6384-R2_LSLA_2019_SummerNewsletter_Web

Around My Lake? Shoreline and Beyond

Assembled by Pam Wilkinson

Credits and Links to more information: • www.LakeStewardsofMaine.org

• www.mainelakessociety.org • www.littlesebagolake.com

• https://www.maine.gov/dep/water/lakes/cyanobacteria.html • https://www.maine.gov/portal/about_me/invasives.html

INVASIVE

Variable Milfoil Variable water-milfoil is a submersed, aquatic plant with branching stems emerging from dense, spreading roots. Feather-divided leaves are arranged in densely packed whorls. (Leaves along lower portions of the stem may not be in perfect whorls, i.e., some leaves may be slightly offset.) There are generally 4 to 6 leaves per whorl and 5 to 14 pairs of thread-like leaflets on each leaf. The dense leaf arrangement gives this plant a bottle brush appearance. Stems may be green and slight, but most often they are thick, robust and reddish in color (even bright red). Variable-leaf milfoil is an aggressive aquatic plant that can form dense mats that congest waterways and crowd out native aquatic plants. Thick growth of this plant can impair recreational uses of waterways including boating, swimming and fishing. Dense growth of variable- leaf milfoil degrades the native habitat of fish and other wildlife, and may also provide breeding areas for mosquitoes. The main method of dispersal of this plant appears to be fragmentation. Plant fragments are moved around by people, animals and water currents.

Woolly Zebra Chinese Adelgid Mussels Mystery Snails

Our forests are also magnificent carbon sinks, by the way, the woody bits storing carbon in biomass, the leafy bits drinking up greenhouse gases through productivity.) But our forests too, are being threatened by the changing climate. Maine’s native hemlock trees, for example, are now threatened by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). This non-native insect would not have been able to survive here just a few short decades ago when our winters were more severe. Now, because of Maine’s warming climate, not only is this cold intolerant invader poised to decimate our hemlocks (and their carbon capturing biomass), it will also further compromise native brook trout habitat. The shade that hemlocks provide during the spring along many of our streams, is critical to keeping waters cool during trout spawning season. And hemlock woolly adelgid is only one of the threats to our forests being aided by climate change. Warmer minimum temps and more frequent, more prolonged periods of drought will also benefit emerald ash borers, southern pine beetles, and other serious forest pests. Other Invasive Species that exist close to our lake: Fish, eleven aquatic plants, Chinese mystery snails, zebra mussels and other pests. Please on your rainy day take the time to visit some of the links to stay informed and report anything suspicious to the lake association info@littlesebagolake.com

23