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Residents' Appreciation for Belgrade Lakes Growing

February 10, 2009 - BELGRADE -- Fred Fontaine, a Belgrade resident for more than 40 years, remembers the days when he used to drink water out of Long Pond.

Fontaine would not be wise to take a gulp from the lake these days. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection listed Long Pond as "impaired" in 2006 as a result of its declining water quality.

Great Pond, which is connected to Long Pond, is headed in the same direction, said Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance executive director Peter Kallin.

And the fear is that the other five ponds in the seven lake Belgrade chain could meet the same fate -- unless changes are made and soon.

"Our lakes still have decent water quality overall," Kallin said. "They now are of moderate water quality. But at this point, if we don't step in and do something, they are going to get worse fast."

That's why Kallin, Fontaine and about 60 other residents, business owners and municipal officials primarily from Belgrade, Rome and Mt. Vernon gathered at Union Church in Belgrade Village on Wednesday night.

They have lakes to protect, and that is no small task.

A report out of the University of Maine in 1997 put the annual economic activity generated by Maine lakes at nearly $3 billion with $1.2 billion going to Mainers as income.

How much money the Belgrade Lakes generate themselves is hard to say.

But Kallin said The Belgrade Lakes are the economic engine for the region, particularly the 13 communities that have at least a portion of shoreland frontage on one or more of the lakes.

It is the lakes, he said, that draw thousands of tourists and summer residents to the region each summer.

It is the lakes that drive the tax base for many abutting towns -- 80 percent of Rome's tax revenue is generated by lakeside properties.

It is the lakes that provide beauty and abundant recreational opportunities to residents and visitors alike.

It is the lakes that provide a quality of life both distinct and treasured.

But the same qualities that make the Belgrade Lakes the economic engine of central Maine also have spurred the rapid shoreland development that has led to diminishing water quality.

The introduction of invasive plants -- a development tied to increased boat traffic -- is another recent problem: Eurasian water milfoil has sprouted on Salmon Lake, while Messalonskee Lake has been infiltrated by variable-leaf milfoil.

The goal of Wednesday's community forum was to provide the latest information on the lakes -- specifically Long and Great ponds -- and solicit ideas and concrete proposals to stem and reverse the damage done to them.

In that sense, Kallin described the forum as an unqualified success, a clear sign that many local people care deeply about the lakes.

At the same time, Wednesday's meeting is only a first step in a difficult quest, Kallin said.

Speakers such as Roy Bouchard of Maine Department of Environmental Protection and LaMarr Clannon of Maine NEMO, an educational group dedicated to protecting lakes and rivers, talked about the realities of the challenge ahead.

Development, they made clear, is the primary enemy.

It is development that eliminates the natural vegetative buffers -- trees, shrubs, grass -- that prevent rain from eroding shoreland and pushing pollutants of all types into the water channel.

Roofs, asphalt, bare ground and other impervious or less absorbent surfaces, on the other hand, greatly increase runoff into lakes and rivers.

And that is what has happened to the Belgrade Lakes.

Clannon argued that smaller lot sizes and bigger vegetative buffers along shoreland would do wonders to reduce runoff.

Belgrade Town Manager Dennis Keschl stressed the importance of regional code enforcement, as well as the need to be aggressive about enforcement.

"I truly believe you should provide incentives to people to do the right thing," he said a day after the forum, "but there are always going to be some people who try to get away with it, and those are the people you have to do enforcement against."

Keschl argues for centralizing code enforcement under a Belgrade watershed authority.

This would bring consistency and reliability to shoreland regulations across the 13 communities, an objective, he said, that is needed sorely.

Kallin supports that concept, although he said any effort to create an authority would have to overcome Maine's provincial ways.

There's a color problem, too.

For now the Belgrade Lakes still appear too blue to alarm those less knowledgeable about the water quality problems, he said.

That wasn't the case with Cobbossee Lake. That lake, Kallin said, had turned a stark green many decades ago.

"At Cobbossee Lake you couldn't see your hand if you stuck it in the water up to your elbow," he said.

Today Cobbossee Lake remains the only place in the state with a watershed district.

It also has much improved water quality -- Kallin said DEP removed it from the impaired list in 2006.

Kallin said it's a shame, but people tend not to take bold actions until a problem reaches a crisis stage. He hopes to avoid such a scenario with the Belgrade Lakes.

During Wednesday's forum many technical terms and numbers got thrown around concerning phosphorus levels, flushing rates and total maximum daily load.

But it was feelings, the deep affection people have for the lakes, that resonated loudest.

In the meeting's opening segment, participants shared why they see the lakes as important.

Belgrade resident Susan Littlefield spoke for many when she said "to me the value is I love the lakes, and to me it is the serenity and the beauty of the lakes, just the visual pleasure I get being on the lakes."

BY COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer, Kennebec Journal, 02/08/2009


Lakes: Cobbosseecontee Lake, East Pond, Great Pond, Long Pond, Maranacook Lake, Messalonskee Lake, North Pond
Regions: Belgrade


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