State to up funding on lake invaders

By MEREDITH GOAD, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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MORE INFORMATION The threat: Two types of water milfoil could threaten Maine's lakes and ponds: variable water milfoil and Eurasian milfoil. Variable water milfoil is less damaging than Eurasian milfoil because it grows close to the shoreline. It has been found in Sebago, Thompson and Auburn lakes and Cushman Pond. Eurasian water milfoil can overwhelm native vegetation, ruin water quality, destroy fisheries and affect recreational activities. It grows in water up to 20 feet deep. Its tendrils rise up to the surface of the lake or pond and form mats that choke native plants. Reproduction: All milfoils have feather-like leaves arranged in whorls around the stem. Milfoil is spread mainly by boats and trailers hauled from water with infestations and then put into other lakes or ponds. It reproduces primarily through fragmentation. A lake or pond can be infested from a single fragment of milfoil. The penalty: In 2001, the Legislature passed a tough invasive aquatic plant law that established an inspection system to check boats for plant fragments and created a rapid response protocol for lakes when invasive plants are discovered. The law made it illegal to transport any aquatic plant on the outside of a vehicle, or to sell, propogate, or introduce to Maine waters any of the eleven invasive aquatic plants. Violations may result in fines up to $500. Eradication: States already infested with Eurasian water milfoil have had little success eradicating the invasive plant. Methods tried have included herbicides and mowing the plants. Researched and compiled by Susan Butler, library assistant

AUGUSTA — The Baldacci administration will increase funding for programs that protect Maine's lakes from invasive aquatic plants, the state's top environmental official said Friday. Dawn Gallagher, the new commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, told about 150 people attending the fourth annual Maine Milfoil Summit that spending on the boat inspections that help keep unwanted plants from spreading will more than double to $196,000.

She also said the boat inspection training program, which has been focused in southern and central Maine, will be expanded to the northern and eastern parts of the state. And, she said the administration is proposing a modest increase of $45,000 in the education programs budget this year.

It only takes a fragment of milfoil or some other invasive aquatic plant hitchhiking on a boat to infest a lake, and once it is established it is impossible to eradicate. The plants tend to spread quickly, often forming a mat of vegetation, and crowd out native plants. They destroy fish habitat and may ruin swimming, fishing, boating and other recreational activities on a lake.

Milfoil has already been found in more than a dozen Maine lakes. Last October an even worse threat, an extremely aggressive plant called hydrilla, was discovered on Pickerel Pond near Limerick.

Gallagher said the state will increase funds for local cost-share projects that fight invasive plants by $10,000, bringing that budget to $35,000. She said there will also be a "substantial" commitment of funds and personnel to work on the hydrilla issue at Pickerel Pond.

Much of the funding for Maine's programs to fight invasive aquatic plants comes from a new boat-sticker program that started last summer. Fees for the stickers are $10 for Maine residents and $20 for non-residents.

John McPhedran, coordinator of the invasives program for the DEP, said the sticker program brought in $910,000 last year from the sale of 92,000 stickers.

Despite predictions that the sticker program would not work without more education and enforcement, last year 86 percent of all boats that were inspected had one of the new stickers, and 94 percent of boats registered in Maine had one.

"The Fish and Wildlife people were blown away by the sticker compliance," McPhedran said. "I think we all were."

Last summer, more than 6,400 boats on 88 lakes were voluntarily inspected for invasive plants, along with 91 boats coming into Maine on the Maine Turnpike.

Peter Lowell of the Lakes Environmental Association said his group is developing a model ordinance that would require all boats to be inspected before they can be launched in local lakes.

"We're trying to achieve that balance between access and defending the lakes," he said.

Recreational access was a big issue at the conference, with several participants quizzing Gallagher about her stance on restricting access to lakes that are vulnerable to milfoil infestation. Before becoming DEP commissioner, Gallagher was deputy commissioner of the Department of Conservation, an agency that emphasizes recreation over the resource.

Bill Libby of the Messalonskee Lake Association said his group has asked the DEP to restrict access to Messalonskee Lake by closing a boat launch on Route 27 where the waters are infested with milfoil.

"We've been told 'Well, we don't have any data,' " he said. "Our point this year is we do have data. The results of inspections last year indicate that 42 percent of the boats leaving Messalonskee have milfoil on them, and these boats are headed for other Belgrade lakes, other central Maine lakes."

Gallagher said although she is used to being on "the other side," she will propose taking a serious look at restricting access on lakes that have milfoil problems.

Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at: mgoad@pressherald.com

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