Looking for a way to protect the lake from harmful algal blooms? Building your shoreline buffer with woody vegetation is a key step you can take to help keep polluted stormwater runoff from getting into the lake. Using live stakes, or woody-shrub cuttings, is a low cost and easy way to build your buffer. 

30 Mile is now taking orders for live stakes to be planted this fall! Planting will be done in early November by 30 mile staff, or stakes will be available for pick-up by landowners. Please fill out this online form and we will use the information to select the species best suited for your property.

Live stakes are cuttings from established native woody-shrubs. Once plugged into the ground, live stakes root quickly to help establish buffer vegetation and stabilize hard-to-plant shorelines. Live stakes are a great low-cost, low-maintenance option for shoreline stabilization and grow best when installed during late-fall and early-spring, when the plants are dormant. For more information, including potential species, click here.

If you have any additional questions about our Live Stakes program or questions about the form, please contact our Water Quality Specialist, Sara, at sara@30mileriver.org. 

Photo: A meadowsweet live stake beginning to leaf out 3 weeks after being planted along Lovejoy Pond.

Over the past three months, 30 Mile, Basin-David-Tilton Ponds Association (BDTPA), and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MEDEP) have dedicated significant time to surveying David Pond for the aquatic invasive plant swollen bladderwort (Utricularia inflata). The plant is well established in Tilton Pond, just a few hundred yards upstream.  

30 Mile staff completed two pond-wide surveys by kayak: the first during the first week of June when the plant was in peak bloom (most visible) in Tilton, and the second during the second week of August. Throughout the season, BDTPA volunteers have continuously monitored shoreline areas. On September 8th, MEDEP completed a dive-tow survey in the portion of David Pond closest to the inlet from Tilton Pond. Dive-tow surveys involve a scuba diver being towed behind a boat through deeper waters not visible from the surface, ensuring thorough coverage of the pond’s littoral zone, where sunlight reaches the bottom and aquatic plants can live.

No swollen bladderwort was found in David Pond during any of these efforts.

The absence of swollen bladderwort in David Pond is an encouraging and significant finding for not only David Pond, but also other downstream lakes and ponds from an ecological, recreational, and economic perspective. Preventing the spread of this aggressive species downstream and elsewhere remains a top priority for 30 Mile and MEDEP. Multiple professional engineers from MEDEP have met with representatives from 30 Mile, MEDEP, and the Town of Fayette to assess and recommend containment strategies at Tilton Pond’s outlet. These recommendations are in addition to the two nets 30 Mile currently has in place, which are aimed at capturing any fragments before they can move downstream. Work to implement recommended strategies will begin this fall.

We thank Lake View Estates for allowing 30 Mile to access the pond and store kayaks, Parker Lake Shores Recreation Association for use of the boat launch, the volunteer plant surveyors who have generously contributed their time on the water, and those who've taken an interest in learning to identify the plant in the event they happen to see it.

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 30th 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). We especially need Spectacular Scene photos!

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.

Our Secchi Disk Transparency (water clarity) readings this past month measured a further decline in Androscoggin Lake’s water quality. On September 18th, we took a reading of 0.95 meters, following our 0.96 meter reading earlier this month. Both readings were taken at our regular monitoring station, at the deepest spot of the lake. The Maine DEP’s threshold for a “harmful algal bloom" (HAB) is a water clarity reading of less than 1.0 meters. We do not recommend swimming in any areas of the lake when the water clarity declines below 1 meter at the monitoring station.

Additionally, there have been numerous reports of algal (cyanobacteria) scum accumulations along the shoreline. Cyanobacteria may release toxins, with the highest concentrations found in scums. These scums should be avoided. 30 Mile has collected samples at these locations, in addition to algal samples at our regular monitoring station for cyanotoxin and taxonomy analysis.

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.

There are many things that make up a lake's ecosystem. Sometimes, things we see are concerning, but other times they are a natural part of a healthy lake. Have you seen any of the following in your lake or pond?

For further exploration, visit A Field Guide to Aquatic Phenomena. If you find something that you’re unfamiliar with, snap a photo and reach out to us to help you identify and better understand what’s in your lake. 

While surveying Jug Stream in Monmouth, a volunteer plant patroller from the Cobbosse Watershed noticed a suspicious plant she recognized from a Lake Stewards of Maine Live Plant I.D. workshop earlier this year in Wayne. The plant was confirmed as water chestnut (Trapa natans), making it the first known discovery of this species in a Maine waterbody. The discovery marks the fifth known aquatic invasive species in our neighboring watershed. For the full press release, click here.

Photo credit: Watershed Friends