Inspectors finding lack of awareness of milfoil problem

Friday, June 24, 2005

By BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer

INDUSTRY -- Inspectors on Clearwater Lake are once again out examining propellers and looking under boat trailers, searching for tiny remnants of invasive water plants that could turn the clear water into a weed-choked mess.

Clearwater Lake Association has been awarded a $1,500 matching grant from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to help bolster its weekend inspection program by hiring two area students, Ben Wooden and Allison Saviello. The team will check incoming and outgoing watercraft from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Association spokeswomanLynn Werner said more volunteers are needed to work the 6 a.m. to noon shift on weekends and also all day Fridays.

"We need as much help as we can get," she said. "The reality is that we would have to be out here 24 hours a day -- I just wish people were more aware of the problem."

She said that in the past two weeks a surprising number of boats were from Massachusetts where 90 percent of the lakes have been colonized by invasive plants. What she found alarming was that some boaters seemed unaware of the problem and how the plants spread. Even the smallest fragment, kept dry for weeks, can turn green and come back to life when put in water.

Last summer, an invasive plant never seen in Maine lakes came close to entering Great Pond in Belgrade before it was intercepted by a local boat inspector. The plant hanging off a boat trailer from Rhode Island was Eurasian watermilfoil, a hardier cousin to variable-leaf watermilfoil, another non-native species already prospering in Messalonskee Lake, Cobbossee Stream and 18 other lakes across the state.

The owners had no milfoil sticker, which is mandatory in Maine lakes as part of state efforts to fund milfoil containment. Biologists said at the time that the fragments were enough to have colonized Great Pond.

Typically, a courtesy boat inspector makes a visual inspection of the wheel wells of trailers, and of propellers and motors on any watercraft, including personal water craft. They provide brochures on how to identify invasive plants, explain the need to inspect craft before and after every launch, note the boat's registration number, see if it is current, and ask to check tackle boxes where plant debris could be stuck on a fishing lure, Werner said.

A few quick survey questions owners what lakes the boat has last visited, and inspectors note when the boat arrives and leaves. The information is submitted to the Lakes Environmental Association in Bridgton, which compiles the data for the Department of Environmental Protection.

Milfoil grows so aggressively that it quickly chokes out everything else in the water, blocking sunlight, other plants, and fish, making lakes often impassable to humans in a surprisingly short time. Communities are forced to fund costly control measures since only limited state money is available. Under Maine law, it is illegal to place or operate a water craft on inland waters without a lake and river protection sticker and it is against the law to transport any aquatic plant, native or non-native, on the outside of a vehicle, boat, trailer or equipment. Fines can be up to $5,000 per violation.

For information, call Werner at 778-9477 or visit the Maine Congress of Lakes Association Web site at www.mainecola.org.