Freshwater Invaders: Protecting Maine’s Lakes and Rivers

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You are listening to WMPG Portland Gorum. Welcome to Let's
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Connect Greater Portland, a show where we discuss the changes,
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the challenges and the opportunities shaping our communities and talk
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with the people making Greater Portland an incredible place to live,
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work and thrive. I'm Christina Egan, your host. Today we're
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discussing freshwater, invasive plants and animals in Maine. I'm joined
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by Dakota Stankowski from the Main Department of Inland, Fish
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and Wildlife, Tony pa from the Main Department of Environmental Protection,
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and Pam Wilkinson, a board member of the Little Tobago
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Lake Association and also a member of the Milfoil Militia,
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which I can't even wait to hear more about. Pam
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and if you have questions for our guests, give us
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a call at seven eight zero four nine zero nine.
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Again that's seven eight zero four nine zero nine, And
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you could also DM us on Instagram at Let's Connect Radio,
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or go to WNPG dot org and click chat with
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a DJ. Dakota, Tony, Pam Welcome to the show. Well,
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thank you Kevin us for having us. It's great to
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have the three of you. It's perfect timing for us
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to be talking about invasives because we're going into the
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summer season. People are going up to camp and there's
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a lot that people can do to kind of protect
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the nature and the lakes that we love so much.
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So I'm going to start with you, Dakota, and I'm
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going to ask you just to please introduce yourself and
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share a little bit about the role you play in
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combating invasive plants and animals, and then I'll follow with
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you and with you Pam and ask you to answer
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the same question. So Dakota kick it off for us.
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Yeah, thank you. So I am Dakota Stankowski. I am
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the Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator for the main Department of
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Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
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That's a big mouthful of a title.
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It definitely is. I've got a long name tag that
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goes with it. What it really means is that I
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oversee the aquatic Invasive Species program, which is housed within
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the Fisheries and Hatchers Division at the department. We are
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a two person program, myself included.
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So quite small, lean and mighty.
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We are definitely mighty and growing. So we oversee all
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invasive fish and invasive aquatic wildlife issues in the state.
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We are a relatively new program. I started in May
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of twenty twenty three, and at that time I was
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the first dedicated aquatic invasive species staff person for the
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department focused on those invasive fish and invasive aquatic wildlife issues.
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We have since added a second aquatic invasive species biologist
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to our program.
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Right sounds great, and Tony, tell us a little bit
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about your role at the Department of Environmental Protection.
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So I'm one of four. We have four people in
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our program at the Department of Environmental Protection and the
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Aquatic Invasive Species program, and our responsibility is over aquatic
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invasive plants. So Dakota's program focuses on the aquatic invasive
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critters like fish and zebra muscles, things like that, and
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we focus on specifically plants. So we run a grant
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program for the community. We have a coshare program that
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manages the courtesy boat inspection program and then the removal
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efforts when there's an infested water body. And so our
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focus is on prevention, early detection, and management of aquatic
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invasive plants.
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Since we say flora and fauna together, I imagine you
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two know each other. We sure, okay, all right, that's great,
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And Pam, tell us a little bit about your role
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at Little Samiga Lake.
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We are a lake that's between Gray and Windham and
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I have coordinated the milfoil program since two thousand and four.
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Milfoil is a is an invasive plant that it's an
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invasive Well, we have a hybrid of the variable leaf
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milfoil in our lake. We're special. Not at all lakes have.
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That, especially in a bad way, then in.
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A bad way, very bad way, but we have managed it.
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In the past, we had we were taking probably three
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thirty to fifty bags a day out which are forty
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pounds bags of onion bags. And then we now are
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down to three bags a day or are you know less?
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So making progress.
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We have areas sometimes that are that are a dense
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and yesterday we did have find a dense area which
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we've got seventeen bags of milfoil out of the lake
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with variable milfoil out of the lake, and so we
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were really glad. The divers were really pleased to have
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that taken out before the traffic comes on the lake.
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So thank you, Pam Dakota. We're gonna switch to the
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big picture here and we're going to come back to
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the actual labor intensive work of getting some of these
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plants out of the lakes. PAM. But for right, Yew,
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I want to ask you to give us a broader
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definition of what an invasive aquatic species is and why
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the listeners who are with us today should care about it,
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even if they don't own any waterfront property on our lakes. Yeah.
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So, for the taxa that I work with, those invasive
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fish an invasive aquatic wildlife. We specifically define aquatic invasive
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species as a species that has been moved to a
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new area in this case, of course a new water
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body since we're talking about aquatic species, and is known
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to cause ecological or economic harm. So that's the piece
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that really people should focus on, that ecological or economic harm.
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Quatic invasive species have immense impacts both direct and indirect
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on the systems that you know, the ecology of Mainz
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waters and the native species that are supported by those
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water bodies.
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So when you're talking about economic impactive, us an example
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of how the invasives are hurting Maine's economy.
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Yeah, So a good example of one that you know,
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I think, especially moving forward, is likely to hurt our economy.
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More and more is zebra muscles. So, zebra muscles are
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an invasive mollusk that currently are only found in the
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main stem of the Saint John River and the northern
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part of Maine. But zebra muscles are recognized widely as
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having incredible impacts on infrastructure. In particular, they can attach
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they attached to hard substrates and so things like hydro
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electric facilities. If we were to see zebra muscles spread
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throughout the state of Maine would face impacts from zebra
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muscle building, like.
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The turbans wouldn't turn as well.
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Okay, and they would have to mitigate to the impacts
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of those mules.
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Yeah, okay, And Tony, can you paint us kind of
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the big picture with plants with aquatic plants and how
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bad is the problem in mean? And what does it
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look like to somebody who's going out in a boat
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on one of the lakes that has been invaded by
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our invasives.
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So it varies quite a bit. Some infestations are pretty prevalent,
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you know, people can see that, you know it's a
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heavily infested area. Something like variable leaf water milfoil can
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create dense mats, and so you know it's Matt's meaning
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meaning the plants are there. They're submerged plants, so they're
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under the water, but they grow up to the surface
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and so you can see them that they sort of
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form this this matte of vegetation at the service.
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And I've swum through some of those before, which it
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feels kind of if you've watched an horror movies.
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Right, Yeah, it doesn't feel great. And we do actually
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have a lot of native plants that grow in that
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manner as well. But the problem with aquatic invasive plants
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is that this is not their natural habitat, so there
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are not the sort of the things that would keep
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our native plants in check are not able to keep
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the invasive aquatic plants in check, and so they're sort
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of able to grow exponentially without you know, any sort
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of intervention to prevent them from growing further. So if
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you go to a water body that has a heavy infestation,
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you would see that in other places where they're trying
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to it's you know that the plant was detected early,
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you may not see the aquatic invasive plant that's there,
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especially since many of these plants are submerged, so they're
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under the water and they may not reach the surface
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of the water, so some people may not see that.
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But it's still important to do the things that you
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need to do to prevent the spread, even if you
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are not seeing those plants when you're going to a
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water body that's infested.
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And Tony, what's the overall trend in Maine? Is it
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getting worse? Is it getting better?
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It's it's not getting better overall. I would say, I think,
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you know, currently we have I think thirty eight infested
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systems and so we kind of call them systems now
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because an infestation might include a lake or a pond
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and then adjacent a connected infested stream. So there's I
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think thirty eight infested systems, and every year we kind
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of add one or two infestations. But we also have
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had some successes where we've taken infestations off of the
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infested lakes list. But I think we're gaining more infestations
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than we are eradicating plants. So that's why it's incredibly
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important that people are aware of the issue like today's
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show and doing the things that they need to do
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to prevent the spread.
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Dakota. How have the invasives gotten here and do they
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continue to come? And then my follow up question to
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you is going to be about climate change. How does
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climate change affect how rapidly our invasives spread.
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Yeah, there are definitely different routes of transfer for some
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of the different aquatic invasive species. Certainly fish are sometimes
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moving through a different mechanism than the invasive aquatic plants.
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That meaning like going up in the stream or.
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Yeah, so that's one method of course. If they're introduced
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to a certain water body, they can then go up
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through a watershed into other connected waters. Unfortunately, people also
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move around fish to new places. That's one of the
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primary means of spread for invasive fish, things like zebra
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muscles or spiny water flea, which is an invasive planktonic crustacean.
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Those are you know, really microorganisms that are being spread
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more incidentally in say a little puddle of water in
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the back of your boat that you didn't clean out,
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and they happen to live from one water body to
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a new water body, and when you put into that
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new water body, you're introducing a species. So again there's
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a variety of roots. Incidental intentional and then of course
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through connected waters.
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And then how about the impact of climate change.
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Yeah, so climate change definitely can impact aquatic invasive species
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differently depending on the species.
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But for a lot of our.
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Say our invasive fish species for example, that are fish species,
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as we see warming waters, we may see kind of
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increased spread of these species into areas that previously had
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cooler water, and now they're accessing you know, like through
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that upstream method of transport, maybe they're accessing new areas
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that have warmed a bit. Additionally, you know, the resiliency
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of our native populations of say eastern Brook trout, they
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rely on cool oxygen NATed water, and as we see
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a decline in that kind of cooler water again, we
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could see the habitats start to favor our warmer water
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invasive fish species.
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More not unlike what's happening in the ocean on the
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coast and Tony, is that true for plants as well?
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That climate change is kind of weakening our native species
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and strengthening some of the other ones that are invasive.
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I wouldn't say that it's weakening our native species, but
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it's definitely giving the invasive of species in earlier opportunity
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to become established and to start growing. I mean with
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aquatic invasives and terrestrial invasive species, they look for opportunities
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and so when they have an opportunity to start growing earlier,
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they're more adept at doing that. And then you couple
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that with some of the droughts that we've had, you know,
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with the lower water that means that the sunlight is
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reaching more of the lake bottom than it used to,
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and that can impact all plant growth. And it just
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so happens that invasive plants grow more aggressively, and so
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they tend to be the ones that kind of take over.
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All right, And Tony, what is the organism that you're
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most worried about from a plant species perspective.
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That's a tough one. We're worried about a lot of plants.
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So there are some aquatic invasive plants that we don't
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have yet here in Maine, and then there are some
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that are established in limited numbers. One of the plants
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that we're most concerned about is something called brittle naiad.
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And part of the reason why we're so concerned about
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this plant is because it's really hard to manage.
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Once it becomes.
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Established, it has a very short window growth of growth,
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so where you can actually find it and remove it
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before it goes to seed. It's an annual so it
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produces these really tiny seeds every year. So if a
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boat is coming in and they have brittle Naiad seeds
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on it, it's something that even our boat inspector might not catch.
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So that's one that we're really concerned about, just because
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it's hard to find and it's hard to manage.
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Do we have it already in me?
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We do? Yeah, we have it in a couple of
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water bodies and mean.
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Okay, yeah, And to code from your perspective, if you
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had to name an animal that you're most worried.
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About, yeah, that's a hard question to answer, just because
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they all have, of course, their own impacts a little
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bit differently. You know, one that gets the most attention,
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I would say would be the zebra muscles, of course,
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because they have caused incredible economic damage across the country
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really where they've already been kind of established for a
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longer period of time, and so we are certainly closely
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watching zebra muscles and any potential spread of their infestation.
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You're listening right now to let's connect Greater Portland, the
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show about the issues we're facing the Greater Portland region
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and the movers and shakers leading the way. I'm Christina Egan,
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and today we are discussing freshwater, invasive plants and animals
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in Maine with Dakota Stankowski from the Main Department of Inland,
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Fish and Wildlife, Tony pa from the Mean Department of
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Environmental Protection, and Pam Wilkinson from the Little Sobago Lake Association.
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Here's a question for all of you who are listening.
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Have you noticed changes in your favorite lake over the years,
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good or bad? Call in and tell us about them.
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And if you have questions for Dakota, Pam or Tony
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that we haven't asked yet, please call in and let
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us know. You can call us at seven eight zero
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four nine zero nine, or send us a direct message
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on Instagram at Let's Connect Radio, or go to WMPG
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website and click on Chat with a DJ at the
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top of the page. So, Pam, I like to turn
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into you. Since you are literally well not in a trench,
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I guess i'd call it a lake trench in the depths.
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You're in the depths, in your depths, and you dived
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into some pretty difficult issues up at Little Sebago Lake,
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and I like to understand a little bit more about
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the work that you've done on milfoil. I understand that
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since about nineteen ninety nine you have been battling milfoil
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with the Milfoil Militia, which is a volunteer group, and
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that the milfoil was hand pulled until the Little Sebago
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Lake Association developed the first suction dredge in two thousand
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and four. So can you tell us about the evolution
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of milfoil management in Little Sebago Lake and how it
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was done by hand and then how the suction dredge works.
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Well, we milfoil Militias is correct, because I feel that
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we've won the war, but we're still battling. And what
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happened was we thought that volunteers could just take it
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on themselves and do hand removal, and we found out
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that that didn't work so well because some people didn't
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show up, and you know, and the plant became so
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invasive and so so dense that we realized that it
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wasn't going to work, and we were blessed to have
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someone on the lake as an engineer developed the section dredge.
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And before you get to the section dredge, I'm just
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very curious about how you do it by hand. Do
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you have to put on some some goggles and drive
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down or somewhere.
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You put on goggles and you can take you know,
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your scuba tanks and you go down underneath and you
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have to you just don't vacuum it. The word vacuum
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is incorrect. What you do is you have to reach
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down under the soil, grab the root and it's the
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roots similar to like a rose bush, where it just
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goes under the water and you take the root out,
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feed the root into the bag at that time, and
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then take the the the plant stem structures and put
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them into the bag as well. And that wasn't working
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well at all.
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That sounds very labor intensive. Yeah, okay, So tell us
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about this new technology.
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So the new technology he developed a suction dredge that
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while the diver is underwater pulling the root out of
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the water, there is a hose they can feed the
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plant into. The hose goes up into a trough and
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drops down into onion bags or cages or whatever that
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it has morphed into various different boats.
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So you still need a diver. You need a diver, yes,
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And then does is this section is it strong enough
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that it can pull the root system out? You don't know.
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You still have to put a huge hand.
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Always use hand. And you know. The feeling is that
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you can just kind of vacuum it and it'll go away,
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but it will grow back threefold.
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It's just like bad weeds in your garden. You have
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to get the roots out. Yea.
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So we were able to have this, and at that
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time other lakes had an idea that maybe we shared
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that information with other lakes and they morphed other boats
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in various different forms into their their their their lakes
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for the use of pulling pulling milfoil.
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So at the top of the show, when you were
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introducing yourself, you talked about how you collect fewer bags
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than you used to when you've been sucking up the milfoil.
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How often do volunteers need to go out in order
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to keep the milfoil in check.
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We don't use volunteers. Well, we encourage volunteers, but we
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found that that didn't work. So it's a paid position.
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We have a captain, a crew and then the diver
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and they all have to be certified so that they
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are aware of the diver and be able to assist
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them if something happens.
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Are these like full time jobs?
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They are five days a week. Wow, that's very important.
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We are blessed with a good lake community that has
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helped us out financially. The state helps us. The towns
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of Gray and Wyndham through grants have helped us out
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in various different forms, but mostly it is the Lake
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Association community that has helped us. And the program can
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run from sixty to eighty thousand dollars a year.
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Yeah, that sounds it's expensive, but it's a big problem. Yeah,
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it's worth it. Yeah, tell us a little bit about
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why it's worth it. How have you seen the little
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Tobago change after you've done these treatments.
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It's changed a lot the treatments. There's been a community
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of awareness and people are reporting if they see something,
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whether it's native or non native. But it has changed
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from pulling a lot of bags out and having to
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dispose of them to now it's management. Circle the lake
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three times a year and go to the same thirty
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spots that we've identified, and it's management instead of full
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bore operation.
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Tony. Is it possible to ever eliminate milfoil once it's
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taken root like it has in Little Sebago. It is.
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Yeah, we do have some success stories, but it takes
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a really long time. As Pam knows. You know, they've
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been doing this for over twenty years now, and it
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depends on how well established the plant is. So you know,
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if you can catch something early, there's a greater likelihood
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that you can eradicate it. But even even still, even
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if you catch it early, it's something that takes a
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long time to get rid of. As Pam said, it's
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like weeding your garden, but you're underwater, and so it's
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a matter of finding these plants and then having the
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right tools to be able to get rid of them,
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which makes it kind of challenging. But it is possible
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to eradicate something.
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So, Pam, you've been working diligently to try to manage
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the milfoil. And I know lakes associations all over the
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state play a really really important role in Maine keeping
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our lakes, Yes, for recreation, for natural value. Does your
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lake association do work on prevention?
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We do. There's a lot of a lot of avenues
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that we have newsletters and we have Facebook. We also
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have our website and our annual meeting that we kind
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of spread the word, get the information out, educate the people,
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and have them become part of the process. You know,
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if they report something, we rapidly respond to their place,
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identify it and then let them know one way or
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the other if it's invasive. Our natives, so they are
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our community and they are involved.
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So they're kind of the eyes to see whether you
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have a more malfoil coming in or another invasive.
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We encourage them to always look down, you know, around
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their property. It's not just their lawn are anything else
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that goes up up the slope. It is also beyond,
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beyond their lake shoreline. So we asked them to just
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keep looking and reporting to us.
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And Pam, I'm curious what got you to be to
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join the militia and to spend so much time on
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this because you're a volunteer.
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I am, yeah. And myself and Tim Greer, who does
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the does the fleet of the boats. He does the
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maintenance and that type of thing, and we work well together,
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both aging seventy five and eighty pretty soon. So we're
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encouraging people to come on and younger people become involved.
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But I became involved I think growing up. I grew
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up in Crystal Lake in Dry Mills, Gray Maine, and
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I always liked the water. And then we moved to
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Little Sabega Lake and it just felt like a natural thing.
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And then it becomes a community. You know, the lake
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is seven miles long, and people have learned are known
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people from the north the middle of the South. Now
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they know each other, you know, just by the connection
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of milfoil. If that's ever a positive thing out of milfoil.
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Yeah, Well, maners do come together a lot of challenges, Yeah,
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and they get organized and they have great volunteers that
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do a lot of the work.
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And we do have volunteers that help us as a
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network of people that raise their hand to either identify,
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do some surveying and stuff. So we are blessed with that.
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So, Dakota and Antonio, I want to ask you to
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kind of dig in a little bit more on the
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prevention side. What are the most important things that boaters
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and anglers, paddlers and waterfront property owners should do every
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time they leave a water body.
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I think Tony and I will have the same answer
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here of course, and that is clean drain dry. That
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is always the message. And what we mean by clean
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drain dry is that every time you're out on the
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water with all of your gear, all of your watercraft,
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your trailer, make sure you're cleaning off any visible debris,
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any vegetation, any visible animals.
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Of course you need to use disinfectant or do you
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just use water?
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Not necessarily, yeah, you just clean by hand. You can,
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of course when you get back home spray down your boat.
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But the second and third steps of clean drain dry
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are also what's going to kind of prevent that spread
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of aquatic invasive species. So you have to drain all water.
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That's actually a law in the state of Maine that
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you have to encourage the draining of water from your
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watercraft and any other any other gear that you may have,
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and then finally dry all of your equipment and your
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watercraft between uses, ideally for up to five days, especially
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in cooler, more humid weather. We would want people to
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dry as long as possible between uses.
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And if they don't have that amount of time before
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they're going to the next lake, what would you recommend.
447
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Definitely dry as long as possible and make sure that
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things are cleaned off and rained again, you can kind
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of spray down.
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With your hoes.
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We get asked a lot if there are any sort
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of chemical disinfectants that we recommend, and I hesitate to
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recommend any just because we don't want chemicals used.
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And then going into the white body, correct, Yeah, yeah,
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And how about swimmers, Tony or swimmers? Do swimmers need
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to take any precautions to prevent the spread? No?
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I mean I encourage people to get involved with whatever
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lake they you know frequent, you know, understand what's going
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on there. You know, is there a lake association or
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a watershed organization that's doing work on that lake? Is
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it infested? If it's not, it doesn't necessarily mean that
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it doesn't have an infestation. It just means that we
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don't know about it. But get involved and understand sort
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of the status of the particular lake that you like
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to frequent. There are lots of organizations like Little Spagel
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Lake Association that are putting in a lot of time
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and effort and funding to manage these infestations. And so
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many of them use different like buoy systems and things
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to notify people when there's an area that they're working
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to manage invasives. You know, make sure you stay out
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of those areas, you know, look for divers. Many people
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don't know what a diver down flag looks like. It's
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a red flag with a white stripe across from corner
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to corner. Know what that means, So that you can
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stay away from divers that are working on removing these
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infestations to keep the diver safe. And something that's really important,
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you know, we often talk about the courtesy boat Inspection
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program and people see the boat inspectors at the boat
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ramps that inspect watercrafts going into and coming out of
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the lakes, and it's really important for people to do
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their own inspections if there's not a boat inspector present.
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But the other thing that people should be aware of
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is that when you're in a water body, it's important
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to clean your gear when you're going from one part
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of the lake to another part of the lake, because
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you don't want to bring an invasive you know, seed
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or fragment or something from one part of the lake
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to another part of the lake.
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Is there a place online where people can go to
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see pictures of both the animals and the plants. That
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are invasive.
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00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:09.640
Yeah, so I think you can go to either the
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Department of Inland Fisherialism Wildlife website or the main dp's website.
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We have pictures of all of the plants on our
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00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:19.200
website and there's tons of information through IF and W.
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00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:21.880
Lake Stewarts of Maine is also a great resource. They
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have lots of online resources for people for identification.
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00:27:25.799 --> 00:27:28.000
My last quote question for all of you, and I'll
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start with you, Pam, is what gives you hope that
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we're going to be able to tackle these invasives over
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the long term.
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00:27:35.799 --> 00:27:39.319
I guess the hope is that everybody becomes involved and
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that they see things before we do and then report it.
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00:27:44.119 --> 00:27:48.359
The hope is that we've we've reduced the the amounts
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00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:51.839
that we're taking out each each year, you know, unless
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00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:56.079
unless there's something indicates a blip or something like that.
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00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:59.440
But the hope is that it diminishes and diminishes to
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00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:03.240
the point. I don't I'd love to say this. I
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00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:06.680
call it a magic pixie ducks dust that makes it
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00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.559
goat away, But I don't think it'll be gone go
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00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:11.720
away very often, very quickly.
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00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:14.640
Thank you, Pam. I have a quick yes or no
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answer for the two of you. Tony and Dakota. Are
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00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:20.839
felt boots for fly fishing allowed on the river?
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00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:24.680
Yes, yes, okay, they are still gear that you should
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00:28:24.680 --> 00:28:25.640
clean drain dry.
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00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:29.200
Though, Okay, clean, drain dry. And we have just a
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00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:31.640
few seconds left. But Tony and Dakota, do you have
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00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:32.960
something that gives you hope?
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00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.799
The fact that this issue is getting so much attention,
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the fact that you've invited the three of us here
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today and this is receiving attention more broadly in the
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00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:42.400
general public.
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00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:46.759
Certainly great I totally concur I mean, we're so lucky
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00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:49.440
to have Dakota and say I'm the other higher at
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00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:51.440
Ife and w and we're so lucky to have all
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00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:55.200
of our community partners at all de Lake associations where
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00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:56.160
there's a lot of hope.
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I want to thank all of you for coming today
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and sharing your knowledge and your experience. Thank you so much.
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00:29:01.799 --> 00:29:03.440
Well, thank you for having us.
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00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:06.200
You've been listening to Let's Connect Greater Portland, a show
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00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:08.559
about the issue shaping our region and the leaders who
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00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:11.119
are making a difference, including the three people that I've
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00:29:11.160 --> 00:29:14.680
interviewed today. Dakota Stankowski from the Main Department of Inland,
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00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:17.240
Fish and Wildlife, Tony pa from the Main Department of
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00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:21.799
Environmental Protection, and Pam Wilkinson from the Little Sebago Lake Association.
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I also want to thank Anela, our sound engineer, and
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00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:28.480
WMPG for partnering with the Greater Portland Council of Governments
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00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:30.720
to bring you this show. You can reach us on
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00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:34.039
Instagram at Let's Connect Radio. Join us next week for
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00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:37.559
another conversation about the great work happening in our communities.
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Until then, be kind to yourself and to each other.
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00:29:40.839 --> 00:29:43.799
I'm Christina Egan. See you next time on Let's Connect
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Greater Portland.