LAKESMART WALK & TALK

By Michael Dixon

On Saturday, June 17, the TPA sponsored a LakeSmart Walk & Talk Tour, presented by Department of Environmental Protection’s LakeSmart Coordinator, Christine Smith, with the assistance of Tamara Whitmore, an environmental educator with Americorp, and Sue Gammon, of the Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District. Attending the program were TPA Members Jim Melloh, Wylie & Barbara Mitchell, Madelyn Reed, Mark Tardif, Dan & Leslie Thayer, and Michael Dixon. The tour started at Dixon & Carmen Dufresne’s LakeSmart-certified property on Everett Road, and then visited the Melloh & Thayer properties on West Shore Drive. 

LakeSmart is DEP’s program for encouraging shorefront owners to use practices that control runoff and erosion in order to prevent nonpoint pollution from entering the pond. A LakeSmart review evaluates a property owner’s landscape and management practices in four categories: road, driveway, and parking areas; structure and septic system; lawn, recreation areas, and footpaths; and shoreland and beach areas. The review results in recommendations to the property owner on how to implement best management practices. Owners who adopt LakeSmart practices receive a plaque and signage announcing their participation. 

Taylor Pond was one of the first Maine lakes to have a certified property, and now has three total LakeSmart-certified properties, including those of Jack and Pat Zinke, and Anne & Henk Goorhuis. The Board organized the Walk & Talk in order to encourage other Taylor Pond property owners to implement LakeSmart practices and receive LakeSmart certification. 

Now, the Melloh and Thayer properties are well on their way to receiving LakeSmart cerification. For its part, DEP is hoping to be able to offer individual grants to help property owners implement LakeSmart practices, and the TPA Board will alert its members when and if these grants become available. For more information regarding LakeSmart, please visit the DEP website: http://www.maine.gov/dep//blwq/doclake/lakesmart/index.htm. To apply for a LakeSmart review, please contact Sue Gammon at 753-9400, ext 3.