Depending on who you ask and how you count, Maine has between 2000 and 6000 lakes. Each has unique natural and cultural features and this diversity of settings is reflected also in the many strategies employed to protect them. In this session, speakers will share tools and techniques that are being used successfully to monitor, control and educate residents about the protection of
Maine lakes.

Session Chair:
Paul Hunt, Portland Water District
Paul Hunt is the Environmental Manager for the Portland Water District. The District was chartered in 1908 in part to improve the protection of Sebago Lake - the source of water for 11 Greater-Portland communities - and a large part of Paul's role with the company is managing the District's watershed control program. Prior to coming to the District, Paul supervised the Source Protection Section of the Maine Drinking Water Program. Prior to that, he was an Environmental Permitting Specialist for Dragon Products Company.
 

Zach Henderson, Project Manager, ME DOT Surface Water Quality Protection Program
Hillier and Associates, Inc., 320 Water Street, Suite 3, Augusta, ME 04330, 207/626-0613, zhenderson@hillierinc.com / zachary.henderson@maine.gov

Maine Department of Transportation's Surface Water Quality Protection Program: Lessons learned from 6 years of BMP installation
For the past 6 years, the Maine Department of Transportation's Surface Water Quality Protection Program (SWQPP) has funded and constructed non-point source pollution mitigation projects associated with runoff from state roads. Although SWQPP project areas are limited, a range of mitigation practices from buffer plantings to proprietary stormwater treatment structures has been utilized. Efficacy of various practices will be reviewed using qualitative visual assessments of long-term integrity for buffers and a quantitative analysis of particle size distribution of sediment collected from structural controls. A short review of selected projects will follow to share lessons learned in the design and construction techniques.
 

Mary Ann McGarry, Associate Prof., College of Education & Human Development, University of Maine
101 Shibles Hall, Orono, ME 04469, 207/581-3107, maryann.mcgarry@umit.maine.edu

10 Tips for Transforming Education Through Technology: Linking lakes and laptops
The Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute offers a successful model for transforming education through technology. Our award-winning educational program is now featured on the George Lucas Educational Foundation's website at www.glef.org. We'll creatively present- with a little theatre, using a few costumes and props, and of course technology - our ten tips for productively engaging students and educators in a partnership for learning about the lakes in their community. You'll hear the valuable stories behind our Internet-based Students' Portal linked with the www.PEARL.maine.edu GIS-searchable database on freshwater resources. Our Student's Portal is more than just a website; it is a manifestation of how technology can turn young people into educational entrepreneurs and build stronger communities. As you'll see, with the laptops, students research, learn, share, communicate and perform community service as part of their MLCI project-based learning. This multi-disciplinary approach to education engages students of different abilities and interests in the active stewardship of their freshwater resources upon which so many Maine communities depend. MLCI is busy planning our expansion for more schools to join our Students' Portal. Learn how you can contribute as a sponsor or participant.
 

Nate Whalen, Portland Water District
1 White Rock Rd., Standish, ME 04084, (207) 774-5961 x 3313, nwhalen@pwd.org

Using Biological Indicators to Asses Areas for Watershed Protection
Because stream conditions change rapidly and depend on numerous factors (rainfall amounts, active construction projects etc.), it can be difficult to assess stream health based on intermittent sampling of traditional water quality parameters. However, by sampling the biological community of insects, one can asses stream conditions over the entire water-dependent portion of their life cycle. Insects have specific adaptations and pollution tolerance thresholds of the streams they inhabit. If sensitive organisms are found, one can be reasonably sure that the stream is healthy. If only tolerant organisms are found, one can be sure that the stream is polluted.

The Portland Water District uses this premise as one of many ways to target areas for watershed protection efforts. In the first year of sampling, rock bags were deployed on three streams throughout the watershed. Results showed nutrient enrichment on one of the streams. In the second year of sampling, rock bags were deployed on the enriched stream to identify where the enrichment begins. Results of the second year of sampling are in progress when this abstract was submitted and should be complete for the presentation at the April 21st Maine Water Conference.
 

Roberta Hill, Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants
24 Maple Hill Road, Auburn, ME 04210, 207-783-7733, vlmp@megalink.net

Looking Out for Lake Invaders...Building an Effective Early Detection Team
With over 6000 lakes and ponds and thousands of miles of stream habitat, the task of monitoring Maine waters for the presence of invasive aquatic species is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Invasive plants and animals are moved about in complex and often unseen ways. The speed at which a new introduction can explode into an ecologically and economically disastrous infestation is well-documented. No matter how comprehensive and aggressive our statewide prevention effort, chances are, some invasive organisms are still going to slip through the cracks.

If we truly want to have an effective, statewide "early detection system" we must act swiftly, vigorously and with unprecedented commitment to the "long haul." Not only must millions of acres of underwater habitat be screened by trained eyes, these same vast acres must be visited and revisited on a frequent and ongoing basis, indefinitely.

This session will provide practical tools and inspiring examples for anyone interested in organizing, developing, implementing and perpetuating a lakewide or regionwide Volunteer-based Early Detection Team.
 

Tamara Lee Pinard, Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation District
201 Main Street, Ste 6, Westbrook, ME 04092, 207/856-2777, tamara-lee-pinard@me.nacdnet.org

Lake Project Success Stories from five Soil & Water Conservation Districts
Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) are nonregulatory agencies that operate under the mission of providing technical assistance, education and outreach to sustain the wise stewardship of natural resources. In particular, SWCDs pride themselves on their ability to work at the local level to address water quality concerns. An overview of lake project success stories from the five southern Maine SWCDs will be presented.
 

Dave Halliwell, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333, 207/287-7649, david.halliwell@maine.gov

Lakes and rivers and the legacy of biological pollution - A history of fish introductions
Maine's waterways have served as corridors for the spread of legally- and illegally-introduced fish for the past 150 years, resulting in artificially enriched and often altered fish assemblage structure. Biological contamination, in terms of fish introductions, range from the early importation of exotic common carp, goldfish, brown trout, and black basses during the last half of the 19th century to the recent illegal introduction of bluegill and green sunfish in the early 21st century. During the 20th century, widely dispersed (stocked) fish species included such native 'game' species as white perch, chain pickerel, and yellow perch, as well as exotic black crappie, walleye, northern pike, and rudd. Other commonly used 'baitfish' or forage fish species, such as golden shiner, were historically transplanted throughout the state/region, to the extent that their original/native range in northeastern waters is considered as ubiquitous. Most of the 'biologically' contaminated (altered) waterways occur in the southern portion of the state/region, in direct correlation with the development of suburban and urban centers along major waterways. However, there is also the top-down effect of introduced muskellunge from Quebec, Canada within the relatively pristine St. John River drainage. Currently, there are numerous ongoing debates and arguments pertaining to the use and management of introduced sportfish species in Maine. Meanwhile, highly invasive sunfish species (green sunfish and bluegill) are now moving downstream in the headwaters of the Sebasticook River drainage and may eventually spread throughout the Kennebec River drainage as well, at the great expense of native Maine fishes.