Watershed Forum

On October 29th, 2007, the BRCA Lake Trust hosted a Watershed Forum designed to bring lake association members, state regulators, municipal officials, code enforcement officers, and planning board members together to discuss issues affecting the water quality in the Belgrade Lakes. The focus was on understanding the makeup of the watershed, the severity of the water quality problems, the tools available to municipal officials involved with land use decisions, and finding ways to do things better. The following presentations provided background for the discussions:

• Buffers (2.15 MB PDF)
• Belgrade Lakes Watershed Overview (3.5 MB PDF)
• DEP - Belgrade Lakes Status and Trends (1.4 MB PDF)
• Maine Land Use Regulations (1.2 MB PDF)
• NEMO - Linking Land Use to Water Quality (6.5 MB PDF)

Watershed Program

With support from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's NPS Grants Program, BRCA is currently completing a four-year series of watershed surveys of all seven Belgrade Lakes to identify threats to our lakes. Under the direction of watershed coordinator Mike Little and with support from additional grants, we have begun projects to correct problems that affect water quality, like phosphorus run-off and erosion.

Copies of individual lake surveys for East Pond, North Pond, Salmon Lake and McGrath Pond, Great Pond and Long Pond can be obtained at the BRCA office. Surveys cost $5, which covers the cost of printing; plus $2.50 if shipped to you.

Milfoil Program

The BRCA Milfoil Committee was formed in 2002 in order to coordinate invasive plant prevention efforts throughout the Belgrade Lakes. Click here to learn more about BRCA's milfoil prevention activities.

Watershed Wisdom

Collected nuggets of watershed wisdom from BRCA Executive Director Peter Kallin:

• Watershed Wisdom - Greetings (May 25, 2007)
• What is a "Watershed," anyway, and why should I care? (June 8, 2007)
• Mother Nature"s Watershed (June 15, 2007)
• Mother Nature"s Wastewater Treatment Plant (June 29, 2007)
• An Ounce of Prevention (July 6, 2007)
• Ancient Wisdom (July 13, 2007)
• Lake processes (July 20, 2007)
• Why phosphorous? (July 27, 2007)
• More about phosphorous (August 3, 2007)
• A Laker's Dozen (August 10, 2007)
• Boats and Water Quality (August 17, 2007)
• The importance of dihydrogen monoxide (August 24, 2007)
• The Leaky Bucket (August 31, 2007)
• Watersheds 101
• Trees
• Slow the Flow
• A Laker's Dozen
• Large Woody Debris
• Ounce of Prevention
• Alien Invaders
• Aliens and UFOs
• Phosphorous
• Roads
• Residence Time
  

More watershed wisdom from former executive director Mike Little