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Storm Damage Renews Water-Level Debate at Sebago State Park

September 19, 2011 - Naples - Tropical Storm Irene's devastating impact at Sebago Lake State Park is causing lingering concerns for lake level advocates, who are using the damage as fuel to influence future management of the lake.

It is an argument that has been ongoing for decades, and has now resurfaced because of the storm, which knocked out power, uprooted trees and scattered debris at the park, closing it for nearly a week.

It pits those, including a lake advocacy group, who blame erosion brought on by water levels left too high by Sappi Fine Paper's dams, against those, including a local marina owner, who say the problem lies with how the park itself is managed, and that overuse of the beach has exposed the waterside trees, leaving them vulnerable to heavy winds. All this comes as federal officials are working on an agreement that will dictate how the lake is managed for the next 30 years.

The Department of Conservation, which manages the park, is largely mum on the issue. Park manager Andy Haskell, who was hired to lead the park last year, said he believes the cause of the park's tree damage was primarily wind related. Department spokeswoman Jeanne Curran said the park service has no comment on the lake level.

"There is no issue," she said.

Sappi spokeswoman Amy Olson said her company also wouldn't comment. Michelle Clements, spokeswoman for Portland Water District, which uses the lake as its main source of water, said representatives had yet to visit the park to see the damage and thus had no comment.

A former Department of Conservation commissioner, however, said the situation is a complicated one that includes four parties with differing interests and no easy way to appease each group.

"It falls to this," said Ron Lovaglio, commissioner of the Department of Conservation from 1995 to 2003. "There are those who want low levels to bring back the beaches, marinas want high water levels, the Portland Water District wants clear water and Sappi Fine Paper has some historic rights to the water for energy generation. So there is definitely some conflict there."

Since 1986, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved an operating license for Westbrook's S.D. Warren (now Sappi Fine Paper) to control the lake's lone outlet, the Eel Weir Dam, Sebago Lake has been allowed to have water levels higher than its historic average. The higher level has been a boon to marina owners and homeowners, who need access to docks and boat slips, as well as Sappi, which generates electricity from Eel Weir and other dams located on the Presumpscot River flowing from Sebago.

However, other interests - including those who want a return to the time when Sebago was known for its white-sand beaches - believe high water levels have ruined the beaches and, more importantly, are slowing eroding the edges of the lake and reducing the lake's once-pristine water quality. They call for a return to water levels present before 1986, when more natural fluctuations were allowed to occur.

Among those advocates is Friends of Sebago Lake, a citizen-led group. The group says the tree toppling that occurred in the day-use section of the Sebago Lake State Park during the storm was the result of years of erosion caused by high water levels that ate away at root structures.

"You've had erosion eating away at the sand at that beach for years now, and it's a simple case that when the high winds came, they couldn't stand up," said Roger Wheeler, a Sebago resident and president of the group. "And this is exactly what we've been warning them about."

Others, including Sebago Lake Marina owner Charles Frechette, say Irene's powerful winds were more to blame than what they see as the natural cycle of erosion, and that the greater cause is chronic mismanagement of the day-use beach, to the point that trees have become compromised by constant activity by users.

"What you have is unrestricted access on that beach," Frechette said. "Trampling of the vegetative zone, picnic tables right on the beach, kids digging in the sand. These are what I call worst management practices and they encourage access over everything. The result is the soil becomes compromised and sustained winds of 45 mph will topple the first line of trees."

While many of the officials involved wouldn't comment, a former park manager had so such reservations.

Tom Skolfield, the park's manager from 1975-2010, was demoted late in his career after finding fault with how Sebago Lake was managed. He agrees with the Friends of Sebago Lake interpretation of the recent storm damage. Erosion is a serious concern, he said, and it affects not only the park but overall lake health, as well.

Skolfield said the trees that fell over in last month's storm were once many yards inland on high, dry ground. Years of beach erosion have not only resulted in a smaller area for beachgoers, but also compromised root structures susceptible to high winds.

"In the mid-1980s, there was a concerted effort on the part of S.D. Warren to keep water levels higher that they had been in previous years. (They) said it was a win-win in that S.D. Warren made more money selling electricity and marina owners had more boat slips when the water was high," Skolfield said. "The only thing they forgot - the third leg to this three-legged stool - was the miles of lakefront, which had natural sand beaches, including the state park. So, in their zeal to have high water, these beaches went under water."

Skolfield, who visited the beach last Friday to tour the damage, summarized what he saw.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the last 25 years of higher-than-normal water levels have had a major detrimental impact," he said. "I love this park, and it's a travesty that those beautiful sand beaches are gone."

Now, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is in the process of processing input from varied interest groups and drawing up a 30-year agreement that would dictate how the lake will be managed in the future.

Frechette says he hopes the feds don't allow the level to get as low as it was pre-1986, since that would limit consistent access to marina owners' and private homeowners' docks and would severely impact the economy of the region. Wheeler, on the other hand, is hoping for a return to a pre-1986 management plan with a more natural fluctuation, which he said would rebuild beaches and result in better water quality.

Either way, since the issue affects nearly all residents of the lake, it will be, said Skolfield, "quite a discussion."

John Balentine, Keep Maine Current, September 2011


Lakes: Sebago Lake
Regions: Sebago


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