WOODSTOCK – The invasive variable milfoil plant was detected last week near the boat landing on the west side of Shagg Pond.

“We need to alert people that when they use Shagg Pond they need to be very, very careful,” said Jim Chandler, who spotted the plant during a routine check of the lake as part of his work for the Community Lakes Association. He said boaters should inspect the underside of the boats, the anchors or ropes and any fishing gear on board for plant material, and remove it if it’s there, he said.

“It looks like a fox tail under the water,” Chandler said of variable-leaf water milfoil. “Each of the leaflets form a whirl pattern, resembling a feather,” he said.

This is the first time milfoil has been detected in Shagg Pond, located near the Sumner town line, not far from Little Concord and Concord ponds.

Both Little Concord and Concord Ponds, as well as Twitchell Pond, checked out to be milfoil-free, he said.

The presence of milfoil in Shagg Pond is of particular concern because of the possibility of the plant migrating to the pond’s outlet to the Nezinscot River, he said. Department of Environmental Protection officials inspected the infested area on July 30 and will be taking steps to improve the screening at the lake’s outlet, Chandler said.

Lakes association volunteers will also be installing cautionary signs at the boat landing, and will be pulling out the smaller colonies of plants by hand, using both divers and boats, he said.

The lakes association’s work in surveying lakes and ponds in Greenwood and Woodstock and Songo Pond in Albany Township is made possible by a Department of Environmental Protection grant, he said. Last year, association volunteers pulled 900 milfoil plants from Lake Christopher in Bryant Pond, and this year around 20 to 30 more plants had to be pulled.

“There were areas we pulled last year where we didn’t get all the roots,” Chandler said. “It’s something you have to keep vigilant about.” He said that eventually, with continued effort, all the remaining milfoil in Lake Christopher will be eradicated.

Chandler said the $3,000 DEP grant, which requires a partial match by the association, is funded by the state’s boat registration sticker program.

The state has been aggressive in battling milfoil infestation, according to the DEP’s Web site. Last month, the agency installed a gate at the Messalonskee Lake boat ramp on Route 27 in Belgrade to allow access to the lake only when inspectors can be present. The lake has two other alternative public access ramps at Oakland and Sidney.

Milfoil is especially well established near the Messalonskee Lake boat ramp, and thus has the potential to spread to other locations in the lake or to other lakes in the region. Surveys in 2002 showed that a large percentage of boats leaving the site carried milfoil with them, the Web site stated.

Chandler said anyone who suspects they’ve seen milfoil in any of the lakes or ponds in the Greenwood-Woodstock area should contact him at 674-2963.