been asked to come back next year and report on a full year’s activity using the new design. In an attempt to keep this short, I invite you to read all the other articles in this newsletter, read what our corporate members are offering to LACC members and remember, YOU are our best form of advertising!!! Speak with your neighbors about LACC!!! Encourage them to join! See you on the Lake!

Mike Fitzpatrick President

asked to make a presentation on our new suction harvester. With Tracie Doyle and Joanne Fitzpatrick also attending, we made the best use of this opportunity and networked with the other lake organizations, York County Soil and Erosion, DEP, Maine COLA and the Maine VLMP. Our presentation focused on the new design our organization developed which features a basket capture design instead of a trough system. Based on the comments and follow up discussions, I believe we opened a few eyes with this new approach and we’ve

Hello!! Is it spring yet? I thought the signs of spring were here, but today’s Nor’easter made it a little more difficult to see. But the signs are coming into focus. In this newsletter you will be reading about the harvester, fund raising events, marketing our organization, Courtesy Boat Inspection Program and LACC’s financial picture. Please take the opportunity to read what our plans are and really, please participate. The 10th Annual Milfoil Conference was held at the University of Maine Friday, February 27th. LACC was

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March 2009

Volume 2

• Letter from the President

• Fishing Tournament

• Web Update • Suction Harvester

News • Naming Contest • Treasurer’s Report • LACC Fundraising • CBI Program • Benthic Barriers

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Another fundraiser for LACC will be hosted by the recently formed bass club called the Arrowhead Prop Busters (“APB”) run by President, Stephen Burke. APB will be holding a fishing tournament on Lake Arrowhead on August 8th from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm with all proceeds donated to LACC. APB has stated that this will be a tournament open to anyone interested in participating. Since all proceeds from the tournament will benefit Lake

Arrowhead, APB would like to encourage all Lake Arrowhead residents to participate in the tournament. The entry fee will be $120 per boat with the maximum of two men per boat. All boats will leave from the boat ramp at the Ledgemere Dam. Anyone interested in participating should check LACC’s website in the coming months for more details regarding prizes, registration and other fun activities that will take place at the tournament. It will be a great day

of bass fishing on our beautiful lake with all proceeds being donated to LACC. So, fellow bass fishermen please mark your calendars and tell your neighbors about the event. It should be a great day for all, and we hope to see you there. Also, I would like to personally thank APB for hosting this event for LACC.

Tracie Doyle LACC Secretary Chairperson, Fundraising Committee

���������� ��Our website has created a lot of interest out there! We get several emails from other lakes in the area, and even from as far away as Minnesota asking about our suction harvester. In the year we’ve had the website up,

we’ve had around 2000 hits. Becoming a LACC member helps us to keep funding the fight on milfoil, and it also allows us to reach out to you when there is a problem with the dam, or if there is local vandalism. If I have your

email address, you are added to our database. I can then send you notifications, special interest emails to keep you up to speed on the status of Lake Arrowhead. You will never see spam from laccme.org and I will never share your email. Amy Oreto

Web Master

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LACC Mar 2009 Page 2 of 4

It’s here, it’s ready and it’s about to make the first significant dent in removing milfoil in Lake Arrowhead!! LACC’s first mechanized tool is expected to be in the water on or about Father’s Day this June. So how did we get there? A brief history will help. Last season we spent much time and effort building the Lake Arrowhead Diver Assisted Suction Harvester (DASH). This project came about through the cooperation of Lake Arrowhead Community, Inc., Lake Arrowhead Conservation Council, the towns of Limerick and Waterboro with assists from LEA (Lakes Environmental Association) and the Little Sebago Lake Association. Additional funding was also provided by the Maine DEP. As you might have read in the LAC newsletter, LAC and LACC member Bob Hawes graciously donated the funds necessary to purchase a 28 foot pontoon boat owned by Mike and Kerry DeAngelis of LAC and LACC. The boat needed to be stripped down to a bare shell and LAC worked many man hours stripping her down to her pontoons and completely refitting the craft to become a suction harvester. LACC purchased all suction harvester related equipment with funds provided by memberships and the generous donations from Waterboro, Limerick and the DEP. Our members and the crew had viewed the other lake association

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harvesters and saw how labor intensive they were not only to build but to man while in use. This “think tank” group decided to radically upgrade the design of existing harvesters by installing a pour-thru floor and outfitting the boat with two large pour-thru baskets. This new design totally removed the need for a trough system seen on all other harvesters which reduced build time and some costs. It also is projected to reduce operational costs since only one person, the captain, is needed on the harvester. This should help us run the boat longer with existing funding. As we entered August the LACC Board held its annual meeting and we voted to obtain the necessary insurances necessary to protect the organization and the divers that would be paid workers. Unfortunately, this is part of the cost of fighting milfoil! We also realized that we needed an individual who could take charge and organize the day to day operations of the boat. Thankfully, Dave Sanfason accepted and began to assemble the operations manual for running the boat (also needed by the insurance company) and putting an organization in place. By late August the harvester was ready for water trials. Captain Dave, Shannon Doyle and two experienced underwater milfoil harvesters Jim Robichaud and Gino Valeriani were the key contributors to our two successful weeks of testing. Today, our goal is to operate the boat Monday thru Saturday, eight hours

per-day from Father’s Day to Labor Day, providing we have sufficient funding and the availability of divers. The LACC Board’s strategy of where to harvest is threefold. First, we want the harvester to work in the main coves to show the community its capabilities. Second, the DEP has asked that we pay close attention to harvesting in the vicinity of our two boat ramps to help prevent the spread of VLM to other water bodies. As you know, our DEP permit allows us to harvest invasive plants only. Third, we will hit the beast where it hurts us most. Right now that place is the Brown Brook Inlet.. We will employ the harvester near the Five Island Narrows and work our way up to the existing benthic barriers; therefore, we will create a milfoil free channel, marked with buoys all the way up through our heaviest and most troublesome infestation. Remember folks just because you see the boat working on the lake, don’t assume the fight is over. We’re just beginning; we will need to double our efforts including the development of another harvester. LACC realizes we won’t beat this completely in one year or five years. We expect to manage milfoil over time providing the membership continues to grow. For the Lake’s Sake, reach out to your neighbors, invite them to join. Dave Sanfason & Mike Fitzpatrick

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The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that LACC will conduct a contest for naming the Suction Harvester in partnership with the Limerick and Waterboro Elementary Schools. The contest will take place during April and early May. All entries must be in by May 8th. The

winner will be announced May 15th. The nine Board members will select the winner from all the entries. We will ask each Board member to select their top three. First place votes are awarded five points, second place will receive three points and third place will get one point. The winner will be awarded based on total points and will receive a prize.

LACC Mar 2009 Page 3 of 4

The Lake Arrowhead Conservation Council has completed its first full fiscal year. We were successful in our bids to obtain a total of $15,000 in funding from the towns of Limerick and Waterboro. This funding, along with the financial and in kind donations from Lake Arrowhead Community, Inc., enabled us to complete the construction of our suction harvester. Through a membership drive and neighborhood member challenge, we signed up more than one hundred members. We received a few private contributions as well as grants from New England Grass Roots Environment Fund and the State of Maine DEP. Our funding for 2009 will come

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mainly from three sources - memberships, support from Lake Arrowhead Community, Inc. and the State of Maine DEP. There will also be a few fund raising events this summer to generate additional income and awareness about the milfoil infestation in Lake Arrowhead. In January we sent out renewal notices for the 2009 membership dues. The response has been good with approximately 70% of our members responding thus far. We hope to renew 100% of our existing membership. In addition, our goal is to increase our membership by 25%. If you are not an existing member, you can join by filling out the membership form in this newsletter or you can go to our website www.laccme.org and join on line. You will also find the

instructions for mailing in the dues, which are $100 for lake front property owners or $50 for all others. Donations of any size will also be welcome. The extent to which the harvester will be operated is based solely on available funds. If the money runs out, the harvester will have to be docked. Our board of directors and committee members are all volunteers. Our revenues go 100% to maintaining, operating, and insuring the suction harvester and other milfoil remediation efforts. We have a roster of divers that are certified in milfoil hand harvesting. They are very anxious and enthused about helping rid our lake of milfoil.

Jean Burke Treasurer

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LACC’s fundraising committee has been working hard organizing and scheduling fundraisers for 2009. As some of you may already know, one of our fundraisers has been selling LACC t-shirts and hats for $20 per item. Another major fundraiser this year is the yard sale that we have been organizing since the annual meeting. The yard sale is scheduled for Saturday, June 6th from 8:00 am – 3:00 pm with a rain date of Sunday, June 7th. Thanks to Diane Gray and Agency 1 Realty, the yard sale will be held on the lot next to Agency 1 on Route 5 in Waterboro, which is located near the Lakeside Market. We are asking you to contact your family and friends and ask them if they have any items that they would like to donate

to LACC for the yard sale. Many members, family and friends have already been extremely generous in donating items that are currently being stored by the committee. We are asking members to donate items that are in good condition and ask that you do not donate any text books, encyclopedias, stuffed animals, computer equipment/monitors or televisions. So, please check your attic and basement for any items that you would like to donate. If you would like to donate items, please contact me at tracieldoyle@comcast.net, and we can make arrangements to pick up the items and store them until the yard sale. Also, upon request, LACC can provide a receipt for the donated items. This should be a really great fundraising event.

We will need many volunteers to help with transporting all items to the yard sale location, therefore, if you are interested in volunteering, please contact me at the email address above. LACC would like to thank you in advance for your help and dedication to our group. Also, I would like to personally thank the members of the fundraising committee for their help and support and Diane Gray and Agency 1 Realty for being so generous in donating the location for the yard sale.

Tracie Doyle LACC Secretary

Chairperson Fundraising Committee

LACC Mar 2009 Page 4 of 4

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Lot No.:

Waterfront: Y or N?:

Name

Primary Address

City

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LAC Address

Phone Number Email Address

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I have been in contact with Peter Lowell of Lakes Environmental Association. They administer the boat inspection program for Maine. Peter has stated that because we have an existing program (six years)

and because our performance has been excellent, we do not have to apply for the CBI grant: it will be automatically awarded. Though we have not received the final figure yet, it looks very good that we will be funded at least at last year’s level of $8,000.00.

This year we plan to run the boat inspection program from Father’s Day to Labor Day, seven days per week during daylight hours.

Dave Sanfason LACC CBI Coordinator

Last year was certainly a big year on all fronts of LACC’s fight against milfoil. Not only did we complete our work to build the most innovative suction harvester in existence, we also continued our benthic barrier program. If the suction harvester represents our battle against the weed at sea, then the benthic barriers would be our infantry fighting the battle on the ground at close range. In 2008, nearly 30 LACC soldiers showed up for the battle. The plan of attack laid out by General Fitzpatrick, and supported by the DEP, was to lay multiple tarps at the mouth of Brown Brook where it feeds into Lake Arrowhead. The reasoning behind this strategy is that if we can destroy the weed upstream, then our ally, the currents, will prevent fragments from

spreading back to treated areas. On a cool day in June, our troops proceeded to front lines at the end of Leisure Lane. Nearly 30 soldiers showed up and the battle waged on for the better part of a day. When it was all said and done, fifteen 20X20 tarps were placed in the boating channel beginning at Brown Brook. Like most wars, the work was messy. Troops had to be boated out to the target area from the nearest public beach and several brave LACC volunteers spent hours up to their chests in the cold water as the tarps were laid one after the other. Additionally, several smaller skirmishes broke out as local residents came out to lay down their

own tarps to increase the coverage area. In the end, LACC won the day. The benthic barrier program was a complete success for a second consecutive year, destroying nearly 6000 square feet of milfoil infestation. In 2009, the war wages on. While it will be the operation of our flagship suction harvester that garners most of the attention, it will be mission critical to continue the benthic barrier program as well. This year we plan to relocate all of the tarps further down the boating channel in the same area to continue our plan of attack to work with the natural currents of Lake Arrowhead. Once again, we hope that you will not forget your troops on the ground and come out to join us as we bring the fight to the weed in 2009! Phil Oreto, LACC Trustee

To become a member, drop off your membership dues at the Lake Arrowhead office or mail your check payable to:

Lake Arrowhead Conservation Council, 206 Old Portland Road, N Waterboro, Maine 04061