MORNING SENTINEL • May 16, 2023
The 7 Lakes Alliance conservation group has launched a two-year project that aims to protect the water quality of Messalonskee Lake (aka Snow Pond) by reducing erosion that allows sediment and phosphorus to sweep into the lake. The aim is to protect the health of the lake, which extends southwest from Oakland down to Belgrade, and prevent problems like algae blooms that have afflicted other parts of the Belgrade Lakes watershed. The need for the kind of project launched by the alliance will only keep growing. Due to the changing climate, Maine now has six to eight warmer months a year as opposed to three or four, Linda Bacon, a lake biologist who works for Maine’s DEP, said. Additionally, as more development occurs around Maine’s natural resources, soil is turned up and gets into the water, carrying nutrients with it.