FARMINGTON — A group dedicated to the preservation and protection of Wilson Lake in Wilton was recognized Wednesday during the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting.

Friends of Wilson Lake, or FOWL, was named nonprofit organization of the year by the chamber. 

The chamber also recognized Franklin Chrysler as the large business of the year and Douin’s Market of New Sharon as the small business of the year, Stacie Bourassa, executive director of the chamber, said Thursday.

Several nominations were received this year in each category. It was a hard decision, she said. The top three nominees for each award were invited to the meeting and banquet at the University of Maine at Farmington.

FOWL, the Wilton Blueberry Festival and Kingfield POPS were considered for the nonprofit award. 

Franklin Chrysler, Saddleback Mountain and Hammond Lumber were the top nominees for the large business award. Douin’s Market, Mills and Mills Law Office and the Daily Bulldog were nominated for small business of the year. Each received a certificate of appreciation for all they do in the community, she said.

“We’re so pleased. It’s nice to be recognized for the many years of work on this project,” Mary Ryan, vice president of FOWL, said Thursday. “We’ve been plugging away for quite a few years. It’s nice to see someone realize we exist.”

FOWL President Wynn Muller and his wife, Sandy, came from Connecticut for the nomination. Summer residents are only a part of the 290 members of FOWL, an organization that dates back to the late 1980s.

“It’s everyone’s lake, right in town. We all benefit from keeping it healthy, not just those with cottages,” Ryan said.

Education, helping the public know what should and shouldn’t be done around the water is a large part of its mission, she said.

The group provides a boat monitoring program at the lake’s boat landing. They hire students and train them to watch for invasive plants. The students, in turn, teach boat owners how to inspect their boats, she said.

For more than 20 years, FOWL members, including Ryan, have taken water samples from the lake twice a month. Data is sent to the Department of Environmental Protection, which provides the group with reports on water quality.

The group has worked to promote the Lake Smart program among homeowners on the lake. It’s a voluntary, statewide program that helps them see ways to protect the water by what they do on their own property, she said. The local group has involved many owners.

The group also sponsors a Lakes and Loon Program. All third-graders in Wilton learn about the challenging needs of loons and stewardship of the lake, FOWL secretary Susan Atwood said.

Other activities include providing up to 200 boat rides on the lake during the Blueberry Festival and the David Prince Memorial Scholarship awarded yearly to a high school senior, she added.

“Wilson Lake is a treasured resource for the entire community of Wilton. Its 480-acre surface, which has a depth of 88 feet, has trout, salmon, togue, smelt, smallmouth bass, white perch, pickerel and horned pout,” she said. Wildlife abounds in and around the lake and loons return each year to raise their young, she said.

Over the years, the group has “remained steadfast in their mission to preserve and protect the aesthetic qualities, the recreational value and the purity of the water of Wilson Lake and its watershed,” for the benefit of Wilton and all of Franklin County, she said.

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This headline was modified to acknowledge FOWL is a Wilton organization.