Six Maine organizations are working
together to raise $4,000,000 over the next three years to control
and contain variable leaf milfoil (VWM) in Maine waterbodies. As
a first step, the group is seeking $1,250,000 as part of the fiscal
year 2009 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Partners
include the Little Sebago Lake Association, Saint Joseph’s
College, the Maine Congress of Lake Associations, the Maine Volunteer
Lake Monitoring Program, the Lakes Environmental Association, and
Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed.
In addition to the $1,250,000 federal
earmark, the partnership will pursue $800,000 in competitive Federal
grants, and seeks to raise $250,000 in private donations. State
funds have already been allocated for controlling invasive aquatic
plants. At the start, the initiative will focus on a seven-lake
test bed where proven control methods will be applied and evaluated
for the dual purposes of plant control and developing a best practices
guide for plant managers. Saint Joseph’s
College has contracted with Jackey Bailey to oversee the applied
research component under the direction of Dr. Mark Green of the Saint
Joseph’s College faculty.
Representatives of the Little Sebago
Lake Association, Saint Joseph’s
College, and Maine COLA presented the Milfoil Initiative to Maine’s
congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., at the end of February.
All four Maine delegates included the Milfoil Initiative in their
letters of request to the Appropriations Committee in March. The
Appropriations Committee will present its final Appropriations Bill
in the fall, and the House and Senate will most likely vote on it
in early 2009, due to the timing of the presidential election. If
the partners are awarded the earmark, the funds will be available
for summer, 2009.
What Lakes Will Participate and How Will the Funds be Used?
Phase 1 will involve a seven lake test bed that will include Sebago
and Little Sebago lakes. 5 other infested lakes will be selected
by a competitive process run by the partners under the direction
of Maine COLA and the Maine VLMP. Funds will be used to supply
technical assistance to citizen lake groups engaged in controlling,
containing, and trying to eradicate VWM infestations; some will
be used for research to determine the most effective ecologically
sound techniques and to create a best practices guide for use in
Maine and elsewhere. Saint Joseph’s will receive a contribution
for its marine and freshwater laboratory and to fund the applied
research. Maine COLA and Maine VLMP will receive compensation for
project management and the creation and dissemination of the guide.
What’s
the Timing of the Initiative?
Representatives of the Little Sebago Lake Association, Saint Joseph’s
College, and Maine COLA presented the Milfoil Initiative to Maine’s
congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., at the end of February.
All four Maine delegates included the Milfoil Initiative in their
letters of request to the Appropriations Committee in March. The
Appropriations Committee will present its final Appropriations Bill
in the fall, and the House and Senate will most likely vote on it
in early 2009, due to the timing of the presidential election. If
the partners are awarded the earmark, the funds will be available
for the 2009 open water season.
Talking points and background:
- The proposal is a cost effective,
consensus based initiative of local, regional and state lake
groups and Saint Joseph’s
College.
- The proposal outlines a targeted and strategic intervention:
Containing variable leaf milfoil now, while the number of affected
sites is still manageable, will lessen the risk exponential spread
and widespread environmental damage. Targeting
action on waterbodies which pose the greatest risk of spread focuses
assets on the greatest source of danger; this serves to shield other Maine lakes while
providing a valuable study sample. The research component will
yield guidance to increase the effectiveness of future plant management.
- The funding sought will initiate
the most comprehensive milfoil mitigation project in Maine history.
- Saint Joseph’s College has named Jackey Bailey, Maine’s
leading academic expert on milfoil mitigation, to oversee research
under the direction of Dr. Mark Green of the college’s Natural
Science Department.
- 25 of Maine’s 28 infested
waterbodies have variable leaf milfoil (VWM) infestations.
- In neighboring New Hampshire,
where 58 lakes are infested with variable leaf milfoil, this “plant is taking over one
to three new lakes a year.” (NH, DES)
- Maine has already
experienced property value declines due to variable leaf milfoil. The 2007
tax revaluation in the town of Limerick, Maine, took account
of Lake Arrowhead’s variable
leaf milfoil infestation by lowering Arrowhead’s lakefront
property values 10%, and added a provision for an additional 10%
devaluation for those properties with especially heavy plant growth
offshore.
Where can I read the Proposal?
Follow this link: Maine Milfoil Infestation, Mitigation, Eradication,
Research and Education Initiative
