RANGELEY – When boat inspector Bill Hart went to do inspections at Rangeley Lake in late August, he had no idea his day’s work would earn him a letter of commendation from the commissioner for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Rangeley boat inspectors, both paid and volunteer, have inspected hundreds – perhaps thousands – of boats being put into Rangeley Lake in the years since inspections first began, in an effort to prevent invasive plant species, such as Eurasian water milfoil, from entering the lake. Until that late August day, when Hart arrived at work, not one of them had found milfoil on any boats they inspected.
Rebecca Kurtz, who coordinates inspection work through the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, said inspectors sometimes had trouble focusing on this work after years of finding nothing.
Until Hart found the milfoil, that is.
Eurasian water milfoil is an “invasive species” that has taken over thousands of lakes in the United States. Originally found in Europe and Asia, it has numerous natural predators, “like carp,” in its home habitats, Kurtz explained. But she said that, although native types of milfoil coexist peacefully with plants in American lakes, once Eurasian water milfoil enters a lake where it doesn’t have natural predators, it grows unchecked until it virtually takes over plant life in the body of water.
“In spring, as the ice is thinning, (the Eurasian milfoil) grows, spreads horizontally and prevents sunlight from reaching the bottom. And when it decomposes, the bacteria it attracts suck oxygen out of the water ruining spawning and nursery habitats,” she said.
Lower property values
This particular brand of milfoil has become such a problem, she said, that it reduces property values on lakes it has invaded. Once, she said, it even caused a death. A swimmer got caught in it, panicked and had a heart attack. “The reason the guy drowned,” she said, “is the rescue boat couldn’t get out to him” because of the milfoil.
Kurtz said Rangeley employs, “one to three boat inspectors,” and as many as 20 volunteers to inspect “the busiest ramps in the region” for the invasive species. The town is trying to avoid the problem, which plagues lakes from Maine to Florida. But, Kurtz said, the town doesn’t have the funds to hire enough boat inspectors.
Now, she hopes Hart’s discovery of milfoil on a trailer from Massachusetts will help draw more people interested in volunteering.
Rangeley “has a tourism-based economy,” she said. While expensive and time-consuming, prevention costs much less than controlling invasive plants after they arrive. Florida has paid millions of dollars to control hydrilla, another invasive plant, Kurtz said.
Fishermen understand
Hart, one of the paid boat inspectors, said he became involved in these inspections because of his interest in fishing.
“If milfoil ever got into the Rangeley lakes, it could hurt the economy badly. When you have milfoil, all other kinds of fish come in that will just devour the salmon and the brook trout,” he said.
Hart found the Eurasian water milfoil on a trailer coming from Massachusetts, which he knows have some lakes infested with the plant. He received a letter from Roland Martin, Maine’s commissioner for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, commending him for “being diligent and thorough,” in his duties as boat inspector.
“We need more volunteers,” Hart said.
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