KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 9, 2020
A long-standing milfoil infestation is spreading downstream from Annabessacook Lake, but a treatment might make future removal efforts more effective. On June 12, a survey team from the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershead found variable-leaf milfoil growing in Jug Stream, which connects Annabessacook Lake and Cobbossee Lake, and removal began 10 days later. John McPhedran, a biologist with the Invasive Aquatic Species Program at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said there are 22 bodies of water in Maine known to have variable-leaf milfoil. Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed and other volunteers, working with the Maine DEP, removed 385 gallons of the invasive plants during cleanup efforts July 2 and July 9.