FOCL'S LakeSmart Program
FOCL'S LakeSmart Program
Phase I Grant
Our Phase I 319 implementation grant work is completed!
Shoreline Sites
Nick Powers of Powers Property Maintenance completed the construction and vegetation planting on the 10 shoreline erosion sites and did an excellent job. All of the sites had some stone toe, a row of (coconut fiber) coir logs, planting soil on the eroded embankment with free trees from Randy Martin, Central Aroostook Soil & Water Conservation District Manager, free swamp milkweed plants from UMFK, a wildflower seed mix under a biodegradable erosion control blanket, and erosion control mulch (ECM) on top, plus a vegetative buffer area above the bank spread with planting soil and a flowering lawn seed mix. Finally, live stakes were put above the coir logs in early November 2024.
Black Lake Road
The Town of Fort Kent partnered with us to install best management practices (BMPs) to prevent erosion on Black Lake Road. The Fort Kent Public Works Department did excellent work, and we thank Fort Kent for being our grant partner!
Agricultural Conservation Practices
Watershed farmers implemented conservation crop rotation on a total of 375 acres, winter cover on 245 acres, and multi-species cover on 220 acres with the help of this Phase I grant funding.
Website
This website was funded in large part with this Phase I grant funding.
Education & Outreach
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FOCL’s volunteer evaluators completed 8 LakeSmart evaluations in 2024. Please contact us if you would like your camp lot visited by our Cross Lake LakeSmart evaluators to learn how you are currently helping the lake and if there is more you might want to do. It’s FREE and there is absolutely NO obligation to implement any of the recommendations!
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FOCL published a press release about Governor Mills proclaiming July “Lakes Appreciation Month” Lakes Appreciation Month Press Release in Aroostook County, and a WAGM news story featuring Cross Lake and FOCL Https://www.wagmtv.com/2024/07/10/lake-appreciation-month/ aired in early July. A final press release was published in October 2024 about this successful grant and the Phase II grant starting in 2025.
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Welcome Packets with lots of great information about Cross Lake and FOCL, LakeSmart, invasive species, and loons were given to almost all Cross Lake camp owners in July 2024. If you were missed, send us a message and we’ll get you one.
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We’ve met with each of the town select boards of the four towns in our watershed (New Canada, Fort Kent, Frenchville, and St. Agatha). We greatly appreciate their interest in our grants and continuing work to restore Cross Lake’s water quality.
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The St. John Valley Soil & Water Conservation District published articles about cover crops and crop rotation in their August Newsletter.
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FOCL published a press release about this Phase I grant and the Phase II grant in October 2024 titled Cross Lake Water Quality Improvement Grant Projects. It was online in TheCounty.ME and in the St. John Valley Times and the Aroostook Republican newspapers.
This committee met twice to help guide project activities and met a final time in December 2024 before the Final Project Report was submitted to DEP. We also have a Communications Committee and a Fundraising Committee. If you are interested in joining a committee now or in the future, please contact us!
Funding for this project, in part, was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act. The funding is administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in partnership with EPA. EPA does not endorse any commercial products or services mentioned.