Lake Protection

The resources of the watershed are to be enjoyed today, but they are also to be protected if they are to be enjoyed tomorrow. Almost everything we do in the watershed has an impact on our environment, hence on the quality of the lake. Whether you live on the lakeshore or elsewhere in the watershed, activities such as home construction, landscaping, forestry or agriculture all have the potential of creating adverse erosion and runoff, which add phosphorus and other nutrients to the lake resulting in lower water quality.

Poor water quality affects all of us. It becomes less desirable to boat and swim in the lake. Lower water quality affects the sustainability of fish populations. It becomes less desirable for seasonal visitors to frequent the lake thus affecting local economy. Finally, as demonstrated in communities elsewhere in Maine, when water quality decreases, the value of lakefront properties decrease. This results in lower tax revenues to the towns from lakefront properties. Since the towns still needs the same amount of funding to operate, the end result is an increase in tax rate to make up the difference. This means taxes for property owners not on the lakeshore increase. This is an unhappy scenario for everyone.

So what can you do to help protect our lake? Today there are two major areas of concern with respect to the lake. First, phosphorus and other nutrient runoff affect water quality. Second is the concern over the introduction of invasive plants into the lake.

If you are a property owner in the watershed, there are a great many things that you can do to minimize erosion and runoff into the lake. To see the section on Water Quality click here. If you are launching a boat in the lake, you must be careful not to inadvertently introduce foreign vegetation. To see how to protect the lake from Invasive Plants, click here.

Pages In This Section:

• Become a Member
• Invasive Plants
• Water Quality

Additional Links:

Click here for additional links in this section.

Documents In This Section:

(Note: All documents will open in a new window.)
DOCUMENT	DATE PUBLISHED	FORMAT	FILE SIZE
Water Quality: How It Works	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	11.7 KB
Erosion on Shorefront Property	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	20 KB
Erosion Control for Homeowners	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	18.3 KB
Vegetative Streambank Stabilization	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	13.3 KB
Vegetated Phosphorus Buffer Strips	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	15.9 KB
Trees, Shrubs, Vines and Groundcovers	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	13.8 KB
Fertilizer Basics	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	19.1 KB
Riprap for Shoreline Protection	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	12.1 KB
Riprap for Streambank Protection	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	12.7 KB
Temporary Check Dams	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	10.2 KB
Silt Fencing and Hay Bale Barriers	3/20/2002	Adobe Acrobat	8.4 KB
Damariscotta Lake Water Quality Monitoring & Assessment Report 2001	4/25/2002	Adobe Acrobat	32.1 KB
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