with fellow RLHT Natural Resource Director Shelby Rousseau, have embarked on a newly created invasive plant and water quality monitoring program, the goal of which is to protect the area’s lakes, and its economy, through education and prevention.

The program has a $33,000 budget this year and recently got a funding boost when Rangeley Plantation approved a request from the RLHT for $3,698 to support the program, and the Rangeley Lakes Association chipped in $2,000.

Those donations, Kurtz said, show that community members acknowledge the value of their lakes and see the importance in protecting them. “The cost of prevention is probably one-tenth the cost of treatment,” she said. “I think people are becoming more concerned.”

The budget for the program will go back down next year after the momentum for the project gets going, the two say.

While invasive plants, like milfoil, haven’t yet landed in the region’s largest water bodies, like 6,000-acre Rangeley Lake or the 13,000-acre Mooselookmeguntic Lake, it doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat. Already, invasive plants have choked waterways as close as Belgrade, and as Kurtz stresses, all it takes is a “fragment” from a boat or trailer.

If the plants did come, property values could decrease by as much as 25 percent, which would stymie the area’s tourist-driven economy and would reek havoc on fish and wildlife, according to Kurtz and Rousseau

RLHT’s program relies on volunteer efforts, and community-based support, like the boost from Rangeley Plantation. “I think people are recognizing that there is a huge economic impact if these plants come in,” said Rousseau.

Water quality is equally as important as protecting the area from invasive plants the two agree. As more and more homes crop up around the lake, it’s important for lakeside landowners to protect the water from runoff of chemicals, like those found in lawn fertilizers, with a vegetative buffer.

In 2001, a brief algae bloom on Mooselookmegunic Lake was corrected by volunteers from RLHT, but nevertheless, served as a serious reminder that even lakes with excellent water quality are vulnerable.

This summer, for the invasive plant portion of the program, led by Kurtz, two paid boat inspectors will monitor and educate boaters at the launches on Rangeley and Mooselookmeguntic lakes and dozens of volunteers will keep tabs on the area’s smaller lakes and ponds. Meanwhile, for the water-quality portion of the project, led by Rousseau, 22 volunteers will take samples of water from the lakes and track data such as algae blooms, phosphorus concentrations, and other pollutants.

“The hope is that invasive plants don’t come, but the reality is that they may. You can never get rid of them, but you can contain them,” said Kurtz.

In June, donations will be solicited from other towns and plantations in the areas and although economically, times are tough, Kurtz hopes other towns will be supportive. “This is an investment in their future. That’s the reality. Either pay now, or pay later. This is a significant threat and working together, we can protect our future.”

Over the next few months, there will be a series of training workshops for volunteers and the two hope people will sign on as water quality monitors, boat inspectors, shoreline patrollers of educational/outreach assistants.

For more information about invasive plants and protecting water quality, or to make a donation in time or money, contact the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust at 864-7311 (extensions 4 or 5).

sdepoy@sunjournal.com