LakeSmart September E-news

September LakeSmart News

Hello Maine Lakes,

I hope you've had a wonderful summer! I feel like I'm just catching my breath after a lively LakeSmart evaluation season. Our evaluators have been busy, completing over 200 LakeSmart evaluations thus far this season - what a feat!

Interactive Map of Active LakeSmart Programs
2023 LakeSmart Evaluator Trainings in a Nutshell
BMP Videography at Georges Pond
Kezar Lake Demonstration Day Video
Coordinators,Track your Evaluation Progress!

Thank you all for your generous contributions of time and effort towards the LakeSmart Program once again!

Caroline

cmurray@lakes.me

Active LakeSmart Lakes Interactive Map

Check out this interactive map of active LakeSmart lakes in Maine! There are 73 lakes active within the program, meaning that they have completed at least one evaluation within the last three years. We had nine new lakes sponsoring the LakeSmart program this year. Several of these new lakes are re-launching LakeSmart programs, having been involved when the program was administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Click on a red location symbol for active lakes on the map to see the number of LakeSmart evaluations completed in each of the last three years (updated as of 9/5/23).

2023 On-Site LakeSmart Evaluator Trainings in a Nutshell

LakeSmart volunteers from York to Aroostook Counties participated in training sessions to prepare them to evaluate and score LakeSmart standards for water quality protection. Here's a roundup of this year's trainings:

Evaluator trainings were completed at 14 lakes.
108 volunteers from 32 lakes attended training sessions.
Trainees included new LakeSmart volunteers and current Evaluators interested in a "refresher".

Trainees at the shoreline of Bear Pond (Photo A.Stevens)

Best Management Practices (BMPs) Videography

Ben Keller with Keller Media Works was busy this summer capturing some wonderful footage of BMP installations and "What LakeSmart Looks Like". He spent the day with John and Ginger Eliasberg, LakeSmart Coordinators at Georges Pond, where he filmed different areas of their property, highlighting certain LakeSmart attributes and BMPs. The footage he filmed this summer will become the next few videos in the "Keeping Lakes Healthy" video series that highlight different Best Management Practices and how to install them.

Kezar Lake Demonstration Day

Check out this video created by the Kezar Lake Watershed Association! KLWA brought together Colin Holme from Lakes Environmental Association and Mark Priola from Green Artisan Design to demonstrate how to make LakeSmart improvements to a property. During this demonstration day, a group from the community worked on installing water bars along a shoreline trail to divert stormwater from directly entering the lake. This video is a fantastic way to show homeowners how simple making improvements to their property can be!

Coordinators, Track Your Evaluation Progress!

Curious about the status of LakeSmart evaluations completed at your lake? Lake Coordinators can log into the Survey123 Data Manager and monitor the status of evaluation reviews. Click on the "Info" pane, scroll to the bottom and look for Coordinator or MLS Reviews. If you are a Lake Coordinator, contact Andrea (astevens@lakes.me) for access credentials for this view of Survey123.

LakeSmart is a highly successful, community-based program that educates homeowners about how to manage their lakefront properties in ways that protect water quality.

For more information and to subscribe to this e-newsletter, visit us at our website.

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