BELGRADE — Lake association groups are planning to station "courtesy boat inspectors" at area boat launches this summer in an attempt to stop exotic plant species from spreading throughout the Belgrade Lakes.
In a move that is being duplicated in other high-risk areas across Maine, lake lovers are gearing up to scrutinize boats and trailers for dangling plant fragments of any kind.
Experts believe most invasive plant infestations occur when fragments are transferred accidentally from lake to lake on boats, motors or boat trailers.
The Belgrade chain of lakes is particularly vulnerable to the problem because the south end of Messalonskee Lake and Belgrade Stream are already infested with variable-leaf watermilfoil, a nonnative underwater plant.
For people like Marilyn J. Eccles, a Sidney resident with a Juniper Lane home on Messalonskee Lake, the inspections for milfoil are no joke.
"It's not just at the south boat launch and in the stream anymore," Eccles said. "There's other shallow areas where it's cropping up, including right in front of my own house."
Eccles said she can already see the distinctive bottle-brush vines of the milfoil growing under the water, and knows by midsummer they will have reached the surface and formed dense mats.
A single fragment of the brittle plant can start a new colony of the fast-growing milfoil, and the results can be disastrous, as they have been at the south end of Messalonskee, where acres of shallow water are choked with the vines.
Eccles is a member of the Messalonskee Lake Association, which is partnering with state agencies and the Belgrade Lakes Association to offer training for volunteer boat inspectors.
The first training session will be held at 10 a.m. May 18 at the North Belgrade Community Center.
Volunteers will be trained to deal with the public, to gather information, to inform boaters about the dangers of invasive and new laws prohibiting transfer of plant fragments on boats and gear, and to collect plant samples.
Organizers are hoping to station volunteers at all boat launches in the area this summer, particularly on weekends and holidays when boat traffic is highest, Eccles said.
While Maine has enacted stiff fines for anyone caught transporting exotic plans on boats or gear, volunteers will not enforce those laws, Eccles said.
"Absolutely not," Eccles said. "Their purpose is more about building awareness of the issue."
Roy Bouchard, a biologist with the state's Department of Environmental Protection, said volunteers handled a large proportion of some 3,200 inspections at 55 boat ramps in Maine last year.
Most boaters were more than willing to cooperate with the inspectors, and he anticipates volunteers will have no problems this summer if they stick to their training, Bouchard said.
That training is based on guidelines established by the Maine Warden Service, which is also conducting inspections, Bouchard said.
Educating the public about the threat is as important as the inspections themselves, Bouchard said.
"The key here is that we can't expect to get 100 percent inspections even on a ramp where we've got volunteers," Bouchard said. "What we can do is multiply the number of boater contacts we have, hoping that understanding and the self-inspection kind of message become widespread."
Anti-invasive efforts are being bankrolled with proceeds from new mandatory boat stickers that cost $10 for Maine residents and $20 for other boaters.
While a number of boat owners believe the sticker cost is excessive, Eccles disagreed.
"Some people are going to object to paying $10 for a sticker, but it's a small amount to pay for such an important issue," Eccles said.
The state is trying to stop the proliferation of variable watermilfoil within Maine, and to prevent other exotics like Eurasian watermilfoil from spreading into Maine from neighboring states.
Maine already has confirmed the presence of variable watermilfoil in Lake Auburn, Thompson Lake, Sebago Lake, the Songo River, Cushman Pond, Messalonskee Lake, Belgrade Stream, Little Androscoggin River, Pleasant Pond and a stream between Pleasant Pond and Parker Pond, Lake Arrowhead, and the Presumpscot River.
Bouchard said experts now believe they have identified the milfoil in Middle Range Pond and Little Sebago Lake as well.
Problems with invasive plant and animal species are nothing new; Since Europeans first colonized the North American continent, dozens of imported species have drastically altered the landscape and the natural ecosystems.
Introduced species include such common plants and animals as burdocks and dandelions, rock doves and green crabs, and Asian ladybugs and brown trout.
Other invasives were already on the continent and have simply been introduced accidentally or deliberately in areas where they do not belong. A good example in Central Maine is the Northern Pike, which now cruises most of the Belgrade Lakes but is native to areas of Canada and the Great Lakes.
Jonathan Humphrey — 207-861-9252