BRIDGTON – After a very successful first year, Lakes Environmental Association (LEA) is pleased to announce plans are underway for the second and final year of an ambitious project to control erosion in the Woods Pond Watershed. The project is funded by a grant of $60,000 from the federal Clean Water Act plus $42,810 in local donations of cash, labor, equipment and supplies.

In 2014 the project reduced soil erosion into Woods Pond by 19 tons. Even greater erosion control benefits are planned for this year. The project started March 1, 2014 and runs until March 2016.

LEA and volunteers have tested the water quality in Woods Pond for nearly three decades. Water quality in the lake is generally good but there is growing concern about lower water clarity as well as increased nutrients like phosphorus in the water along with higher algae growth.

In the past decade, Woods Pond experienced significant soil erosion from the surrounding land — the watershed — during storm events. These conditions prompted LEA in recent years to raise Woods Pond from a “moderate” degree of concern to their “moderate/high” category. Phosphorus particles often “hitchhike” on soil that erodes from the watershed. If too much phosphorus, a plant nutrient, enters a lake the result can be a large algae bloom that turns a formerly clear blue lake into a slimy, green mess. Such blooms have already occurred in several lakes in Maine, including China Lake near Augusta and Sabattus Pond in Lewiston.

The Woods Pond Watershed Protection Project allows LEA to share the cost of fixing large erosion problems with project partners. It aims to reduce the amount of erosion that enters Woods Pond by 45 tons/year, which is 75 percent of the erosion documented in the 2012 watershed survey. Erosion was reduced by 19 tons/year in 2014, which leaves 26 to go.

In addition, through this grant, LEA is able to offer free technical assistance to landowners who request assistance dealing with erosion problems, for example a problematic driveway that is eroding. At no cost to the landowner, a technical expert will visit them on their property to make recommendations. Small awards of $400 are available to landowners to help them pay for implementing erosion control measures. These stipends are offered on a first come-first served basis. Interested landowners are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible. All work conducted under the Woods Pond Watershed Protection Project is voluntary. Absolutely no enforcement is involved.