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Businesses Panic Over Closure of Lock on Songo River in Naples

July 29, 2010 - NAPLES -- Two potentially devastating problems--one economic, the other environmental--faced Naples Selectmen Monday as they heard about a proposal to close Songo Lock to boaters for the rest of the summer to stem the spread of milfoil into the upper Songo River.


The choice doesn't rest with the town; the state's Department of Conservation has jurisdiction over the historic and popular Lock, which tie 40 or 50 miles of one of the major inland waterways in Maine. But either way, the consequences will be huge.


There's three or four good weeks left of what is turning out to be a banner year for marinas in town, which rent out boats to vacationers and service countless others with boat slips. But three or four weeks could be all that it takes to destroy five years of effort and a $250,000 investment by the Lakes Environmental Association to remove milfoil from the Upper Songo River and Brandy Pond.


"It should come as no surprise that the business community is in kind of a panic about this," said Selectman Rick Paraschak of Lakes Environmental Association Executive Director Peter Lowell's proposal to close the Lock for the rest of the season.


At issue is the weather: great for business, not so great for keeping milfoil from spreading. Lowell told the board that the hot, sunny days and warm water temperatures are feeding such growth that "the stuff has just exploded." More and more fragments are being spotted in the Lock and upper river, and will have an ideal chance to gain a foothold in August if present weather patterns continue. "The specter that's looming for me is August," said Lowell, who will be meeting with state officials soon to decide on a course of action. "I think you're going to see some lakes turning green this year."


It's no secret that boats traveling upriver from Sebago Lake through the Lock and on to Brandy Pond and Long Lake are bringing the milfoil with them, despite the best efforts of inspectors stationed at the Lock. Over 100 boats go through the locks on a hot, sunny day.


"It's an infested waterway,": Lowell said of the lower Songo River. "And we don't want to lose that leg up that we've got" above the Lock. Closing the Lock for the rest of the summer is one option, admittedly a drastic one, but Lowell urged selectmen and the business people in the audience to take the long view of the problem. "It will end up in the Naples end of Long Lake first," Lowell said of the milfoil. "Eventually, Bridgton and Harrison will also be affected."


Lowell said LEA has always viewed the Lock as a "control point" for milfoil removal efforts. "But what got us scared was seeing all the plants floating in the Lock. And right now the plants below the Lock are flowering, which I've never seen before."


One resident said it made sense to close the boat launch at Sebago Lake State Park instead of the Lock, because many boaters launch from there and go up river to Brandy Pond, inevitaby stirring up milfoil that is extremely dense near the boat launch. But Lowell said the state wants to keep as many boat launches open as possible, and takes a dim view of such an approach.


Resident Larry Anton said Lowell's idea to close the Lock, regardless of the outcome, should serve as "a wake up call for everyone to realize how very serious this is." He said every boat launch in the state, and every wash station, should have an inspector checking for milfoil. Lowell agrees, and urged others to join him in demanding that the state launch a major milfoil eradication initiative with much more funding. "They need to hear from someone else, besides always hearing from Peter Lowell," he said. "This needs to be the year of the lakes."


Dan Allen, owner of Causeway Marina, said it's too bad the state wouldn't consider dredging the river, which would essentially eliminate the milfoil problem there. But that's another idea that the state has consistently rejected over the years.


Allen said that when the Lock was closed for a few weeks some years ago following a bad flood, "It cost me thousands of dollars. I can't imagine what closing it all summer would do."


Mike Chicoine, who lives on Sebago Cove, a residential development with Sebago Lake access, said he and his neighbors struggle with "the worst problem of milfoil on the lake." He knows that he and his neighbors, despite their best efforts "drag (milfoil) out into the lake," and wondered what would happen if the state did actually close Songo Lock. "Are we next?" he said.


Jim Turpin, a Naples resident since 2004, cautioned that "if you find a good cause to close the Lock, you won't find a reason to reopen them," and pointed to the loss of the swinging bridge on the Causeway as a tradition that is ending and will never return.


That comment prompted the owner of the Songo River Queen II to note that if the Lock closes this season, it would be a double whammy against the boat, since this summer is the last time the paddleboat replica will be able to make the entire trip from Sebago Lake to Long Lake, due to the closing of the swing bridge. The state has decided to replace the current causeway swing bridge with a new fixed span bridge which will preclude any vessel requiring more than 12 1/2 feet of vertical clearance from entering or leaving Long Lake.


"I agree something has to be done" about the milfoil problem, she said, but closing the Lock "would essentially put us out of business for the rest of the season." The paddleboat doesn't have a propeller, and it doesn't contribute to the spread of milfoil, despite some rumors to the contrary, she added.


Several people suggested raising the $6 fee to go through the Lock in order to pay for more boat inspectors.


Naples Town Manager Derik Goodine said the controversy over whether to close the Lock pointed up the need to "have another milfoil summit, to educate everyone about what efforts are being made and what more needs to be done."


He also said he would be in touch with local legislators to enlist their help in passing legislation to increase future funding.


by Gail Geraghty, The Bridgton News, July 29, 2010

Lakes: Brandy Pond
Regions: Sebago


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