Information you can use,
research you can trust

Welcome to the first online edition of Rip Rap and Roll.  After ten years of producing our newsletter in print form, it is time to move to the web.  John and I hope you continue to find that we provide timely, relevant information to help YOU protect your lakes in Maine!

--Laura Wilson, Water quality Assistant Scientist, University of Maine Cooperative Extension

• Requests for proposals for 319 grants announced: The primary objective of NPS projects is to prevent or reduce nonpoint source pollutant loadings entering water resources so that beneficial uses of the water resources are maintained or restored. Maine public organizations such as state agencies, soil and water conservation districts, regional planning agencies, watershed districts, municipalities, and nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organizations are eligible to receive NPS grants. The 2010 request for proposals is online at http://mainegov-images.informe.org/dep/blwq/docgrant/319.htm. For more information, contact Norm Marcotte at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection at (207) 287-3901.

The following Watershed Stewards Program lakes are submitting proposals this year:

• Branch Pond

• Dexter Lakes

• The Narrows (a result of our Lincoln Stewards Program)

• Pattees Pond (part of Belgrades Stewards Program)

• Pushaw Lake

Good luck to all!

• Workshops from the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program are announced - included are workshops for volunteer lake monitors and invasive aquatic plant patrollers:  www.mainevolunteerlakemonitors.org/workshops/

• Invasive species -- more than Milfoil! I’m certain that you’ve read the news articles about invasive aquatic plants over the past few years. These plants that spread rapidly and overwhelm the native flora of our waterways can do a lot of damage – and cost a lot of money to try to control.  The buzzword has been ‘milfoil’ but there are more aquatic species to be aware of than just milfoil, and there are species of milfoil that are native to Maine!

  Eleven plants are currently listed by the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants as Maine’s “Most Unwanted.” Two are milfoils; others include plants such as Water Chestnut and Hydrilla (which rhymes with Godzilla). More are coming, too, including an invasive algae commonly known as "Rock Snot" (now that's scary). 

  While the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Maine Department of Conservation are trying to keep on top of the issue, the real protection for local lakes are trained volunteers, willing to survey their lakes for suspicious plants, and willing to help inspect boats and equipment before those boats are launched into the water. Trainings on identifying invasive aquatic plants are being planned for this summer – so contact the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants at (207) 783-7733 for more details.

  Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants:
  www.mainevolunteerlakemonitors.org/mciap/

  Maine DEP’s invasives information:
  www.maine.gov/dep/blwq/topic/invasives/

  Maine Department of Conservation’s invasives information:
  www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/woodswise/invasive.html

  Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s invasives information:
  www.maine.gov/ifw/atv_snowmobile_watercraft/lake_river_sticker.htm

   

• Stewards program for Spring 09 announced:  this spring, we head to Milo to work with residents of Schoodic and Sebec Lakes.  The Watershed Stewards Program will run from April 30 - July 11.  I'm looking forward to welcoming more Stewards into our ever-growing family.  Other upcoming programs are planned for Beech Hill Pond in Otis for Fall 2009, and Cold Stream Pond and the Narrows in Enfiled/Lincoln for Spring 2010!  Look for more news about Watershed Stewards in upcoming months, as we look to expand the reach of our program.
   

• Spring ice out – and turnover!  Spring is here, warmer days and cooler nights, and soon the ice will be out on the lakes and ponds.  This is the time of year when those cold bottom waters of our lakes get refreshed with oxygen – as the lake ‘turns over’.

  The water in the lake doesn’t really exchange places.  In fact, as the sun warms the top layer of the lake after ice out, the water in the lake will all reach the same temperature.  Once that temperature is the same, then the density of the water will also be the same, and with very little wind energy put into the system, the water will mix.  Water on the surface will become oxygenated, and that oxygen-rich water will mix throughout the lake.

  Once the sun further warms the top layer of water, then the density difference between that warm water will cause it to ‘float’ on top of the cooler bottom water.  But that’s a topic for another day… called stratification.  Look for information on stratification later this spring/early summer!

  For more information, see www.waterontheweb.org/

  Portland Water District:  www.pwd.org/education/glossary/lake.php

  University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s factsheet on Ponds:
  www.extension.umaine.edu/waterquality/Publications/2378.htm

Do you have articles for us to publish in our next RipRap and Roll newsletter?  Do you have comments or suggestions for us?  Please contact Laura Wilson at (207) 581-2971, or e-mail lwilson@umext.maine.edu.