This month we hosted our first open house in our new space in Mt. Vernon Village. Over 150 people stopped by to meet our staff and board, learn about our programs, see native and invasive plant samples, explore the space, and hear what’s ahead. 

Thank you to local potter Jane Rodeheffer and candlemaker Brynne Robbins for donating the proceeds of items sold during the event to support our work!

Looking for another way to do your part to protect your lake? Become a LakeSmart volunteer! 

LakeSmart is an educational program for lakefront property owners. Volunteers provide free, non-regulatory evaluations for homeowners to determine if they merit a LakeSmart award and provide suggestions for future improvements. Becoming a trained volunteer takes about three hours and provides you with everything you need to assist your neighbors’ efforts to protect our waters from pollution!

Join us on September 4th, from 6:30-7:30pm at our office at 6 Seavey Corner Road in Mt. Vernon, to hear from current volunteers about their experiences and learn how you can become an evaluator for your lake or pond. 

We are looking for evaluators on Echo Lake, Lovejoy Pond, and Pocasset Lake, and are always looking for more people to help share the LakeSmart message on other lakes and ponds as well. To register, visit our Upcoming Workshops & Training webpage.

Do you enjoy taking photos on the lakes, ponds, and streams that make up the 30 Mile River Watershed? 

Share your favorites with us by September 12th for a chance to win in our Annual Photo Contest!

The categories: Lovable Loons, Spectacular Scenes, and Watershed Wildlife (includes fish too, but not loons). 

Prizes this year:

• 1st Place - Choose from a t-shirt (many color options) or 30 Mile waterbottle
• 2nd Place - Choose from a 30 Mile hat or 30 Mile camp mug
• 3rd Place - Choose from a 30 Mile mug or a watershed map poster & sticker

Entries may also be featured in our annual watershed calendar or on a watershed puzzle.

Early this month, our Executive Director, Lidie Robbins, was a guest on Maine Public’s Maine Calling episode on algal blooms. She joined her colleagues at Maine DEP, Lake Stewards of Maine, and Maine Lakes to discuss what causes algal blooms and what can be done about them. It’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.

In 2023, swollen bladderwort was added to Maine’s list of unwanted aquatic invasive plants, making it illegal to import, sell, and transport it under state law. Not long after, it was discovered in Tilton Pond (Fayette) by a volunteer plant patroller. Although this species of bladderwort is not native to Maine and poses a threat, there are nine native species of bladderwort in Maine. How do you know if what you are looking at is native or invasive? There are a few distinguishing characteristics to look for. 

Of the nine native bladderworts here in the state, two are most commonly mistaken for the invasive: floating bladderwort and common bladderwort. 

Floating bladderwort, when flowering, can look very similar to the invasive swollen bladderwort. They each produce the same circular “wagon wheel” floats to support their snapdragon-like yellow flowers. However, the size of the native species’ floats is significantly smaller than the invasive (half or quarter the size!). Floating bladderwort’s underwater leaves are much more delicate, opposed to the robust ones of swollen bladderwort. While the majority of swollen bladderwort plants typically flower in late spring (May to early June), floating bladderwort typically flowers later in the season (mid-July and August). You can see lots of these flowers now! It’s important to note that each may be seen in flowers outside of the noted timeframes; flowering tendencies vary between waterbodies and years.

Common bladderwort does not produce the aforementioned wagon wheel-like floats, only snapdragon-like yellow flowers, making it easier to identify when in bloom. However, the leaves are more robust, similar to the invasive swollen bladderwort. One key difference lies in the arrangement of the bladders on each leaf. On common bladderwort, the large bladders appear in an orderly, parallel pattern along the leaves, while on the invasive swollen bladderwort, all bladders appear randomly scattered, with no clear pattern on the leaf (think of sprinkling pepper). For more on bladder arrangement and identifying bladderworts when not in flower, including a key and images, click here.

Photo: Native floating bladderwort (left) next to the much larger invasive swollen bladderwort. Both have wagon wheel-like floats and yellow flowers.

Conditions on Androscoggin Lake have now reached “lake-wide algal bloom” status, with the most recent Secchi Disk Transparency (water clarity) reading taken on 8/19/2025 at just 1.84 meters. The State of Maine defines the threshold for a “lake-wide algal bloom” at 2 meters and a “harmful algal bloom” (or HAB) at 1 meter of water clarity. 

This is the fourth out of the past five years that the lake has experienced a lake-wide bloom. This year’s bloom appeared just over a week later than last year's. 

The type of algae (cyanobacteria) identified in Androscoggin Lake in past years (2024, 2023, and 2021) is called Dolichospermum. This is the most common bloom-forming species in Maine lakes. Under certain conditions, this type of cyanobacteria can release toxins that are harmful to animals and humans. The reasons cyanobacteria produce toxins is not well understood, and standard monitoring techniques cannot predict when a bloom has toxins in it. Please refer to this Maine DEP webpage and our Androscoggin Bloom Latest Updates webpage for additional information, guidelines, and updates. And remember, when in doubt, stay out.

Yesterday, nearly 40 board members from all nine lake associations within the 30 Mile River Watershed came together to get to know each other, share successes and challenges, and collaborate. Discussion topics included membership, invasives, communications, and volunteer recruitment. We were thrilled to be able to facilitate this first-time event in our new space!