All summer, beginning in mid-May, our staff have been working hard to get rid of the invasive variable milfoil in Androscoggin Lake. Now in our second full season of this effort, our work entails surveying the infested area (and beyond), marking each individual milfoil plant, and removing them by hand. The removal is performed by a trained SCUBA diver. Our work went well last year, but ended sooner than planned due to the algal bloom. As a result, plants had more time to grow, and in May and June this year we found more milfoil than before, covering a larger area of the cove. (2022 plant locations shown in yellow below). All of those plants were carefully removed, and there has been little regrowth so far, but we do expect it will come back back in some places.
Survey and removal work will continue into October this year, as conditions allow, supported by trained volunteers of Androscoggin Lake Association’s (ALIC) “Eyes on the Water” team, now that our seasonal staff are back at college.
ALIC’s volunteer team has spent many hours surveying the rest of lake all season, looking for invasives, especially variable milfoil. This is another critical part of the work. Thank you volunteers! No other invasives have been found.
Pictured: Volunteers Linda Gatti Fyler (left) and Janet and Vic Bernhards (right) joined other volunteers and 30 Mile’s Lidie Robbins to survey the cove last week.
At the end of the season, we will be working with staff at the Maine DEP to evaluate our progress and make plans for next year’s work.
This article was included in 30 Mile’s September 2022 newsletter. To view the full newsletter, click here.