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In This Issue

1. Conference Update and Registration Reminder
2. Thaw(tful) Insights: Maine's Newest Aquatic Threats
3. Building the Freshwater Education Network
4. Loons Returning to Maine's Lakes and Ponds
5. Legislative Wins for Lakes
6. From Our Colleagues

Conference Update and Registration Reminder

Friday June 21st

Olsen Student Center at the University of Maine at Farmington

www.lakeconferencemaine.org

Please note that our Early Bird Registration rate ends April 30th!

If you haven’t registered yet for what is sure to be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the value and legacy of our lakes, and to network with fellow lake advocates, now is a great time to secure your place. Space is limited and registration is filling up quickly!

We hope to see you there!

Speaker Spotlight:

Adam Daigneault and Melissa Genoter

Keynote Address: Valuing the Economic Benefits of Maine's Great Ponds in the 21st Century

We are thrilled to have Dr. Daigneault, EL Giddings Associate Professor of Forest Policy and Economics in the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources, and Melissa Genoter, soon-to-be graduate in the Ecology and Environmental Sciences program at UMO, jointly present the keynote address summarizing three years of research about the economic values associated with our lakes and ponds. Titled “Valuing the Economic Benefits of Maine’s Great Ponds in the 21st Century,” the talk will review their research findings about how clean lakes create value for drinking water sources, summer camps, real estate, and recreation totaling over $14 billion and how perceptions of water quality affect economic activity. Using economic data to support lake protection policies can be a very useful tool for influencing decision makers and keeping the legacy of Maine’s clean lakes strong for future generations.

A huge thank you to Hammond Lumber Company for once again being a Champion Conference Sponsor with a contribution of $5,000. Their donation is helping us keep registration fees down, cover costs for renting the conference facility, and provide conference attendees with a fun (and useful) item that will help them take action to clean, drain and dry their boats. Thank you to the Hammond family and everyone at Hammond Lumber Company for all you do to support clean lakes! 

Order your conference t-shirt today!

We have set up an account with Custom Ink so that you can order your conference swag now and have it in time to wear at the conference! There are a variety of styles and colors to choose from. Order yours today and help support the lakes conference.

Thaw(ful) Insights Webinar Series

Swollen Bladderwort photo by Debbie Broderick

Maine's Newest Aquatic Threats

Thursday, April 18

5 p.m. via Zoom

Join Brett Willard and Christine Guerrette from Lake Stewards of Maine for the last in our winter webinar series. 

In early 2023, four new plants were added to Maine’s watch list for potentially invasive aquatic plants. Since their addition, three new infestations of one of these new invaders have been discovered in Maine lakes, with likely more to come. In this webinar,

 the Aquatic Invasive Species team at Lake Stewards of Maine will discuss how to identify these four plants and their native lookalikes, and how LSM is engaging with lake communities with active infestations. 

This event is free, but registration is required. Click here to register. 

Building the Freshwater Education Network

With the support of the Sewall Foundation and the Onion Foundation, Maine Lakes is launching an effort to build a long-awaited Freshwater Education Network for Maine. We are pleased to share that Tamara Whitmore, experienced freshwater educator and former Executive Director at the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed, has agreed to lead this effort for Maine Lakes and recently joined our staff as a contract employee. The list of things to accomplish for the network is long, but we know this effort is in good hands with Tamara at the helm!

Freshwater education is a compelling and relevant topic to use as an integrative context for learning for Maine students. However, access to engaging, hands-on freshwater learning is not equally accessible for all students across the state. Often high-quality freshwater education is limited to schools that are in the service area of an environmental nonprofit or classrooms with teachers personally interested/invested in the subject. 

We envision that the Freshwater Education Network will bring together experienced water educators, classroom teachers, school administrators, education advocacy groups, and stakeholders like lake association members who might be involved in community education. These collaborators will work together on tools and systems to overcome barriers to freshwater education materials, support, and programming. The members of the network will also work to define principles of freshwater education and to find ways to promote professional development opportunities, advocate for freshwater education as an integrative context for learning, provide support systems for less experienced educators and new programs, cultivate private public partnerships to increase students access to freshwater education, and develop evaluation methods to assess the long-term impact of this work. Building the network is no small job!

Tamara is spending her time now networking with staff at the Department of Education and at statewide organizations such as the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, the Maine Environmental Education Association, and the Nature Based Education Consortium. She is reviewing state learning standards and reading through the new Community-based Environmental Learning Census that was just released in February of this year. As the summer approaches, she’ll be attending education conferences around the state to connect with more freshwater educators. She’ll be working with Maine Lakes staff to start building a webpage as a foundation for information sharing, and she’ll be bringing new members to the Network steering committee, a talented and experienced group that first met last summer and will help the Network grow over the next two years.

Have ideas or want to be more involved with the Freshwater Education Network, email Tamara for more information!

Meet Tamara Whitmore

Freshwater Education Network Manager

Originally from Pennsylvania, Tamara Whitmore came to Maine “as quickly as she could,” first to work at Sugarloaf from 1995 to 1997, and then permanently in 2004 after an eight year stint in Vermont. First during a one-year Americorps service member program with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, followed by sixteen years working for Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed in central Maine, Tamara developed a passion for educating others about the critical need to protect Maine’s aquatic resources. 



Tamara is thrilled to partner with Maine Lakes to help support individuals, organizations, and schools in using Maine’s freshwater ecosystems as an integrative context for learning, and to build a network that aids and promotes this work. Tamara lives in Gardiner, Maine with her husband, Shawn, and their furry and finned family. A true Pisces, no day is complete without connecting to water and the best days are when she can help others make their own connections.

Loons Returning to Maine's Lakes and Ponds

Photo by Daniel Poleschook

With ice-out happening right now, one of Maine’s most iconic creatures, the Common Loon, returns from the Atlantic coast where most have spent their winter. In fact, with early ice-out on many lakes, loons may have already arrived in your area. 

Male loons are often the first to return in the spring. They seek to establish their breeding territories and refresh the bond with their mate who they probably have not seen since last fall. In some cases, terrific battles can occur between territorial males at this time of the year. Watch for them performing what is sometimes referred to as a “penguin” display where they rear up and almost run vertically across the water. It is one of the ways males show their fitness and readiness for a mate. 

Once breeding pairs have formed, mated loons will look for an appropriate nest site along an accessible shoreline, island, or marshy area. Although loons do not nest every year, breeding pairs usually select their sites and begin brooding eggs from mid-May to mid-June. Of course, this may vary depending on your pond’s location and when ice-out occurs. Eggs are incubated by both parents for roughly 28 days. This means chicks can be expected to hatch from late June to mid-July. 

Be on the lookout for loons on your pond this season, but review How Close is Too Close to make sure you know how to avoid inadvertently disturbing nesting or chick rearing. 

Another way to help is to join the Look Out for Loons program. This is an education initiative designed to inform lake users on how to decrease loon disturbance and increase productivity during nesting season.

It is not too late to get involved for the upcoming 2024 season!

Email Project Manager James Reddoch for more information, including links to training videos and webinars.

Legislative Wins for Lakes

This Legislative Session was fast and furious! A short “emergency” session, there we several important lake bills that successfully made it through committee and past the governor’s desk. 

These bills could not have succeeded without help from all of you! 

Grassroots activists, LakeSmart volunteers, lake association members and so many others wrote letters and spoke in front of committees, making it clear to legislators that lakes deserve strong, thoughtful, and effective protection policies. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Ches Gundrum at Maine Audubon for being our eyes and ears in the halls of the State House. She helped get many of these bills over the finish line and we loved working with her during the session. Thank you, Ches!

Protecting our Shorelines: LD 2101

Municipalities and the Land Use Planning Commission will have crucial new tools at their disposal to enforce existing shoreland zoning rules and to counter egregious violators. This bill will allow them to suspend or revoke shoreland zoning permits and place liens on properties in violation of shoreland zoning rules, better protecting water quality and wildlife habitat, especially nesting loons.

Support for Reducing Invasive Species Spread: LD 2141 and LD 1342

Invasive plants—including milfoils, Curly-leaf pondweed, Parrot Feather, European naiad, and more—accidentally introduced to Maine waters disrupt habitat, displace native wildlife, harm lake water quality, and reduce fishing and recreational opportunities. 

LD 2141 will add $2M to the Invasive Aquatic Plant and Nuisance Species Fund to help address the most serious invasive aquatic plant infestations. Last month, more than 600 supporters signed a petition organized by Maine Audubon and signed by many of you urging the Legislature's Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee to fund the bill. We are awaiting word from this committee with a final funding amount and hope that it is close to what was asked as we know the need for invasive species risk reduction is great. 

LD 1342 will adjusts the cost of the Lake and River Protection Sticker, which all motorized watercraft must display in Maine, by $10 in 2025 and again in 2028. The change will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars to help combat invasive species spread and reduce the serious risks to Maine’s lakes and waterways. 

Managing Wakesurfing to Protect Lake Health: LD 2284

Wake boats are a relatively new sight on Maine's lakes, and their impacts to both lake health and human safety have raised concerns among lake volunteers, shoreland homeowners, and other boaters. Wakesurfing is one of the main operating modes for wakeboats, creating very large wakes that can be ridden on a surf board, with no tow rope. While a great activity far from shore, where the large waves have time to dissipate, wakesurfing too close to shore allows the large waves to erode shorelines, swamp and sink boats, pose serious danger for swimmers and other boaters, and wash eggs out of loon nests. Maine Lakes staff participated in a stakeholder group organized last fall by the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that made several recommendations for legislation to help address wake boat impacts. (Your can read the report here). This bill, which was enacted at the beginning of April, addresses several issues raised in the report and will prohibit wakesurfing less than 300' from shore and in water less than 15' deep. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will report back to the committee in three years on how the new law is working.

LD 2884 will prohibit a motorboat engaging in wakesurfing within 300 feet of shore and in water less than 15 feet deep. While we had originally advocated for this distance to be 500 feet, a distance supported by research in the field, this bill is a start in raising awareness about the risks of wakesurfing too close to shore. We believe there is space for everyone on Maine’s lakes. Reducing impacts from activities that erode shores and damage habitat by moving them away from shore is a great way to both keep the activity on the lake and to protect the resource, clean water, that is so vital to our boating industry.

From Our Colleagues

New “Maine’s Most Unwanted” Poster

Thanks to our colleagues at Lake Stewards of Maine for updating the "Maine's Most Unwanted" educational poster. The poster features scientifically accurate line drawings of the 15 aquatic invasive plants on Maine's watch list. Click here for the poster. For best results, Lake Stewards recommends printing the poster on folio size (11x17) paper.

Student Poster Contest: The Lake is Calling

Know an aspiring young artist (in grades K-12)? The North American Lake Management Society is looking to celebrate Lakes Appreciation Month (July) by inviting elementary, middle, and high school students to submit posters reflecting on how important lakes are to all of us. The theme this year is “The Lake is Calling” and more details can be found here. Submitted artwork will be a big part of NALMS’ celebrations through July across North America. Artwork must be emailed in by June 14th. Show us your love for lakes by sharing this invitation with a young friend today!

Look for our next newsletter in May!  

We'll have conference updates and some tips for spring yardwork that protects lake health! 

Click here if you would like to support this enews publication by donating to Maine Lakes. Thank you!

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