Editor,

Your extensive articles in the Aug. 3 issue covered the Lakes Region very well. Milfoil and hydrilla are problems that are finally arriving in New England. It’s hit hard in other places years sooner. These poor people have had to fight the problem much longer than we have and what they’ve learned should be of value to us.

On Lake Norman in North Carolina they introduced sterile grass carp to eat up the Hydrilla two years ago with success. This is a bigger lake with more at stake than we have at Sebago.

At Lake Chautauqua, a large lake in western New York, approximately 10 years ago they started using roughly a million dollars worth of mowing machines and a large crew of people to control their milfoil problem. It failed and they got together with Cornell University which researched a small snail that eats the milfoil. This was done after trying it on a small controlled pond.

I doubt if any of the methods listed in your article are going to be aggressive enough to control milfoil and hydrilla.

An article in a Fryeburg paper recently told about a boat owner who wanted to put his boat in the water even though it had milfoil on it. After an argument with the boat inspector he finally agreed to clean up his boat before putting it in. With these kind of people we’re going to need more than signs to protect our lakes.

Closing of boat launch locations, unless a deputized boat inspector is present, is needed.

Roger Wily

Bridgton