Hancock County Annual Lakes Survey Week

for Invasive Aquatic Plants

August 15-21, 2011

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Join us for our 8th Annual Lakes Survey Week!  Volunteers pick a public boat launch or a hand-carried access point on a Hancock County lake of their choice to perform an aquatic plant survey.  Training, survey forms, and most field equipment (including underwater view scopes) are provided and surveys take approximately 1 hour to complete.  Early detection is crucial to protecting our lakes and ponds!

To sign up for a lake or pond click here: 2011 Lakes to be Surveyed

This link will take you to a Google Docs spreadsheet.  Pick the lake or pond you are going to survey and add your name in the "2011 Surveyor" column. 

Just a couple of tips:

• Don't be logged into your Google account (if you have one) when you click this link

• Please be careful with your edits- what you do to the document will be seen by others online.  If you accidently delete or change something that you can not figure out how to change back, please email me (megan.faccciolo@me.nacdnet.net) and I will try to fix it.

Invasive aquatic plants, already present in 33 water bodies in Southern and Mid-Coastal Maine, spread rapidly and are virtually impossible and extremely costly to remove once established.  Invasive plants can devastate a lake’s recreational uses and beauty and can lead to reduced property values along the lake (which leads to higher property taxes elsewhere).  Heavy traffic areas, such as boat launches, tend to be the first location of invasive aquatic plant growth as plant fragments are accidentally spread from boat trailers, canoes, kayaks, etc. that have recently been in infested lakes.  Early detection of these plants is the best defense, since once they are established, eradication is extremely difficult (if not impossible) and very costly. 

If you are interested in being trained to identify invasive aquatic plants, please call the HCSWCD to find out about upcoming workshops.  Please check the Upcoming Trainings link for information on plant identification workshops, or contact the District at 667-8663 or email megan.facciolo@me.nacdnet.net if you would like more information or to volunteer during our Hancock County Lakes Survey Week. 

This important work can’t be

accomplished without you!