On the Stand: 25 Years Ago

by Esther J. Perne

Twenty-five years ago gas cost around a dollar, a Bush and a Clinton were campaigning for president and in the Belgrades a new publication appeared. It was billed as the weekly guide to the best of the Belgrade Lakes Region and its mission was to represent the wonderful positives and proactivity of this unique lake-rich area: the history, the livelihood, the outdoor lifestyle, the enrichment and the mystique of such a vast and diverse region.

"Other people dream of a Belgrade Lakes-style summer," the paper pointed out to readers. "You are living it. In a world where change is the norm, changes in the Belgrades never seem to alter the basic beauty, peacefulness and rusticity." Twenty-five years ago, the region pulsed on small-time, small-town, small-news events just as it does today.

The Calendar of Events was filled with a schedule of summer theater productions, car shows, square dances, children’s reading programs, fishing tournaments, canoe races, nature appreciation workshops, chicken barbeques, parades, public suppers, free concerts indoors and out, and, of course, mailboat rides on Great Pond.

A few highlights of that summer:

• The gala of the summer — at the Village Inn — was the 15^th birthday of the Belgrade Regional Health Center, located at that time in the former Belgrade Elementary School, for residents old and new to meet each other — besides in the waiting room.
• A door-to-door petition spearheaded by two customers convinced Skowhegan Savings Bank to stay in town.
• The McGrath Pond/Salmon Lake Association was four years old and already holding winter and summer annual meetings, publishing a newsletter, distributing lake preservation literature, giving out trees and plants to replenish the shoreline.
• It was year three for the Snow Pond/Messalonskee Lake Association. Members were picking up their free spruce trees, taking home dye pills to put through their septic systems and thinking about the threat of phosphorus to their lake.
• A new dam was built at the end of Messalonskee Lake by Central Maine Power, involving the construction of a cofferdam to hold water back while the spillway was being repaired.
• Loon experts estimated there were 4,000 loons in Maine, 182 in Vermont, 20 in Massachusetts, and 495 in New Hampshire. Massachusetts lost its loons to acid rain, Vermont to development as did New Hampshire with a low of 77 loons in 1978 until the state staged a campaign for man-made nesting islands.
• Children’s Book Cellar, Railroad Square and Hamlin’s Marine in Waterville, Mid-Maine Marine and Alden Camps in Oakland, and Day’s Real Estate, Great Pond Marina in Belgrade Lakes and Hammond Lumber in Belgrade were advertisers — and still are.
• Exciting activities among the lakes included berry-picking, antiquing, fishing, attending public suppers, water sports, shopping and a few hikes.
• The Belgrades were faced with an almost lack of public lands. Blueberry Hill, the boat launches, and two parcels of land in Rome (including French’s Mountain) held by the Belgrade Region Conservation Alliance comprised almost the entire public or preserved lands.
• A GMC 1992 Extended Cab 4x4 cost $16,752.
• The 100-year-old, five-story Cascade Woolen Mill in Oakland offered over 250 styles and colors of wool and wool blends in its outlet store.
• The 18^th Annual Buttermilk Hill Music Festival was held on the Gawler Farm in Belgrade Lakes — for an old-time good old time.
• Mount Vernon celebrated its bicentennial with a year’s worth of fabulous activities, looked back on more thriving times and myriad changes and concluded the community remained essentially what it set out to be 200 years ago: a community distinct and unto itself.
• In real estate, an unfinished cabin at Woodland Camps could be purchased for $45,000, a 3-bedroom log home with 5+ acres for $119,000 and a year-round, 2-bedroom house on Great Pond for $139,000.
• Smithfield, age 152, had a population of 865, one store, one church, one garage [for repairing automobiles], one fire station, one grange hall, one antique shop, one post office, one beach, and one roller skating rink. There were 12 births, 5 deaths and 6 marriages during the previous year.
• Popular mailman Dave Webster — there had yet to be a mailwoman — offered passengers "the best sightseeing opportunity in the Belgrades." He also delivered messages to remote lake dwellers, once saved a drowning child at one of his stops, successfully headed off a runaway speedboat and hosted a wedding (also successful) ceremony on the boat.
• The 84-year-old Sidney Fair, the only agricultural fair in the Belgrade area offered horse, oxen and pony pulling, dozens of concessions and an antique midway.

People were just starting to ask, wouldn’t it be nice if the next generation and the one after that and indeed the ones beyond could enjoy the lakes and the land the way they were?

Because they did ask and because they joined forces, preserved land, monitored water quality, and advocated remediation the Belgrades continue to offer the basic beauty, peacefulness and rusticity that other people only dream and those who work, play, visit and vacation here continue to live.

Play Ball!

by Rod Johnson

YES, those were the words that we liked to hear. It didn’t really matter if it was baseball or basketball, either way it meant fun and the excitement of either going to another school or having them visit us in Belgrade.

Young people all over the world have a few things in common, and perhaps one of them is the elation felt when you and your team are about to partake in a competitive game. Certainly the rules vary and the goal may look different from here to elsewhere, but the nervous elation is the same.

Every youngster that participates in a sport during his growing-up years can remember and recite some of the particular actions and scores that happened during their heyday! I thought it would be fun to tell you what The Luckiest Boy remembers about the baseball and basketball teams from Belgrade High School in the 1960s.

During that decade, Belgrade High School had 60 to 100 students total, in all four high school grades, in any given year. I graduated in 1965 in a class of 21 students and our class was the largest to that date, due to what was known as the wave of "war babies", mostly the offspring of World War II veterans.

With small numbers of students to pick from who had the desire and grades to play, fielding either a baseball or basketball team wasn’t always an easy task for the coaches. Often the team might only have a few spare players other than those on the field or court.

Both boys and girls teams were able to be put together, but up until 1960 or so the school had no gymnasium. Practices were spotty at borrowed gyms during odd hours, including Mr. Harold Alfond’s personal gym at his camp on Point Road. The ceiling was low and shooting was pretty much limited to lay ups. I remember going there to the unheated building a few times and seeing our breath due to low temps. Once our new gym was completed we became part of a league and had a regular schedule each year.

In that era the advent of school districts had not come into vogue. Most towns had their own schools and took in students who lived in smaller towns or rural areas. Schools in Maine were broken into 4 sizes: S for small, M for medium, L and LL for large and larger schools. We were a class S school and played other towns such as Liberty, Clinton, Kingfield, Albion, New Sharon, Phillips, Canton, Kingfield and several others.

Each class had its own league complete with playoffs, state championships, etc. Often, Beals Island/Jonesport won the State of Maine Class S basketball championship with as few as 6 or 7 players in total on their squad. Wow, they sure could play ball!

For away basketball games, boys and girls traveled together on a bus, often for long runs like Western Maine or the Maine coastal towns. Many of the girl players were also cheerleaders and did double duty. The long rides home were interesting to say the least. Our bus driver was Jamie Minot who was one of our best fans both at home and away games.

When spring came it was time for baseball and softball — sports that had a longer history at Belgrade High. Our fathers and even grandfathers could recite wins and scores from 20 to 40 years prior.

Away games in the spring were especially fun, and unlike the bus trips with basketball, we were allowed to go in our own cars. Usually we took one or two of our own cars and the coach took his with a few players as well.

My fondest memory of an away game was on a warm spring afternoon and five of us were riding to Albion in a 1958 Ford convertible with owner Barry Morrell at the wheel. With the top down, this was freedom personified as we screamed and yelled when the wind blew our hats off and tears of joy streamed down our faces.

Home games were fun too, with parents and grandparents coming to watch. It was customary for them to sit in their cars up on the hill overlooking the ball diamond. When on occasion one of us hit a good one, the yells would come and the car horns blasted.

How good did it get? Weren’t we The Luckiest Boys?

Hats off to the boys and girls of the '65 Belgrade High School baseball and softball teams. The boys were Barry Morrell, Jimmy Stevens, Rick Johnson, Rod Johnson, Dave Berger, Dwight Cummings, Tom Endicott, Howdy Downing, Ray Hammond, Dave Sprague, Mark Isbister, Richard Nickless, Donny Hammond, Gary Sirois, Rodney Cook, Gerry Barber, Jeff Wyman, Steve Jenny, Ray Barker, and Coach Doug Look.

Here’s to the ladies: Mary Damren, Dale Sprague, Sally Strickland, Brenda Hatt, Linda Blaisdell, Alice Beaulieu, Elaine Edgecomb, Rebecca Salsbury, Sally Cook, Linda Sawyer, Penny Wing, Arlette Douglas, and Jane Wyman. The coach was not listed, but I think it was Vernal Finemore, BHS Principal It’s hard to believe that was 52 years ago. It sure would be nice to have another ride in the '58 Ford convertible.

Training Future Lake Stewards

by Pete Kallin

Although according to the calendar summer has barely begun, it is already flying by with lots going on. Most of our snowbird summer residents are back already and increasing numbers of out of town visitors are appearing. Every day it is harder to find a parking spot in the village. As schools are getting out, more and more young faces are appearing throughout the watershed. This week began with a weekend visit from an old friend followed by a multi-day trip to western Maine with a couple of short hikes and fishing trips in between.

My friend, Steve Jurmu, whom I have known since he was born six months after I was, came for a visit. Steve’s mother was my mother’s best friend and growing up, we spent our summers together on the shores Lake Michigan in Escanaba, Michigan, a small Upper Peninsula town that has much in common with Belgrade Lakes. As kids, we spent nearly every day fishing, swimming, sailing, water skiing, and going on hikes. During his visit we became kids again, and tried to cram as many of those activities as possible into a couple of days. We relived many old memories and created new ones. I look forward to our next chance to get together.

The weather has continued to be inconsistent, sometimes warm, sometimes cool and windy, sometimes wet, sometimes dry. The local hiking trails are in pretty good shape, very lush, and I expect much better mushroom foraging than last year. There is a group of dog owners who, almost every day, get together early in the morning to hike BRCA’s Mountain Trail off Mountain Drive.

Steve Jurmu with nice Long Pond bass.

Hiking with a dog is a great way to really learn a property and see how it changes over the season. Dogs keep you in shape because they won’t let you skip too many days. Their senses, especially smell, are keener than yours and they will usually spot most wildlife before you do. The BRCA allows dogs on our hiking trails, but the dogs must be under the control of the owner, either on lead or under verbal control. If your dog, "does its business" on the trail, please take a stick and move it well off the trail into the woods. If you see hikers approaching, please put your pet "on lead" until they pass, in case they are not "dog people."

Among the many hats I wear, I serve as the president of the board of the Maine Lakes Society, a state-wide nonprofit dedicated to protecting the health of Maine’s lakes for future generations through science-based education, action, and policy.

In addition to overseeing the LakeSmart Program for lake associations across Maine, we have a program called LakesAlive, designed to help train tomorrow’s lake stewards. We have a 30-ft floating classroom, the Melinda Ann, which we use to take school students and other youth groups out on Maine lakes to give them some hands-on, experiential lake science, such as doing plankton tows and Secchi depth readings.

Last week, sponsored by the Kezar Lake Watershed Association, Phil Mulville and I towed the Melinda Ann to Kezar Lake where we took nearly 50 students from Molly Ockett Middle School and New Suncook Elementary School out over two days, teaching them a bit about watersheds and lake science. The kids had a ball and learned a lot. On the 5^th of July, thanks to the Onion Foundation and the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, we will be conducting a similar program at Belgrade’s Center for All Seasons for their Camp Loon and Camp Golden Pond campers.

This area offers some great outdoor recreation, whether you like to hike, bike, birdwatch, fish, sail, or paddle a canoe or kayak. Pick up a map of the local trails at Day’s Store or from the BRCA at the Maine Lakes Resource Center. (Check out the Belgrade Lakes Association’s LakeSmart Program while you are there.) Get out and explore! Sign your kids up to learn to sail through the Great Pond Yacht Club. And make sure you take a kid on your next outdoor adventure.

Conservation Practices in the Blueberry Industry

by Luis Aponte

Wild blueberries have become part of the culture of Maine. It seems like they have been around forever, and every year people are more and more encouraged to consume this fruit fresh for its health benefits (antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, etc.)

Maine is the top producer of wild blueberries in the country, with around 44,000 acres in production. And what is most incredible about this crop is that most of the fields occurred naturally and were discovered hundreds of years ago. As the years have gone past, and production of these has become widely important, the cultural practices have changed. Now production has been established as a two-year cycle, one for growth and one for harvest.

Once the harvest is done, plants are pruned so they start their vegetative growth cycle again. Traditionally, farmers have used burning as their pruning technique. More recently, as a way to reduce emissions and protect air quality, farmers have been encouraged to mow these fields.

But before pruning, farmers have to remove the rocks and boulders from the fields. Since wild blueberries were some of the first plants to appear after the glaciers receded, these rocks were left standing in these fields and are one of the reasons that farmers burn, as a way to work around them. These rocks can cause major problems for mowing equipment, and it is better to take them out ahead of time.

Burning does have its advantages, as the incidence of pest (insects) is lower. But mowing presents some incredible advantages of its own.

Most people who burn their fields use flammable oil, and the price of oil these days is not a pretty sight to look at. Plus every acre of blueberry crops burned consumes around 80 gallons of flammable oil, pretty high price for a farmer to incur every two years.

Mowing presents a great opportunity for farmers to reduce their cost of pruning. Additionally, by mowing farmers can take advantage of the removed vegetation to increase the organic matter of the soil, thus promoting a healthier environment for the new stems to grow in.

Truth be told, pest management has to be more intensive when the stems are mowed. The farmers have to be much more perceptive to issues like mummyberry, blight, and insects, including the blueberry maggot and flea beetle. However, with a good scouting systems and enough monitoring this should not be a problem. As long as these pests are detected early on, they can be managed/sprayed as needed. Even with its greater management level, mowing makes for a healthier and more environmentally friendly system.

Blueberry plants spread throughout the field as rhizomes that branch out of the mother plant, which is also known as a clone. Each of these clones will be different, and an average clone can cover up to 250 square feet of land.

As these rhizomes spread, the field will be covered more evenly. The spread of rhizomes throughout the field will increase the production and can sometimes even double the average production values.

There has been extensive research on how to promote these rhizomes to spread more rapidly, and as some of the techniques involve maintaining soil health and nutrient management, there is a conservation practice that stands out: Mulching has proved to be an important practice in the production of blueberries.

By mulching, farmers are creating an environment that greatly improves conditions for these plants to spread evenly and healthy. Mulching not only increases soil organic matter, but also moderates soil temperature, increases soil moisture, protects plants from frost heaving and reduces soil erosion.

There are various types of mulch that farmers can use, from sawdust to bark. But the vast majority of farmers use wood chips, as they are cost effective and easy to find. It has become a very important practice inside the blueberry community, and its increased use has helped farmers achieve greater yields. There are some other conservation practices that could help blueberry farmers maintain a healthy environment and keep the plants productive and healthy. Pollination is very important in blueberries, and the establishment of a native pollinator habitat can help increase yields.

Soil erosion in blueberry fields is a big concern, especially in farms with little cover and steep slopes. To address erosion issues lined waterways can be established to slow down the flow of water and reduce soil loss.

Establishing an integrated pest management plan can reduce the use of chemicals and develop a more efficient system to deal with pests. There are many more, but the general idea is to work in the most environmentally friendly way to make the land more productive and the operations more efficient.

Note from Dale Finseth: The practices identified by Luis are equally valid for landowners considering ways to manage their property and the stormwater erosion that may occur there.