Protecting the Belgrade Lakes Watershed Never Stops
As summer winds down, the work of protecting Belgrade Lakes watershed continues. 7 Lakes Alliance focuses year-round on three major challenges facing our watershed: invasive aquatic species, harmful algal blooms, and loss and fragmentation of natural lands. Together, these threats can affect water quality, the overall health of our ecosystem, the wildlife, and the experiences that make the Belgrade Lakes region so special.
Your support enables 7 Lakes Alliance to protect the Belgrade Lakes watershed today and for generations to come through a broad range of conservation efforts, including:
- Combatting Invasive Aquatics: More than 10,500 courtesy boat inspections have been conducted so far in 2026. Many of these boats travel between lakes with known invasive plant infestations, creating opportunities for invasive species to spread. For example, it takes just a one-inch fragment of variable-leaf milfoil with a whorl of leaves to start a new infestation. Our dive team continues invasive plant remediation on Great Pond, North Pond, and the Serpentine between North and East ponds into late fall. Variable-leaf milfoil treatment is underway on Messalonskee Lake.
- Monitoring Water Quality: Monitoring continues year-round on all seven lakes. While the results of this work are not always immediate, consistent monitoring provides the data needed to understand changing lake conditions and guide long-term protection efforts, such as the alum treatment planned for North Pond in 2027.
- Watershed Protection Planning: We have comprehensive watershed management and protection plans in place for all seven lakes and are now developing a new 10-year Watershed-Based Protection Plan for the Salmon Lake-McGrath Pond watershed.
- Land Conservation and Stewardship: The Bomazeen Conservation Fund represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to conserve a 280-acre property with significant natural and ecological value. It also reminds us that protecting the Belgrade Lakes depends on the commitment and support of our entire community.
We Cannot Do It Alone
7 Lakes Alliance is a nationally accredited land trust with a year-round staff of 15 conservationists, scientists, and educators and nearly 80 seasonal employees who work together to protect the lands and waters that we all care so deeply about today and for generations to come.
Jean Hazelwood is communication manager for 7 Lakes Alliance.
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