Lake Stewards of Maine - Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program

10/21/2026

✨Volunteer Spotlight✨

Kerry Black and Toni Clark were all smiles as they received volunteer service awards at the Citizens’ Association of Liberty Lakes (C.A.L.L) meeting in July. It was clear that these two share a wonderful friendship and have enjoyed working together on their Invasive Plant Patrol team for 20 years! 🤝🎉

Wayne Rancourt, who was unable to attend the meeting, was also recognized with a 10-year award for his dedication to water quality monitoring. 👏📋

Thank you, Kerry, Toni, and Wayne, for your many years of helping protect the health of St. George Lake! 💧💙

Photo L to R: Alison Cooney (LSM Executive Director), Kerry Black, Toni Clark, Dana Valleau (C.A.L.L President).

10/16/2026

LSM wouldn’t be possible without our amazing volunteers! 🤝Each year, we recognize our certified volunteers who dedicate their time and commitment to monitoring water quality and surveying for aquatic invasive species, celebrating every five years of volunteer service. 🎉

📋Certification ensures standardized and consistent data collection, providing reliable information that can be used to help guide lake management decisions. Our certified volunteers commit to collecting data annually, providing valuable information that helps monitor lake health over time. 💧⏳

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting some of these incredible volunteers in our Volunteer Spotlight series. ✨ Please join us in thanking them for helping us better understand and protect our lakes! 💙

10/15/2026

💙 Imagine a Day Without Water. It's easy to take water for granted when we live in a state filled with lakes, rivers, and streams. But what would our lives look like without clean, clear healthy freshwater?

Let’s protect the resource that sustains us every day and take action for Imagine a Day Without Water tomorrow, October 15! 📆💙

Here are five ways you can help protect Maine’s lakes:
💧 Learn about your lake. Understand the factors that affect lake health and water quality.
🌿 Help prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species. Clean, drain, and dry boats and equipment between waterbodies.
🌊 Get involved in lake monitoring. Learn how volunteer community scientists help track lake health.
🌾 Protect water quality. Reduce runoff by limiting fertilizer use, maintaining vegetated shorelines, and managing erosion.
🤝 Support local lake stewardship. Connect with a local lake association or learn about volunteering with Lake Stewards of Maine.

10/13/2026

🎉Congratulations to Matt Scott on receiving the Fly Rod Crosby Outdoor Lifetime Achievement Award. Matt helped create the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program when it began at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection way back in 1971. His dedication to Maine’s lakes and to volunteer-based lake monitoring has made a lasting impact.

We’re grateful for all Matt has done—and continues to do—for Maine’s lakes and the community of volunteers who help protect them. Congratulations, Matt, on this well-deserved recognition!

And the 2026 Fly Rod Crosby Outdoor Lifetime Achievement Award goes to....
Matt Scott of Belgrade, Maine!

Matt has hunted and fished in Maine since childhood and has been a Registered Maine Guide for decades. For him, guiding has always been about teaching. Generations of Scouts, students, anglers, and families have learned from Matt how to canoe, fish, camp, and care for Maine’s natural resources.

His work has also helped protect Maine waters. Matt helped create Maine’s volunteer lake-monitoring program, training people to collect and report water-quality data. That effort grew into Lake Stewards of Maine, which now has more than 700 volunteers across the state. He has supported salmon restoration, advocated for public access, and donated a conservation easement on his 100-acre farm.

Matt began his professional career with the Atlantic Salmon Commission in 1959. He went on to serve as a fisheries biologist with MDIFW, became the first biologist at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and later served as MDIFW's Deputy Commissioner. Now in his 90s, he continues to hunt, fish, teach, write, and mentor.

Congratulations Matt!

Learn more about the award and Matt's long list of contributions and achievements at mefishwildlife.com/awards.

10/12/2026

10/09/2026

The busy Summer season is over... but aquatic invasive plants don't abide by calendars. 🗓️🚫

🌊Regardless of the activity, entering and exiting a water body can pose a risk of invasive aquatic species infestation. With summer being over, many boat launches are not monitored by Courtesy Boat Inspectors after Labor Day. You are the last line of defense against the introduction of an aquatic invader.🛶🛑

✨This is your reminder to continue to CLEAN, DRAIN, and DRY your boat when utilizing our water bodies in Maine.🛥️

🚿Clean: Wash your boat and gear with hot, pressurized, or low percentage bleach-water mixture, ensuring all mud, debris, and plant material is no longer attached.
🪣Drain: Drain all water-holding compartments AWAY from the water body; bilge, live well, motor, and any other. Dispose of all unwanted bait in the trash.
💨Dry: Use a towel to wipe down your boat and gear, or let sit to dry for at least 5 days.

ℹ️For a detailed protocol and more information on WHY we Clean, Drain, Dry, please visit this webpage US Fish & Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/story/clean-drain-dry
Photo courtesy of Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife

10/06/2026

✨Behind every number is a volunteer who cares about their lake.

💡When people have the knowledge, training, and support to monitor and understand their lake, they become an important part of protecting it. AND when volunteers get involved, they often inspire others to get involved too.🤝

💙We are grateful to all of the volunteer community scientists who give their time curiosity, and passion to Maine's lakes.

10/01/2026

09/29/2026

Protecting source water starts with knowing where your water comes from. 🏞️

Lake Stewards of Maine's drinking water comes from Lake Auburn. Do you know where your water comes from? 📍

🗓️This Source Water Protection Week, we’re joining the American Water Works Association (AWWA) in recognizing the importance of protecting the rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater we all rely on for clean drinking water. 🫗

Protecting our water sources today helps ensure clean, safe water for our communities tomorrow. 💧

09/25/2026

Be on the lookout for swollen bladderwort (Utricularia inflata) blooming.🌿

Swollen bladderwort can be found blooming all-season long, but is most commonly found in late spring and early autumn. 🍂 This free floating plant has clusters of yellow, snapdragon-like flowers held on a stalk in the center of a wagon-wheel shaped raft ranging from 4 to 10 inches across. 🌼🛟

For information on how to determine invasive swollen bladderwort from other large native bladderwort species, please view our webinar Know Your Bladderworts here. 🎥📚 www.lakestewardsofmaine.org/know-your-bladderwortswebinar/

To report a suspicious plant, please email [email protected]. 📨🔍

photo credit: Debbie Broderick