Roberta Hill

Roberta Hill is the featured speaker at the Megunticook Watershed Association’s Annual Meeting. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., July 13 at Camp Bishopswood in Hope.

 

 

Roberta Hill is an aquatic ecologist and environmental educator who has been has been active in the field of lake water quality protection and community outreach in Maine for the last fifteen years.  Roberta has led community-based projects ranging from watershed surveys, to non-point source remediation, to invasive aquatic plant monitoring, and has also been instrumental in the creation of some of Maine’s most successful and comprehensive environmental education programs for K-12 students. 

Roberta now works for the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program, the longest standing citizen lake monitoring program in the US, where she helped to establish the VLMP’s Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants.  Since its inception in 2003, the VLMP Center has worked in close collaboration with lake associations, conservation groups and State Government, to train nearly 2000 individuals, including volunteers, professionals, agency personnel, students, teachers and others, to screen Maine waterbodies for the presence of invasive aquatic plants.  The Center’s Invasive Plant Patrol program is now seen as a model for citizen-based early detection.  Roberta is the principal author of the Maine Field Guide to Invasive Aquatic Plants.

As we end our fiscal year, we have nearly 290 paid members. Our recent membership drive has already added 18 new members to the MWA family for the 2010-2011 fiscal year that began on May 1.

 On behalf of the board of directors, I thank all of you for joining , or in some cases rejoining, MWA . As in our past newsletters we have said that we to strive for a membership of 300 or more. Can this be the year that we make our goal? You will find a blue 2010-2011 membership card included with this newsletter. Please support MWA with your paid membership.

Membership dues and contributions are what sustain the Megunticook Watershed Association. Without everyone’s continued support , we would be unable to do all the work that we do. Our fiscal year, which just ended on April 30, shows a small deficit of $2,700. Our budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year again shows a deficit between our income and expenses.

The board of directors will continue to be conservative with our available funds, but must continue with our most important programs aimed at protecting and preserving our waters. We need everyone’s continued financial support through membership dues and contributions for this current fiscal year in order to help us meet our operating expenses.

Invasive plants continue to be on everyone’s minds, especially with the infestation discovered last fall on Damariscotta Lake – just miles from our watershed. We need to be able to continue with our summer intern program. At the time this report is being written, we have not received word on our grant money for this watercraft inspection program. More than 1,000 watercraft were inspected last summer.

Water quality monitoring has become a large expense - more than $3,000 last year - especially with the high bacteria counts experienced in Norton Pond last summer. Testing has already begun this year in several locations, so it is expected that this year’s expenses will be higher than last year, but we must continue to look for the source or sources of the pollution.. We encourage anyone who may be so inclined to contribute to this dedicated fund.

We have been extremely lucky to have Ken Bailey as our  full time executive director. Many thanks to all who contributed to his Holiday Bonus.

 So it goes without saying: we all must remain highly vigilant and do all we can to  protect our entire Watershed.

Jill Glover, Treasurer

glovwjjs@tidewater.net

August morning

The annual meeting of the Megunticook Watershed Association will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, July 13 at Camp Bishopswood just off Route 105 in Hope. There will be a guest speaker, committee reports and updates on the health of our waters. For additional information, call Ken at 207-446-4243.

   The official filing with the Maine Secretary of State gave the following as the purposes of this new Association: “The purposes of said corporation are scientific, educational and agricultural, and to improve and preserve the environment and the quality of Megunticook Lake and Norton Pond in Knox County and Waldo County in the State of Maine, and to conserve the natural resources in the watershed of said Norton Pond and Megunticook Lake so that such natural resources may be devoted to the scientific and social use of the residents of said watershed; to test the waters of said Pond and Lake, to discourage pollution thereof, to disseminate information about safety in boating and other water sports and to circulate printed information about the laws of Maine concerning sanitation and safety. To acquire and hold real estate for the purpose of preserving same in its natural state, maintaining the same for nature study.”

  The original trustees/directors signing the state certificate were: A. H. Chatfield, Jr., E. Clifford Ladd, Carlton F. Dougherty, Bernard Frankel, A. Margaret Bok, Lester Meyerhoff, Charles W. Chatfield, Arthur E. Spellissy and Stillman F. Kelley. Carlton Dougherty remains on the Board of Directors today, dedicating 40 years to the watershed.

  MWA has been testing water clarity in Megunticook Lake and Norton Pond since 1975 for the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program.

  Les Fleck resigned as Lake Warden in 1984 after 10 years of service.

  Ken Bailey hired as part-time Lake Warden in the fall of 1984.

  A few years after forming as the Megunticook Lake Association, the organization changed its name in 1985 to the Megunticook Watershed Association realizing that along with Megunticook Lake, the Megunticook River, Norton Pond, Moody Pond and the entire 32-square-mile watershed were of equal importance and should be included in all activities.

  The Megunticook Watershed Association purchased (1984-85) the two outlet dams at the lake and donated them, plus a $20,000 endowment fund, to the Town of Camden.

  Watercraft inspections for milfoil and other invasive aquatic plants have been conducted since 2001. In recent years, over 1,000 watercraft have been inspected annually.

  In conjunction with Camden Partners in Monitoring, water tests for bacteria have been conducted at multiple locations on the lake, pond and river for over 10 years.

  Ken Bailey was hired as full-time Executive Director/Lake Warden April 4, 2004 after many years in a part-time position with MWA..

  A Nonpoint Source Pollution Survey was conducted from 2005-2006.

The membership was surveyed in the spring of 2010 in an effort to assist the MWA Board of Directors plan for the long-range future of the Association.