Updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 11:45 AM

Greetings to all from Branch Lake. Spring has arrived along with the bugs and summer is just around the corner. I’m pleased to report that the water level on the lake is at its optimum place for this time of year and that last summer’s dry spell is behind us, at least for the time being. Tim Smart, Brett Johnston and I continue to work closely with the City of Ellsworth on water level and we’ll watch it closely as we approach the dry season. For those of you who live out of state, we’ve had plenty of rain.

The spring/summer issue of the newsletter includes several articles that we hope each will find of interest. You’ll note that we continue to focus on the invasive aquatic plant issue (mainly milfoil). You’ll see news from the February milfoil summit sponsored by the LEA (Lake Environmental Association) as summarized by Laura Wilson of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service. The Wilson family has been on Branch Lake since the 1940’s. For those of you who are connected to the Internet please visit our website: http://www.branchpond.org  where you will find this newsletter and links to other high quality sites that speak to environmental topics. The next LEA-sponsored milfoil summit is scheduled for June 14 in Bridgton. Anne Hayes, who is on the board of COLA, advises us that the next COLA meeting is June 22 at the University of Maine at Farmington. The agendas for both are similar and we will likely have a presence at COLA. Please see Anne Hayes’ agenda summary and note that attendance is free.

I’ve mentioned our website and we are pleased with its quality and that we have heard from almost 130 lake residents who have e-mail addresses. The website will ultimately save us money on postage and enhance our ability to communicate to many of our constituency with ease. We are committed to keeping our mailings to a minimum.

We’ve included a copy of the Invasive Aquatic Plant Committee agenda for the near term and would point out that this agenda is a "work in progress". We continue to seek volunteers to help with this important work. Several new ideas have surfaced over the winter and part of the emphasis this year will be on educating all property owners on the lake who rent, to be certain that all renters thoroughly inspect and clean all boats before entering the lake. For those of you who have registered your boats as in-state residents, you have paid the new $10 fee and have an Invasive Aquatic Plant sticker. For those of you who live out of state your sticker fee will be $20.

Conversations as to a State of Maine-sponsored public landing remain very low key, although many feel the subject will resurface once the milfoil issues are fully addressed. The new legislation is in effect and it will take a while for sufficient revenue to be generated so as to fund the mission of the legislation. As far as Branch is concerned, most of the inspection work will be voluntary and the committee will discuss what additional voluntary efforts are needed for this year.

We wish to remind all of our friends and neighbors that we are all stewards of the lake and must continue our efforts to preserve and enhance the water quality and livability of the environment surrounding the lake. Your Association is committed to our stewardship role and will do all we can to serve the entire lake population. If your have concerns about the Association and its goals please call me at 207-667-8098 or write to me via e-mail at President@branchpond.org.  We continue to strive for increased volunteerism and to improve the level of interest in association activities and to enhance an already high quality sense of community that exists on Branch Lake. We all must do our best to prevent (as best we can) milfoil from reaching our lake. You’ll see and hear ongoing requests for volunteer help throughout the coming year as we really need more folks to step forward and give a hand.

The initiation of the Voluntary Boat Inspection program and the invasive aquatic plant identification training process were major accomplishments in the summer of 2001. For all kinds of reasons, mostly financial, it is unlikely that the City of Ellsworth will do much of anything to assist in our efforts at the City Landing. Thus, the number of volunteers (presently 12-15 people) who support the important work of this committee is too small. If you are interested in working with this group in 2002 please let me know.

Regarding the formation of a Regional Lake Association, I expect to hear more on that in June and expect to be invited to a meeting. Robert Jones of Toddy Pond is the unofficial organizer for this. I will be the point of contact for the BPA and will attend these information gathering and sharing meetings to be held twice a year.

Regarding our membership drive, Bob Totman, your BPA treasurer, has written a brief article on the success of our 2001 drive. Last fall we reported only 93 out of a possible 284 landowners had paid their dues in 2001 and that the same was true in the year 2000. I am pleased to report that as a result of our special mailing we are now at 180 out of 284 or 64 percent. On behalf of the board I wish to express my thanks for your support. The Association depends on dues monies to fund its various activities, including participation in COLA (Coalition of Maine Lakes Associations), and other non profit water quality organizations, for the prevention of invasive aquatic plant infestations, for assistance in road, drainage and watershed improvements, for the website, for postage and mailing costs, etc.

As I mentioned last fall, the Association has formed a Watershed Protection Committee headed by Bob Murray. This committee will continue to research sources of grant money, apply for it, and put such monies to the best possible use. As an example, we received a $500 grant from Wal-Mart last fall that will likely be used on improving/correcting at least one erosion problem. We can thank Tim King, Ellsworth’s city manager, for this grant as he was initially approached by Wal-Mart. Tim in turn recommended that the grant be awarded to the BPA. Bob Murray and I have been informed by the city that monies are available for improving Winkumpaugh Road. These would include raising it to city standards, ditching with riprap, the planting of grass and paving. Anyone familiar with this road is aware that presently it is not properly maintained from an erosion and safety perspective. Bob and the board will be doing some work on gathering data/information to support the city’s willingness to move forward. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District will be invited to participate as well. The issue appears to be that some folks who live on this road wish to leave it as is, whereas the folks that use the road and watch it erode into the lake wish to move forward with the city upgrading. We’ll keep you posted on this.

I want to close by recognizing and thanking all the people who volunteer their time on behalf of Branch Lake. That includes the members of the BPA, the many who are not members, the executive board, the COLA representatives, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, the Watershed Committee and the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District. Also, as always, we appreciate the efforts of Len Harlow for producing this and other BPA newsletters.

A door-to-door campaign to reach more lakefront property owners with the message outlining the perils of invasive aquatic plant infestations is foremost among the goals this summer of the Branch Pond Association’s Invasive Aquatic Plant Committee.

The committee has suggested that each individual Road Association provide volunteers to go camp to camp to determine who rents their property, where the renter puts a boat or boats into the lake, requesting camp owners for their assistance in delivering an education piece on the dangers of invasive plants and to determine each owner’s BPA membership status.

The committee will provide assistance and volunteers to help in this effort and is also recommending that the BPA, as part of its 2002 membership drive, prepare a package or brochure which would include graphic information on the invasive aquatic plant threat. Volunteers would then distribute the information piece to camp owners when carrying out the door-to-door canvass.

Other goals listed by the committee include sending six or more new people to the annual COLA meeting in June; expanding the invasive aquatic plant identification training and continuing the survey of the perimeter of the lake bottom for the presence of the plants and a cooperative effort with other lake associations to help them in keeping the invasive aquatic plants out of their lakes.

There is a need to determine what additional educational activity will be appropriate in 2002 and among the committee suggestions are the further expansion of the voluntary inspection program at the dam as well as the possibility of expanding on Beth Smart’s work of last summer during Lake Week.

In its report on goals and plans the committee noted that last summer’s inspection work revealed no presence of invasive aquatic plants in Branch Lake, at least visually.

Larger signs warning about milfoil, increased budget for providing T-shirts for volunteer courtesy inspectors, education materials and speakers were also among the suggestions forwarded by the committee for consideration.

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As if the threat of invasive aquatic milfoil wasn’t enough to worry lake dwellers, those living or spending their summers on many Maine lakes are now faced with another problem—that of the illegal stocking of exotic fish species.

State fisheries officials now contend that illegal stocking of non-native fish has reached epidemic proportions and is worst in central and southwestern Maine where nearly every lake and pond is affected. And recently a pond near Limestone became essentially a dead pond as fisheries officials had to eliminate all fish life prior to efforts to rehabilitate the body of water after non-native fish were introduced.

Fisheries officials believe that prized native species such as brook trout and landlocked salmon could disappear as a result of the unauthorized stocking of lakes and ponds.

According to fisheries biologist Jim Pellerin illegal stocking is done for selfish reasons. "People are moving into Maine from the South or other places in the country. They buy a camp along a lake or pond and they bring fish with them that they always like to catch, and dump it into the pond", he reports.

The allure of catching big fish is enough to make someone take a float plane to Canada, bring back pike in a live tank and drop them in Maine waters, according to State Rep. Matthew Dunlap, who chairs the Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee. The illegal exotic fish of choice has gone from bass to black crappie, blue gills, northern pike and walleyes, Pellerin noted in a recent newspaper article.

Pike and walleye are damaging salmon and brookies in central Maine’s Belgrade Lakes, which used to be a world-famous trout fishery.

Besides threatening some native species of fish, illegal stocking can result in the State Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department halting legal stocking of fish in some Maine lakes.

"Illegal fish introductions pose a far greater risk than does milfoil. People won’t like to hear that, but it’s very true", said state fisheries biologist David Boucher in the same newspaper article. Failure to have a permit to stock fish can bring a six-day jail sentence and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000.

Meanwhile, vigilance against the milfoil threat is still a major objective of all lake associations concerned about protecting the environment and the property valuations of lake residents. According to the most recent report, the prospect of the aquatic invader being spread by boats is much greater than previously believed.

A report presented to the Legislature indicated that more than 1,200 boats inadvertently carry plants around Maine each summer, offering ample opportunity for aquatic milfoil to infest and choke lakes.

A report by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife recommends that voluntary inspections of boats and trailers continue at launch ramps this summer to catch plants before they hit the water. Ten sites already have been infested with variable milfoil, including Sebago Lake, Pleasant Pond in Gardiner and Richmond, Cushman Pond in Lowell and Lake Auburn.

Eurasian milfoil, a more aggressive plant, was carried into Crystal Lake in Gray by plant fragments on a boat. It will be a year or two before biologists can determine whether the plant has established itself.

The Lakes Environmental Association will be looking for ways that local municipalities can augment the state’s inspection program, especially through the use of more volunteers, according to Peter Lowell of the LEA in Bridgton.

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At the annual conference of COLA, the Coalition of Lakes Association, June 22 at the University of Maine at Farmington Dan Buckley, a biology professor, will conduct a session pointing out the unique characteristics of different lakes which contribute to poor water quality.

This session will help explain why lower Branch Lake is at risk of internal phosphorus recycling and algae blooms, while most people believe it is very clean, according to COLA member Anne Hayes.

Anne notes that Dan has offered to come up to Branch Lake with some graduate students and do all the measurements and water quality tests we want to try to figure out the lake dynamics. The shallow narrows and very slow flushing rate of Branch Lake are problematic, according to Anne. Current dissolved oxygen readings suggest the lake can take very little additional phosphorus pollution without getting to internal recycling, a condition from which water quality recovery is difficult and algae blooms inevitable, she adds.

The COLA conference is free and available to as many BPA members as wish to attend. Among the sessions planned are three on invasive species and which include a legislative committee hearing on its statewide invasive species management plan; an invasive plant identification session and a session on how to conduct courtesy boat inspections.

There will also be sessions on phosphorus control in the watershed and two sessions on building strong and locally effective lake associations and road associations.

The plenary session will address the impacts on lakes from global warming and drought. An additional opportunity for those interested will take place in late June or early July when Dan Buckley will conduct an on-water tour of Belgrade Stream which now is virtually unnavigable from variable leaf milfoil growth which was detected in one spot three years ago, Anne reports.

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The first race of the season on Branch Lake is scheduled for Sunday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m. Races each Sunday after that date will continue through Aug. 11.

After the June 30 race there will be a 5 p.m. get-together for all sailors and their friends at the camp of Paul and Vi Wight. Pete Wight has volunteered to barbecue chicken wings. Guests may bring finger food if they so desire.

The sailboat races are a BPA sponsored activity for the social enjoyment of everyone on the lake. It costs nothing to participate. Instructions on how to sail will be provided if requested. No one needs to be afraid of competing as sailors of all ages and levels now participate and it is not necessary to sail in all the races.

Cove Way was scheduled to receive another application of calcium chloride as of June 10, according to road commissioner Larry Blethen. Blethen told members of the association’s executive board that some 6300 feet of roadway will receive the application at an approximate cost of $1500. Individual landowners have contributed the necessary funding for work done in front of their camps but the area from route 1A to Tannery Way and from the Jones Point Way to the Branch Pond Road will be done at the association’s expense. Calcium chloride placed on the road reduces the dust on the road and prevents it from finding its way into the lake where it provides unwanted nutrients.

Blethen also told board members that work scheduled by the Maine Highway Department on route 1A will benefit Cove Way as current plans call for eight foot lanes on both sides of the road at the entrance of Cove Way as well as the rebuilding of the entrance and its paving.

The annual meeting of the Cove Way Association is scheduled for July 28.

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Laura Wilson, assistant scientist, University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service (UMCE), has announced that the Extension Service’s Water Quality Team, based in Orono provides information to the public on protecting Maine’s water resources and can arrange workshops around its Lake*A*Syst program to help the individual lakefront property owner assess his or her own practices and activities and gauge associated threats to the lake.

Topics for workshops include camp road maintenance, household wastewater, landscape and vegetated buffers, lawn and garden care and recreation on and around the lake.

The Extension Service will also provide many water quality fact sheets relating to lake protection, including information on septic systems, water conservation and drinking water/private wells. Many of these are now available on the web at www.umaine.edu/waterquality . They can also be obtained by calling the office at 1-800-870-7270.

Several years ago the Extension Service carried out its Watershed Stewards Program for Branch Lake with participants completing a watershed survey which revealed more than 100 areas in the watershed with the potential to pollute the lake with sediment and associated nutrients. UMCE provided funding to several lake residents and road associations to correct some of these problems.

According to Laura the UMCE is available to make recommendations to land owners and to walk camp roads with road association members to help reduce the input of sediment to the lake. It can also help review the findings of the original survey in order to help in the prioritizing of lake protection efforts.

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The University of Maine Cooperative Extension will host an informational evening discussion on Shore Land Zoning and the Natural Resources Protection Act for lake residents in the Ellsworth area July 31. Lake residents are invited to come to learn why these laws exist and how they apply to lakefront property. Valerie Whittier from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will be the guest speaker. More specific information as to the location and time will be available from Laura Wilson, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, at 1-800-870-7270 or on the website www.umaine.edu/waterquality .

A 25-foot 2001 Odyssey Lextra Pontoon Boat; 90 hp 4-stroke mercury and trailer. Loaded with options including pop-up changing room, refrigerator, sink, etc. Like new, used only one season and stored inside during the winter. $19,500. Contact Calvin Anderson at 667-7943 or Terri Jordan at 664-5304.

House for rent on Branchview Drive—seasonal or weekly. Beautiful year-around, 3-year old home with deep water mooring. Sleeps two. References required. $600 weekly. Contact Calvin Anderson at 667-7943 or Terri Jordan at 664-5304.

The Branch Lake website is up and running. Anyone having an e-mail address and wishing to take advantage of the information included on the website is asked to submit the e-mail address to Van Terrell at President@branchpond.org . The Branch Lake website may be accessed at www.branchpond.org .

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Even though we had a major increase in membership during 2001, our income from dues fell slightly short of covering expenses for the year. A good response to your association president’s letter late last summer resulted in an increase in membership from 97 in 2000 to 180 in 2001. However, we still have more than 100 property owners who are not members of the association.

The membership dues remain at $15 per year. The payment of this small fee by every property owner is important if we are to carry out the mission of the Branch Pond Association and to help maintain the value of our individual properties.

I have heard from several members who say they are not ever sure their membership is current. I have proposed a separate mailing for this year for dues to eliminate the confusion that apparently exists.

Last February we submitted an application to the IRS for tax-exempt status for our association and expect to receive a response in about 30 more days. We are hopeful that as a tax-exempt association we can expand our financial support beyond membership dues.

If you have any question about your membership status, you may call me after June 1 at 667-7482.

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In June of 2001 the Maine Legislature passed an invasive aquatic plant law that is giving Maine’s lakes a fighting chance to prevent the introduction and spread of these dangerous species. Several pilot programs were initiated in the summer of 2001. The purpose of the pilots was to develop efficient and cost effective ways of conducting roadside and launch site boat inspections and plant patrols to identify existing infestations in Maine’s fresh waters.

This spring those programs are being expanded and more volunteers are needed to help block the movement of invasives into Maine lakes. Plant patrols will continue to be spearheaded by the Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program. This program trains volunteers to identify the different species of invasives in order to identify existing infestations and to track their spread. Regional training workshops will be held starting in the spring. For more information, contact the VLMP at 225-2070 or by e-mail at vlmp@megalink.net . Their address is PO Box 445 in Turner, 04282.

The Lakes Environmental Association (LEA) is again overseeing the courtesy inspection program at Maine’s boat launch sites. LEA worked last summer with the DEP to develop a questionnaire and handbook for volunteer inspectors. Training was done on several dozen lakes and more than 3000 boats were inspected under the program with assistance from the Warden Service. The courtesy inspections are a highly effective way of preventing spread while educating the public. Every lake association in Maine should have an inspector program this summer. LEA will assist associations, municipalities, bass clubs or landowners to establish programs. Contact the association at 647-8580 or by e-mail at lakes@megalink.net . The mailing address is 102 Main Street, Bridgton, 04009.

Also, 2002 is the year when the "invasive stickers" are required on all motorboats operated on Maine’s fresh waters. Boats registered in Maine pay a fee of $10 while boats registered out of state pay $20. This is an annual fee that provides the entire funding for Maine’s new invasive program. Most boaters surveyed last summer by courtesy inspectors supported the sticker fees because monies were dedicated to a specific program that they felt was important. Stickers are available at all town offices and vendors of hunting and fishing licenses. Broad compliance with the sticker requirement will be essential if the program is to remain adequately funded.