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Summertime in the BelgradesContents
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Let the Summer Conservation Begin!By Dale Finseth Welcome to spring in the Belgrades and beyond! Again this year the Kennebec Soil & Water Conservation District will write articles focused on conservation issues and ways to help protect and improve water quality. First, let's be clear about what a watershed is. Even if you don't live along the shore of one of our waterways; perhaps you can't even see any water, you still live in and impact a watershed. If you have ever ordered any of our shrubs or trout here at the Kennebec District, you may remember that we always ask you to identify what watershed you live in. Last winter we received a tree order with a very thorough description of the person's watershed. They traced the path of any raindrop falling on their land all the way to the Gulf of Maine. That is the sort of attitude that helps all of us better understand the impact our actions have on water quality. We usually start by asking people where the water goes if they wash their car in their front yard. You need to think beyond the ditch at the end of the driveway or the storm drain along the curb. If you live further out in the country it may be easier to visualize where that water goes, but even in town, all those pipes go somewhere. If you're living out in the Belgrade region, the water that leaves your property is collected by one of the many lakes, ponds or streams in the Belgrade Watershed. Sooner or later part of that water, and the materials that it carries is either deposited in a waterbody or it splashes over the dam in Oakland and roars down Messalonskee Stream, into the Kennebec River and finally into the Gulf of Maine and the Atlantic Ocean.* We want you to begin thinking about the watershed you live in and how your activities affect it. Is the spring cleanup or construction you're doing making an impact on the water quality in the watershed? Are you taking care to control any erosion caused by your work, your camp road, or the runoff from roofs and driveways? When you trim trees and shrubs, are you still maintaining a vegetative buffer that will help soak up rainfall and slow down the water flow across your property? Are you maintaining larger plants and mulch at the lower edge of your property to act as a filter and to slow the water flow? Have you begun to think about making your lawn smaller or managing it differently so fewer chemicals are being used? Have you had your septic system tested and arranged to have any maintenance done so it is working properly for the entire season? Non-point source pollution means just what its name implies. It comes from many sources instead of a single spot. All of the small erosion sites on each of our properties add up and have a cumulative effect on the Belgrade lakes. The Kennebec Soil & Water Conservation District will be working with the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance during the upcoming field season. The District has grant funds to help with conservation work in the East Pond watershed. For information about any of our conservation projects please contact Dale Finseth at *Note that some people in the Rome, Vienna or Mt. Vernon area may actually have property that drains into either the Cobbossee or the Androscoggin watersheds. | ||