02 September 2011

07 January 2011

The Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed siezed upon an opportunity to leverage a Maine Milfoil Initiative grant, with matching funds from the 4 Towns Watershed Association, to build a Diver Assisted Suction Harvester (DASH) boat.  

The boat was an old pontoon boat that the Friends purchased, and rebuilt.  Now, the boat is wider, and has a brand new deck and cockpit, along with a pump and 2 large baskets where variable leaf millfoil plants can be sucked from the bottom of a lake or stream, and put into the baskets, and hauled to a compost pile.

Varible-leaf Millfoil is an invasive aquatic species that has been living in Pleasant Pond, Horseshoe Pond, and parts of Purgatory and Cobbossee streams.  The plant decreases shore front value, and inhibits the use of the lake or stream.

Although the DASH boat had many problems this summer, we managed to use it steadily for the latter half of July and all of August in Cobbossee Stream and on both Upper and Lower Pleasant Pond.  Unfortunately, we did not get to Horseshoe Pond this year, but plan to spend time there next summer!  This was thanks, in part, to a volunteer named Jerry Sullivan who donated his time freely, and his expertise in making the DASH boat work.  Thank you Jerry!

One of the problems with the boat early on, was that the outboard motor would not run.  We tried to fix it, but after multiple tries, and significant time was lost,  it was finally deemed "unfixable" and Mr. John Blouin stepped forward along with Clark Marine.  Clark Marine got us a great price on a brand new outboard motor, and John drove the fund raising effort. Thank you to John, Clark Marine, and everyone who contributed, and we now have a motor on the DASH boat that has NO PROBLEMS!

We also had a bit of trouble with the pump system and had to re-route some of the hoses, along with lengthening the footvalve assembly and a few other things to get it working well.  We seem to have most of the problems alleviated now, and although our own staff has retired for the season, we intend to work with Belgrade for two weeks in September.  They have a staff for two weeks and are eager to move it into their own infested waters. 

During a visit to Lake Arrowhead to see how they manage with TWO DASH boats that run constantly (6 days per week) from Father's Day to Labor Day, we were told that "you need to crawl before you can walk."  They also said that they were not running, more than they were running, during their first season of operation.

Next year we plan to run our DASH boat on Pleasant Pond, Horseshoe Pond, and Cobbossee Stream from Father's Day to Labor Day.

20 September 2010

By BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer
Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel

AUGUSTA -- Ken Smith, who helped found the group, replaces Bob Moore. 

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02 September 2010

East Winthrop-

The 1st "Spotter's Sprint" Canoe and Kayak Paddle held by the Friends of the Cobbossee Watershed on Sunday, Aug 15, 2010 went swimmingly, according to a press release.

Held at the YMCA Camp of Maine on Lake Cobbosseecontee, the family-friendly event attracted 40 participants, along with dozens of family members and other spectators who cheered from the shoreline.

With 30 different categories, the overall winning entry was a massive 38-foot war canoe, paddled by 12 members of the Hickey family from West Gardiner.  They completed the 1.5-mile course in just over 15 minutes.

Following the race, participants and spectators were treated to a full barbecue lunch provided by the YMCA staff members. 

The Spotter's Sprint was sponsored by Sprague & Curtis Real Estate and Winthrop Area Federal Credit Union.

Two year old Webber Sylvester, son of Nate Sylvester and Nicky Mathieu of Hallowell, is the winner of this year's "Friends Kayak Raffle."  The kayak, donated by L. L. Bean, raised over $3,500 in support of the Friends' educational programs.