Our Mission



"To protect and improve the 28 lakes and streams in the Cobbossee Watershed."

Our Objectives

  • Promote public awareness of water quality issues.
  • Educate the public about strategies to protect water quality.
  • Enlist citizen, community and municipal involvement.
  • Support initiatives by agencies and related lake associations benefiting the Cobbossee Watershed.
  • Conduct programs and projects to achieve our goals.

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Our efforts continue to focus on two separate, yet equally significant, threats facing the Cobbossee Watershed:

1. Non-Point Source (NPS) Pollution – When water enters our lakes and streams through the groundwater tables, proper filtering occurs and clean water results. When nature's natural filtering system is impaired (erosion, cut trees, cleared lots, poorly maintained roads), phosphorous and other nutrients run on top of the ground surface and enter the water directly. Left unchecked, the waters essentially become "fertilized" to the point that ugly green algae blooms result. This "cultural pollution" has been around for a long time and will take a long time to fix – but we all need to be aware of what causes NPS and continue efforts to reduce run-off. Our SLOW THE FLOW and LAKESMART - START! programs have been designed to help counter the effects of soil erosion and run-off.

To learn more about NPS pollution, visit the US Environmental Protection Agency's Polluted Runoff webpage.  

2. Invasive Aquatic Plants (IAP) – Unfortunately, Milfoil and Hydrilla are two words that are being heard more and more in our state. Although Maine has largely been spared the devastating effects that are prevalent in many other areas of the country, dozens of Maine's fresh water bodies contain one of "Maine's Eleven Unwanted" invasive aquatic plants, including our own Pleasant Pond and Cobbossee Stream (variable-leaf milfoil.) This "biological pollution" threat is real.... and immediate! Eurasian Water-Milfoil, the most aggressive of all milfoils, was discovered in 2004 in a Scarborough gravel quarry – currently it has infested over 500 lakes in New England alone! Hydrilla, considered to be the most destructive of all invasive plants, has been discovered in four lakes and ponds since the first discovery in Pickerel Pond in Limerick during the fall of 2002. There is no known means of eradication of these type plants once they are established in a water body!

Our MIL-FOILER Program consists of various strategies to deal with menaces - you can help!

To learn more about the destructive nature of INVASIVE AQUATIC PLANTS, click here to visit the Maine Center for Invasive Aquatic Plants.

The Cobbossee Watershed has 28 lakes and streams within its 217-square mile area - beginning at Torsey Lake in Mount Vernon and ending in the Gardiner portion of Cobbossee Stream. Other bodies of water that make up the Cobbossee Watershed are:

  • Annabessacook Lake
  • Apple Valley Lake
  • Berry Pond
  • Brainard Pond
  • Buker Pond
  • Carlton Pond
  • Cobbosseecontee Lake
  • Cochnewagon Pond
  • Desert Pond
  • Dexter Pond
  • Horseshoe Pond
  • Hutchinson Pond
  • Jamies Pond
  • Jimmy Pond
  • Kezar Pond
  • Little Cobbossee Lake
  • Little Purgatory Pond
  • Loon Pond
  • Lower Narrows Pond
  • Maranacook Lake
  • Mill Pond
  • Pleasant Pond
  • Sand Pond
  • Shed Pond
  • Torsey Pond
  • Upper Narrows Pond
  • Wilson Pond
  • Woodbury Pond