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Faculty Publications Muskie School of Public Service

2013

Can the past inform us about ’s future?

Firooza Pavri University of Southern Maine

Jean MacRae University of Maine

Anna Springsteen

Abraham Dailey

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/muskie

Recommended Citation Pavri, F., MacRae, J., Dailey, A., & Springsteen, A. (2013). Can the past inform us about Sebago Lake’s future? Sebago Lake Watershed News (Portland Water District).

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Muskie School of Public Service at USM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of USM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. summer/FALL 2013

Photo Credit: Claire Crocker

Portland Water District ∙ 225 Douglass Street ∙ Portland, Maine 04104-3553 ∙ 207.761.8310 ∙ www.pwd.org

Native Plant Water Trail Day What’s Making Conservation/ Watershed 3 Spotlight 4Watch 5 2013 6 Waves? 7 10 Things 8 Protection

By Firooza Pavri, Associate Professor of Geography, Can the Past Inform Us USM; Jean MacRae, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMO; and their About Sebago Lake’s Future? students, Anna Springsteen and Abraham Dailey Scientists often consider past Both environmental and social processes in time. Patterns of development or population trends to make influence lakes. Environmental factors fragmentation of green space can be predictions about future growth. like climate change, new precipitation studied using these images. Over the Can we do the same with landscapes? patterns, and earlier spring thaws and past 22 years, Landsat data analysis Is there a way to examine how land has ice-out dates can affect lake water indicates development of the watershed changed in the past twenty years? And quality. For instance, heavy rainfall has increased from approximately 5.4% can that help us predict how the land will events can cause severe erosion, which to 8.9%. Analysis also indicates green look in twenty more? The answer to these transports pollutants to the lake and space in the Sebago Lake Watershed has questions is yes. Landscape trends are affects its ecology. Similarly, human decreased by over 3.5%. This result is important because the quality of water development of land can impact water consistent with a previous aerial photo in any lake is influenced by the condition quality. As trees are cut and buildings analysis commissioned by the Portland of the land around it. Most important is are built, runoff into streams and rivers Water District. The earlier study used green space - forested or vegetated land may increase. This runoff carries soil lower altitude images and classified land not broken by human development. The particles and other pollutants into the use types differently but also showed the simple rule: more green space means lake. Human development also breaks watershed became less forested through more clean water. up the landscape. This fragmentation the 1990s. reduces huge forested areas into smaller Remote sensing technologies using bits and pieces of woods. The areas are The development of the Sebago Lake satellite images now allow us to examine now broken into different segments – watershed follows a distinctive rural landscape trends over time. This some with forest, others with no trees, sprawl pattern typical of New England technology can provide insights into and some that are paved - where before and other parts of the United States. future patterns. Satellite images, which only forest stood. This separation impacts Development occurs along existing allow a bird’s eye-view of the Sebago Lake water quality because water is naturally road networks like Routes 114, 117, 35, watershed with a simple mouse click cleaned while moving through forested and 302 and expands from historically on Google Maps, can provide detailed landscapes. Fragmentation also impacts developed areas. Census and housing data information about the condition of the wildlife – some plants watershed. Faculty and students from and animals need large, the University of Southern Maine and the unbroken areas to University of Maine at Orono received survive. a National Science Foundation grant to study landscape patterns. Using NASA’s Satellite images from Landsat imagery, they are studying 1987 and 2009 help changes in green space across the Sebago reconstruct what the Lake watershed and evaluating the lake’s landscape looked like water quality over the past two decades. at these two points Forest/Greenspace in the Sebago Lake watershed declined as developed area increased between 1987 and 2009 from 1987 to 2009 aligns with watershed Sebago Lake is known for its high What does this mean for Sebago Lake’s development trends. The populations water quality, which supports a cold future? Since population is likely to grow of towns in the Sebago Lake watershed water salmon fishery and supplies clean does this mean that water quality must increased, as did both residential and drinking water. Water quality testing over decline? It doesn’t have to. Development commercial development. These trends the past 35 years shows that water clarity, can occur in a way that minimizes are not surprising because the watershed algae populations, and oxygen levels impacts to water quality. Towns can adopt is close to the most populated parts of are stable. However, total phosphorous ordinances that encourage “greener” southern Maine. levels have been higher since 2006, and designs with compact housing and the highest phosphorus readings ever preserved green space. Ecologically Satellite images also show noticeable taken have occurred in the past five significant areas can be conserved fragmentation of green space over time, years. Phosphorous, a nutrient found in through conservation easements or land a trend that can negatively impact water high concentrations in soil and fertilizer, trust purchases. Towns can identify and quality. Increased development typically can cause algae blooms in lakes. While conserve green spaces. This will lessen also leads to increased storm water at this point the phosphorus readings fragmentation while also providing runoff, more paved surfaces such as roads are not cause for alarm, it will take the public recreation areas. Adopting green and parking lots, and clearing of trees and continued vigilance of residents, resource strategies today will mean cleaner water vegetation along lake and river shorelines. managers, land trusts, public interest tomorrow. All of these changes can harm water groups, government agencies, and other quality over the long term. stakeholders to maintain the high quality of Sebago Lake’s water.

Firooza Pavri is an associate professor of geography at the University of Southern Maine.

Jean MacRae is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Maine in Orono. This edition of the Sebago Lake Watershed News is the third in a three-part series focusing on Sebago Lake’s past, present and future. You can read about Sebago Lake’s past and present here: www.pwd.org/news/publications.php We hope you will learn more about Sebago Lake’s future in the pages that follow.

2 Background Photo Credit: Rich Antinarelli Hobblebush Native Plant Spotlight: (Viburnum latanoides)

Size: Shrub that grows 3 to 10 feet tall. Soil conditions: Prefers cool, Foliage: Leaves are round with a moist soils. pointed tip and are opposite on the stem. Flowers are flat clusters of white Light: Part sun Visit the Sebago flowers, appearing in early spring. Fruits to shade. Lake Ecology Center in clusters are red to dark purple in color to see examples of and develop in the late summer. Zones: 3-6 native plants! 3 Water Watch Oxygen in Sebago Lake By Nate Whalen

Background photo by Bob and Marian Wright Fish breathe oxygen from the turnover allows oxygen in the We can calculate how fast the water just as we breathe oxygen lake to be replenished from the oxygen gets depleted at the from the air. Obviously we use air. By the end of the summer, bottom of the lake. Sebago Lake lungs and fish use gills, but the however, there is a limited supply typically has between 10 and 12 idea is similar. Living things of oxygen for living things to mg/L of oxygen at the bottom need oxygen to survive. Portland breathe at the bottom of the lake. of the lake in September. Lake Water District (PWD) scientists trout or “togue,” for example, measure the amount of oxygen in Lakes lose oxygen when there require a minimum of 7 mg/L of the water to see how healthy the are too many living things oxygen while landlocked salmon lake is. The more oxygen in the breathing in a small space. Fallen require levels above 8 mg/L. The water, the healthier the lake. leaves and dead algae (organic good news is that Sebago Lake matter) that sink to the bottom has plenty of oxygen for all living In deep lakes during the summer, get decomposed, or eaten, by creatures, even at the end of the cold water at the bottom does bacteria. When bacteria eat they summer. not mix with the warmer water at breathe in oxygen and exhale the top. The bottom of the lake carbon dioxide, just like humans. is a confined space with a barrier Oxygen gets used up when there between the top and bottom of is a lot of organic matter on the Nate Whalen is a water resources the lake. These lake layers mix lake bottom for bacteria to eat. specialist at the Portland Water only twice a year when water District. He can be reached at temperature is equal from top Scientists at PWD measure the [email protected]. to bottom during what is called rate of oxygen loss in Sebago spring and fall turnover. Lake Lake May through September. 4 Sebago Lake Land Reserve:

Trail Day 2013 By: Rod Beaulieu and Sarah Plummer

The Portland Water District has signs. These maps are now available trails . . . LOTS of them! The at the Sebago Lake Ecology Center District owns over 1,700 acres of and at all of the permitting kiosks. land with public access for outdoor recreational opportunities. These Join us to celebrate the new signs, trails, located on the Sebago Lake trail map, and user-friendly trails of Land Reserve, are intended for the Sebago Lake Land Reserve! The low impact recreational activities Portland Water District will host such as hiking, trail running, cross their first Trail Day the morning of country skiing, horseback riding, Saturday, September 21st. Guided mountain biking, fishing in the activities will begin at four different stocked Otter Ponds for trout locations, with groups joining and bass, or simply exploring and together mid-morning for snacks enjoying this natural resource. provided by the District. Activities will include a mountain bike ride, This summer the Portland Water trail run, nature hike for adults, and District will complete a three-year family nature hike (designed for trail improvement project, which families with children ages ten and includes the installation of signs under). Participants must provide to mark a network of trails on the their own equipment. Reservations Otter Pond parcel of the Sebago are required and space is limited. Lake Land Reserve in Standish. To reserve your spot, contact Trails within this area have been [email protected] or 774-5961 x restored and enhanced. The 3324. completion of the project includes a new trail map that corresponds Trail Day • Sept 21 with the recently installed trail Reserve Your Spot Now!

Rod Beaulieu is chief of security Sarah Plummer is the operations at the Portland Water environmental education District. He can be reached at coordinator at the Portland Water [email protected] District. She can be reached at [email protected]

5 What’s Making Waves Around Sebago Lake? By Kirsten Ness

L.E.A. Launches Three New Programs L.E.A.’s Seventh Season 2014 Images of to Assess the Impact of Climate of Milfoil Control Sebago Lake Calendar Change on Lakes This fall, the District will publish the The Lakes Environmental Association is ninth Images of Sebago Lake Calendar. expanding their water testing program The calendar includes shots of Sebago to include three new criteria in several Lake, taken by amateur and hobbyist water bodies within the upper Sebago photographers. The calendar will be Lake watershed. The parameters include available for free in December. Stop sampling for an algae species called by the Sebago Lake Ecology Center to Gloeotrichia, sediment analysis for iron and pick up a copy! Supplies are limited; aluminum concentrations and installing in- one copy per person please. lake temperature sensors. These new tests will help assess lake vulnerability and the impact of climate change.

A member of the L.E.A. milfoil control team removes milfoil at the boat launch.

2013 marks the Lakes Environmental Association’s seventh season of milfoil control work on the and in . This summer the LEA team will continue Calendar submission by Wendy Rosenberg Bates Research Assistant Laurie Griesinger pulls up a zooplankton net to study Gloeotrichia on as to focus on the Sebago Lake State part of a pilot project with L.E.A. Park boat ramp and the remaining patches just north of the launch. LEA’s milfoil season began May District Approves $50,000 15th with removal, repair, and Conservation Grant redeployment of last season’s benthic In March the PWD Board of Trustees barriers followed by full surveys of unanimously approved a $50,000 conservation grant to Loon Echo Land Trust the Songo River and high-risk areas for the purchase of the 1,455-acre Perley in Brandy Pond. Mills parcel located in the towns of Bridgton and Denmark. The parcel is partially located Kirsten Ness is a water resources specialist with the Portland in the Sebago Lake watershed and will Water District. She can be become a community forest managed by reached at [email protected]. the Town of Denmark. The $50,000 pledge marks the largest grant made under PWD’s Watershed Land Conservation Policy to date.

6 Funds for Land Conservation in the Sebago Lake Watershed By Laurel Jackson

The Portland Water District Board of and other factors. The hope is that increasing Trustees recently approved a change to the available funding to land trusts and its land conservation policy which will landowners will spur more people to conserve allow PWD to contribute more money their land. to conservation projects. The new policy underscores the Board’s interest in conserving Between 2000 and 2013 PWD contributed more forested land within the Sebago Lake $45,000 towards easements on over 800 acres watershed. within the watershed. In March of 2013, with the new policy in place, the Board approved Forested land acts as a natural filter by a contribution of $50,000 to the Perley Mills keeping soil and other pollutants out of water land acquisition in the towns of Bridgton and bodies. Recognizing the value of forested Denmark, the largest such contribution to land, the land conservation policy states Pickerel Pond within the Perley Mills property date. See the “What’s Making Waves” section that PWD supports the conservation of land of the Watershed News for more information within the Sebago Lake watershed when the watershed. These past contributions on this project. If you are interested in the goal of conserving the land is consistent represented a very small fraction of the total conserving your watershed land, please with protecting water quality. Because the value of the easement, often less than 1%. contact us at [email protected] or 774- watershed is so large- 300,000 acres- and While the PWD contributions were valuable 5961 ext.3659. almost entirely privately owned, PWD in securing the easement or acquisition, the Laurel Jackson is a water partners with land trusts and landowners to Board feels that investment in the watershed resources specialist at the Portland help with their conservation efforts. is becoming more important as the percent Water District. She can be reached of forested land in the watershed declines. at [email protected] Over the years, the Board has approved PWD contributions may now more than contributions to a number of conservation cover the value of an easement, depending easements and land acquisitions within on the property’s proximity to water bodies

10 Things You Can Do to Protect the Lake

1. Request a FREE 3. Follow Yardscaping principles 7. Be mindful of what you pour down Lakescaping instead of fertilizing! If you must the drain. Don’t pour cooking grease Site Visit from have some lawn, learn how to make it or oil down the drain, use chemical PWD. Is your healthy and attractive without using drain openers for a clogged drain, property within fertilizer at www.yardscaping.org. or pour oil-based paints, solvents, or 250 feet of Sebago 4. Protect footpaths from erosion. large volumes of toxic cleaners down Lake or one of Use Superhumus mulch or pea stone the drain. Learn more tips on how its tributatries? on gently sloping foot paths or install to be SepticSmart at www.epa.gov/ PWD provides free site visits and infiltration steps on steeper slopes. infrastructure/septic/septicsmart.cfm. reports on how to make your 8. Fuel your boat before you launch. property more attractive and lake Avoid fuel spills in the lake by fueling friendly. You may even be eligible for your boat while it’s on the trailer. a matching grant for implementing the recommendations! Contact us at 9. Take care when checking your boat’s [email protected]. engine fluids. Avoid spills and drips of fuel and oil into the bilge – it often ends 2. Minimize your lawn – plant shrubs up in the lake. on your shorefront. Roots are the best defense against soil erosion. The deeper 10. Regularly inspect your boat and 5. Don’t rake leaves. The natural duff trailer for plants. Remove and discard root systems of shrubs and trees hold layer of decaying leaves and organic soil in place and absorb pollution that any plants found on your boat or trailer material that accumulates under trees acts far away from the water. lead to declines in water quality. like a sponge to soak up and slow down runoff, protecting soil from erosion. 6. Pump your septic tank at least every 3 years. It’s important to have the solids removed from the tank before they overflow into your leachfield, where they can cause the system to malfunction and require a costly replacement. 7 Watershed Protection Grants and Technical Assistance Available to Sebago Lake and Crooked River Residents By Heather True Cumberland County Soil and Water in Otisfield and Norway. The grant Conservation District (CCSWCD) also provides free technical assistance is working with the Portland Water for conservation projects. Examples District and local stakeholders to include stabilizing waterfront access address erosion problems along paths, planting vegetation, and Sebago Lake and the Crooked River. controlling roof runoff. Engineered Through 2013, these partners will designs and oversight will be collaborate on a grant funded by the provided as needed. A minimum of Maine Department of Environmental 17 residential matching grants will be Protection (MDEP) called the Sebago awarded. ATV trail maintenance and

Lake Conservation Project – Phase II. homeowner conservation practice The 120 square mile Crooked River Watershed Eleven sites, previously identified as workshops will also be provided. supplies over 36% of the surface water inflow to high priorities, in Standish and Frye Sebago Lake. Island will be addressed through the Both the Sebago Lake Conservation project. Free technical assistance and Project-Phase II and the Crooked River water quality improvement workshops Protection Project – Phase I are funded will also be provided. in part by the US Environmental Protection Agency under Section 319 A two year project on the Crooked of the Clean Water Act. Section 319 River began this spring. This grants are administered by MDEP collaborative project is also funded by in partnership with EPA in order to a MDEP grant. The 50 mile Crooked prevent or reduce water pollution in River flows through the towns of Maine. A survey volunteer documents erosion at a stream Bethel, Albany, Waterford, Norway, crossing on Morse Road in Norway Otisfield, Harrison, Casco, and For more information and to take Naples. Its inflow supplies over 36% advantage of free technical assistance Heather True is a project of Sebago Lake’s surface water. The and funding to address erosion and manager at the Cumberland runoff issues around Sebago Lake and County Soil and Water goal of the Crooked River Protection Conservation District. She Project – Phase I is to reduce erosion the Crooked River, contact Heather can be reached at htrue@ and polluted runoff. Conservation True of CCSWCD at (207)892-4700 cumberlandswcd.org practices will be installed at 30 sites or [email protected]

The Sebago Lake Watershed News is published by the Portland Water District. Connect With Sebago! Editorial Team: Michelle Clements, www.pwd.org | Follow Us @MyPortlandWater Paul Hunt, Brie Holme Contributors: Rod Beaulieu, Abraham Dailey, Brie Holme, Laurel Jackson, Jean MacRae, The Watershed News is printed on 100% Kirsten Ness, Firooza Pavri, Sarah Plummer, recycled paper processed chlorine free and Anna Springsteen, Heather True, Nate Whalen manufactured with renewable biogas energy