Sign Up Today: 12th Annual Paddle Trek

Saturday, July 31st | 7AM - 3PM

Join us for all or just a part of this 15-mile guided paddle from Mt. Vernon Village to Wayne Village, traveling along many of the lakes, ponds and streams that form the “30 Mile River.” Download our flyer here.

Click here for more details and to register for the Trek today!

Become "LakeSmart" in the

30 Mile River Watershed

It’s hard to believe that one person’s expansive lawn or eroding camp road could be a threat to something as large and enduring as a lake. But when added to a shoreline full of similar sites, it can. All stormwater that gets into a lake carries nutrients. Over time, the cumulative impact can be thousands of pounds of pollutants. The result, “death by a thousand cuts,” means algae blooms, fish kills, and the loss of water clarity and spawning habitat.

What is LakeSmart?

LakeSmart is an education and reward program that helps lakefront homeowners manage landscapes in ways that protect water quality. The program is free, non-regulatory, and voluntary. Trained volunteers perform property assessments for participating homeowners. Homeowners receive individualized suggestions for keeping pollutants in stormwater out of lake waters. Sites that score well earn the coveted LakeSmart Award, consisting of two distinctive signs that can be posted at the waterfront and driveway. The signs identify the homes of good stewards and illustrate what lake-friendly living looks like.

To be “LakeSmart” means that the homeowners are using natural landscaping strategies to protect their lake. LakeSmart landscaping mimics nature’s rich mosaic with plants, shrubs, winding paths, and shady trees – so it looks great, enhances privacy, and protects property values, wildlife habitat, water quality, recreational opportunities and the vitality of local economies.

If each homeowner does a little, the sum of many small actions adds up to a lot of lake protection. And being LakeSmart is the place to start!

30 Mile partners with Maine Lakes as a regional LakeSmart “HUB” support center, helping our lake associations deliver LakeSmart education, property-by-property and shore-by-shore to create a conservation ethic across the lake community.

Request an Evaluation Today!

If you are interested in having a LakeSmart evaluation completed for your property, please contact the following LakeSmart team coordinators in the 30 Mile watershed:

Flying Pond: Cindy Ripley, flyingpond@gmail.com
Parker & David Ponds: Deb Cayer, debbiecayer@gmail.com
Androscoggin Lake: Buddy Cummings, lakesmart@androscogginlake.org

If your lake or pond is not listed above, please contact 30 Mile’s Program Manager, Whitney Baker (whitney@30mileriver.org / 207-860-4043) to schedule your evaluation.

For more information about Maine Lakes’ LakeSmart Program & landowner resources visit: www.lakes.me/lakesmart

Lovejoy Pond

Watershed Survey Results

In 2020, 30 Mile collaborated with Lovejoy Pond Improvement Association, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and the University of Maine at Farmington to complete the Lovejoy Pond Watershed Survey.

Visit 30 Mile's website for a summary of the results and a link to the full report.

Board Member Spotlight

Cindy Ripley was born and raised in Rhode Island, where she spent most of her career as a middle school science teacher. One of her activities was a 10-year project raising Atlantic salmon with middle schoolers to restore the population in Rhode Island rivers. Her family has been coming to Flying Pond for generations and she has continued that tradition for 45 years, appreciating many of the beautiful lakes and ponds in Maine with family and friends.

Cindy has always loved being outdoors, the water, plants and animals, environmental education, and exploring. Her background in science education and a lifelong passion for the natural world is a tremendous asset to her work on the 30 Mile River Water Association and Flying Pond Improvement Association Boards. In explaining her passion for this work Cindy said, “The connected beauty of our 30 Mile River Watershed is a fragile balance and I want to do everything possible to help protect it for future generations.” Cindy is an Invasive Plant Patrol volunteer and the coordinator of Flying Pond's new LakeSmart program.

Cindy and her family enjoy being outdoors walking, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, paddle boarding, gardening, and traveling to national parks. She is an active photographer, and spends many a summer sunrise in her canoe paddling around the pond for a glimpse of wildlife. Cindy joined our board in January.

Androscoggin Milfoil Update

To read prior updates, visit our website.

Throughout June, our staff continued surveying the north end of the Inner Cove, carefully and methodically searching for variable water-milfoil and marking those plants with buoys until they could be removed. They found milfoil scattered throughout an area roughly 200 yards by 50 yards, larger than we had initially thought. On June 29th, DEP staff returned for the second round of plant removal that month. Two weeks later, the milfoil had not yet regrown, which was encouraging. Photo: Variable milfoil has feather-divided leaves.

Meanwhile, the volunteer force on the lake is growing. In late June, 30 Mile staff teamed up with Androscoggin’s lake association (ALIC) to train new invasive plant patrol volunteers.. Added to the previously trained volunteers, this “Eyes on the Water” team is now 40+ strong. These volunteers are assigned separate sectors of the lake to survey. 30 Mile staff and volunteers are also working together to survey several larger areas of the lake not previously surveyed. Our goal is to have most of the lake surveyed by mid-August to verify that the infestation is isolated to the Inner Cove. Photo: Volunteers attending plant patrol training co-hosted by Androscoggin’s lake association (ALIC) and 30 Mile

If you’d like to join the volunteer effort, please contact Lidie at lidie@30mileriver.org. A second volunteer training is planned for August 24th.

What else can you do to help? Stay out of the infested area and tell your friends and neighbors to do the same. We must keep this infestation from spreading to other parts of the lake.

Enter Today! Summer Photo Contest

Do you take a lot of photos on the lakes, ponds and streams that make up the 30 Mile River Watershed? Share your favorites with us for a chance to win! The categories are: Fun Times, Watershed Wildlife, Flourishing Flora and Spectacular Scenes. Learn more and enter here.

2020 winning photos. Photographers from left to right: Karen Kurkjian, Ted Becker, Karen Kurkjian, Barbara Chisholm, Christine Merchant, Michael O'Malley, John West & Andy Tolman