The first step to improving Cross Lake’s water quality was a Watershed Survey. Beginning June 8, 2019, 35 volunteers, with technical leaders from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Ecological Instincts (FOCL’s consultant), and the Maine Forest Service, surveyed the developed land and forestland in the watershed. A total of 154 nonpoint source (NPS) soil erosion sites were identified, primarily shoreline erosion on shorefront properties, with some erosion also identified on private and town gravel roads in the watershed.

The Fort Kent USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) staff and University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK) students with drones surveyed the agricultural land beginning in May 2019. The agricultural NPS sites identified were prioritized and addressed through the NRCS National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) Cross Lake Watershed Project.
FOCL completed the 2019 Cross Lake Watershed Survey Report in February 2020, which was required in order to apply for an EPA 604(b) planning grant through DEP.
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