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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing
Article Summaries |
Report From the Melinda Ann
"We try to fill a niche to educate people," was the message on the Melinda Ann tours on Great and Long Ponds this month. Fully equipped with the latest in scientific measuring data, the 30-foot pontoon boat travels the state all summer taking out groups of twelve to show them how lakes are monitored and to help them better know their own watersheds. In the fall and spring the Melinda Ann tours focus on school groups. Although science and education are the function of the tours, the motivation is stewardship and economics. "These ponds and lakes support Maine taxes," explain Melinda Ann's operators from the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute (MLCI), Rex and Warren. "These lakes are very attractive when they are beautiful; when they are not healthy demand for them goes down."
So do employment opportunities. There are 50,000 lake-related jobs in the state. Equipment on the Melinda Ann ranges from a simple kitchen strainer to a complex LCD projector, including a horizontal water column sampler to measure lake stratification, a plankton haul to count zooplankton, a Secchi disk to determine water clarify, an aqua scope to peer beneath the surface, and a bottom sampler, among others. What did the tours reveal? A lot of "critters" — zooplankton — live in the water. There is no "fix" for phosphorus, which is eager to latch onto something, most likely soil, for that downhill run-off ride into the lake. That the Gloeotrichia now suspended throughout Great and Long Ponds is rare in the state, and that some swimmers may have a problem with its toxicity. Lack of oxygen gives a sulphur smell. And that in Long Pond a sample of the bottom muck 43-feet down smells faintly like rotten eggs and is full of well-preserved wood chips from the sawmill that once was situated on the Belgrade Lakes dam in the 1800s. 
The children aboard especially were fascinated by the highly magnified projection screen showing water samples. "Kinda makes you want to keep your mouth shut when you swim," one of the adults remarked. Science aside, the Melinda Ann experience was one more reminder how beautiful the Belgrade lakes are from a waterside perspective. | ||
