CASCO – After five years fighting a constant battle against invasive milfoil on the Songo River, the Lakes Environmental Association is now asking the state to close the historic Songo Lock to prevent further infestation.

Peter Lowell, executive director of the Bridgton-based environmental group, advocates for the closure of the lock, which provides boaters with a way to navigate a 4.5-foot incline in that area of the river. (A dam is located adjacent to the lock as well.)

The lock’s closure, Lowell said, would prevent boats from carrying milfoil from the heavily infested Lower Songo River into the upper reaches of the river. Preventing the spread into the Upper Songo River, he said, will keep milfoil out of Brandy Pond and Long Lake, as well.

Lowell’s call for the closure has caused a wave of reaction from businesses that would be affected by the closure, namely marinas that rely on boat renters seeking the adventure of boating along 30-plus uninterrupted miles from the top of Long Lake to the lower bay of Sebago Lake.

If the state doesn’t agree to the closure of the lock, which is located in the middle of the 30-plus mile stretch, Lowell is hoping that his recent call will at least increase funding for courtesy boat inspectors at the lock to prevent further infestation.

Banner year

For five years, Lowell said teams of milfoil mitigators have been focused on the Upper Songo River and Brandy Pond handpicking milfoil, root and all, with the use of a suction dredge, a pontoon boat equipped with a vacuum that sucks up plant fragments. They’ve also placed mats over areas of milfoil to prevent sunlight from reaching the weed, which this year has been growing by leaps and bounds in a summer marked by sunny days and high heat and humidity, Lowell said.

And because weather has been optimal for boating, he said, more boats are out on the river, exacerbating the spread of milfoil.

“It’s a banner year for growing plants and a banner year for boaters,” Lowell said. “I can only imagine what things will be like in August.”

Lowell has called for the historic lock’s closure partly as a way to draw attention – especially boaters’ attention – to the milfoil threat. Because of the association’s persistent efforts, Lowell said there is little milfoil north of the lock. But those efforts could be negated as boats pass through the lock and into the Lower Songo River, where milfoil is growing into the boating lane. As boat propellers plow through the milfoil, bits break off, float away and replant themselves elsewhere. Other plant fragments can get caught in a boat motor and fall off upstream. By closing the lock, Lowell is hoping to limit this summer’s rapid spread to the area south of the lock.

Not so easy

Before Lowell’s request to close Songo Lock can become reality, three state agencies would have to approve the closure: the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife and Department of Conservation.

According to Paul Gregory, an environmental specialist with the DEP, his department and Inland Fisheries & Wildlife must sign off on any “surface use restriction” proposal that would affect boaters or other recreational pursuits. The Department of Conservation, which operates the lock, would also have to OK the closure.

While several decision makers in the three departments are on vacation this week, Gregory said he will be meeting with Lowell at the lock on Friday, July 30 to assess the milfoil situation and discuss a possible closure.

Business impact

While a lock closure would no doubt limit milfoil’s spread into the northern reaches of the river, since the infested areas are downstream of the uncontaminated areas, it would also limit where tourists can travel in the continuous waterway from Harrison to Lower Bay of Sebago Lake. The lock on the Songo River sees upwards of 150 boats on weekend days, including many vacationers renting boats from marinas in Naples.

One marina owner, Dan Craffey at Moose Landing Marina, says a lock closure would “devastate” his business and be a “tragedy” for the recreational boaters, both local and from away.

“It’s a beautiful ride through the river down to the lock. There are areas to pull off and go swimming. It would be such a tragedy to lose this,” Craffey said.

When asked if Naples-based boaters would just as happily head up Long Lake instead of toward the lock, Craffey said, “Absolutely not. The attraction is to go through the river onto Sebago and back. We’ve got the pulse of what families want and Sebago’s a huge part of it.”

Lowell is concerned about the lake-based economy, as well, and invited marina owners to a luncheon last week to discuss his proposal to close the lock. While he admits some economic impact would be felt locally, the cost of not taking action immediately to address the rising milfoil problem could have permanent long-term economic consequences.

“It’s not like we’re asking people to stay at their docks. They would still be able to visit the lock, but just not go through it. We don’t think the risk makes it worthwhile,” Lowell said. “The idea is to close it until we come up with a strategy, whether that be very intensive inspections or something else.”

Dipping into reserves

Right now, the state’s milfoil sticker program sponsors most invasive plant eradication efforts around Maine. (Of Maine’s 6,000-plus lakes, 34 have non-native infestations.) To help pay for the eradication and inspection efforts, all boaters must buy an annual milfoil sticker, which costs $10 for residents and $20 for boats registered out of state.

In 2009, the sticker program raised $1.2 million, 60 percent of which was dispersed to groups like the Lakes Environmental Association for milfoil eradication. The remaining 40 percent employs wardens for inland water patrol and enforcement Lowell would like to see the state focus the program’s financial resources more on eradication and boat inspection.

“I’ve always advocated that more of the money should go to plant eradication efforts,” he said.

A major portion of the money given to local groups goes to pay for courtesy boat inspectors (“courtesy” because boat owners can refuse to cooperate). Last year, the LEA spent $6,270 on boat inspectors for Sebago Lake State Park’s public boat launch (located on the Lower Songo River) and $5,940 on Songo Lock boat inspection. Lowell said private donations, grants and state assistance still don’t provide adequate boat inspection coverage at Songo Lock or the state park, two of the busiest boat inspection locations in the state. He would like to have two inspectors on at all times, especially on busy weekend days when one inspector can’t do an adequate job of inspecting all boats that crowd – sometimes three-abreast – into the 100-by-26-foot lock canal.

Because of the lack of state support to pay for boat inspectors, coupled with this year’s heavy usage of the lock due to optimal weather, Lowell has had to dip into the LEA’s reserve fund to bolster courtesy boat inspections at the lock. Lowell is making a calculated gamble that the state will reimburse the group for the expenditure.

“If they don’t decide to close the lock, I estimate we’ll need an additional $10,000 to get through the rest of this boating season,” Lowell said. “We’ve honed our budget to the bare minimum, so by dipping into our reserves we are essentially borrowing money hoping we get funding from the state or through private donations.”

Lowell’s theory regarding boat inspection is this: If boat inspectors can spot milfoil fragments before a boat enters an uninfested area, that saves money on milfoil eradication efforts in the future. Because once milfoil takes hold, it’s hard to fully eradicate.

Closure alternative

Frank Gerrish, longtime owner of the Songo River Queen paddleboat docked on the Long Lake side of the Naples Causeway, says weeds have been present in the Songo River for ages, but that the practice of dredging has, in the past, worked well to limit their growth.

For decades, Gerrish used his own dredging rig to prevent silt from plugging the channel through the Songo River, as well as underneath the Naples Causeway Bridge, to allow for bigger boats, including the Songo River Queen, to make their way through the scenic winding river.

Up until 20 years ago, the state paid him $15,000 yearly to use his own equipment to dredge the river from the Causeway to Sebago Lake. He said handpicking milfoil is “ridiculous” because milfoil will simply regrow anywhere sunlight can reach.

“I’ve been up here 40 years, and I’ve maintained that river for most of that time,” Gerrish said. “All that river needs is dredging. It’s filled in over the years and has no current. If you dredge it, the milfoil can’t grow because it’ll be too deep. That would solve it.”

Gerrish stopped dredging the river about 20 years ago, because the state dropped its funding, he said. He estimated dredging efforts now would cost nearly $500,000 to adequately create a channel deep enough to prohibit plant growth.

“It just goes to show you some of the stupid stuff they do,” Gerrish said of the decision to cease dredging. “And then they go ahead and spend all this money on (milfoil eradication). Doesn’t make sense.”

Lock operator Sam Chute, above, turns a mechanism that opens the lower end of the Songo Lock in Casco so the Songo River Queen can exit into the Lower Songo River last Friday afternoon, the day after the Bridgton-based Lakes Environmental Association called for the state to close the historic lock due to milfoil infestation concerns. (Staff photo by John Balentine)
Courtesy boat inspector Christian Oren displays a piece of milfoil. Oren has been part of a multi-year milfoil eradication effort that has virtually cleared the invasive weed from the Upper Songo and Brandy Pond. (Staff photo by John Balentine)