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Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Hefty boat fine proposed to fend off milfoil
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||
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Boat owners would be subject to fines of as much as $5,000 under legislation now before the Legislature to keep invasive plants from ruining Maine lakes. Out-of-staters would pay $100 and undergo a boat inspection every time they enter the state. The Legislature's Natural Resources Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill at 9 a.m. Friday in Room 209 of the State Office Building in Augusta. Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, a sporting-camp owner who is sponsoring the measure, said his committee means business in dealing with the threat of invasive plants. "Vacationland wouldn't be Vacationland any more if you can't use the lakes of Maine," he said. The proposed legislation is an effort to rewrite four bills that are intended to control invasive plants. The bills were presented to the committee last month. The most notorious invasive plant, Eurasian milfoil, has choked lakes and ponds in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and almost every other state but has yet to reach Maine. A less destructive variety of milfoil, variable leaf milfoil, has taken root in some Maine lakes and ponds, including Sebago Lake. Even a small fragment of milfoil, stuck to a motorboat or trailer, can seed a new and fast-growing colony in a pond. Once the milfoil takes over, it crowds out other plants, eliminates natural habitats for some fish and other species, and makes boating, fishing and swimming nearly impossible. And an established colony of milfoil is nearly impossible to eradicate. Herbicides and "mowing" can slow the spread, but those measures are expensive and do not eliminate the plants. Mowing and other attempts to pull the plants also create plant fragments, which often re-plant themselves elsewhere in the lake. Under the proposed legislation, every boat, boat trailer and boat motor coming into Maine would be inspected for invasive plants and given a sticker. The owner would pay $100 each time the boat comes into the state. The fine would be $5,000 for violators of the inspection requirement. The bill would give the commissioners of the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wide authority to restrict or ban boats from lakes and ponds. The potential invasion presents a dilemma for people in the tourism industry, who recognize the plants as a major threat to their livelihood but see serious restrictions and fees for out-of-state boaters as an equal threat. "I don't think you can 100 percent police it," said Kent Uicker, general manager of Jordan Bay Marina in Raymond, on Sebago Lake. Uicker advocates educational measures. He said they work. A sign posted at his marina's boat ramp shows pictures of milfoil, and suggests ways to check boats for invasive plants. His staff tries to watch for them. "We do our best to point it out before people get to the water," he said, but ultimately, only boaters themselves can prevent the spread of the plants. Peter Lowell, executive director of the Lakes Environmental Association in Bridgton, said educational efforts are effective. After all, most boaters recognize that their own recreational opportunities are at stake. When college interns went out during the last two summers and met with boaters, many boaters were angry that they did not know about the problem, and were eager to help prevent further spread of the plants, Lowell said. Lowell said he supports the legislation in general, including the inspections. But he worries that the $100 fee and the $5,000 fines will be too much, and could lead to the legislation's failure. He does not think Martin is overstating the problem, though. "You always want to avoid being Chicken Little," he said, "but you don't want to have your head in the sand, either." Around the country, lake associations have been forced to divert most of their money to managing the spread of invasive plants, he said. The organic matter created by the plants can clog water treatment plants, like the Portland Water District's facility on Sebago Lake in Standish. Roy Bouchard, a biologist with the DEP's lake assessment section, said that stopping every boat at the border is "as realistic as the money put into it." Inspecting every boat at every road that enters the state would be expensive, he said, while targeted boat inspections might have the desired result and cost a lot less. He and others who track milfoil say the chances of keeping it out of the state are not good. But with millions of dollars of lakefront property value at stake, lost recreational opportunities and the potential damage to the environment, the effort is worth it. "Even if you partially restrict its spread, you've done a service," Bouchard said. David Connerty-Marin can be contacted at 791-6325 or at: dconnerty-marin@pressherald.com
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