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FOCL'S LakeSmart Program

LakeSmart Logo.jpg

From the Maine Lakes LakeSmart page:

 

“Do you appreciate Maine’s clear, clean lakes? What does the beautiful panorama of your lake, the song of a loon calling in the evening, or a boundless summer day spent swimming, fishing, or boating mean to you? Will you help protect your lake so your children and grandchildren will experience the clean, clear water you enjoy.”

 

LakeSmart is an education and outreach program with the goal of informing lakefront homeowners how best to manage their camp lot to protect water quality. The program is free, non-regulatory, and voluntary. Participating camp owners receive praise for what they are currently doing to protect the lake and suggestions to help keep sediment and phosphorus from soil erosion (which can cause algae blooms) out of the lake. 

 

Friends of Cross Lake (FOCL) started a LakeSmart program in August of 2019 with nine trained volunteer evaluators (all Cross Lake camp owners).

 

From August 2019 to 2021, 15 LakeSmart evaluations were completed with two awards. After the standards changed and a new LakeSmart Coordinator was hired by Maine Lakes, new and current evaluator re-training occurred in July 2023, including new evaluators from other lakes, and two evaluations were completed on Cross Lake. 

 

Now that the standards have been finalized and training has occurred, FOCL intends to publicize and expand outreach to ramp up its program, with a goal of eight evaluations/year. A welcome packet with LakeSmart materials was distributed to all shorefront property owners in July 2024 and a LakeSmart presentation occurred after the annual meeting and BBQ on August 17, 2024.

 

In September 2024, FOCL’s evaluators completed 8 LakeSmart evaluations, meeting our Phase I grant work plan goal, with several awards!

 

Please contact us if you would like your camp lot visited by our Cross Lake LakeSmart evaluators to find out how you are currently helping the lake and if there is more you might want to do. It’s FREE, is an easy way to help FOCL meet our grant goals, you do not even have to be present during the evaluation, and there is absolutely NO obligation to implement any of the recommendations!

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