Lakes with a volunteer team of involved community members have a better chance of staying abreast of potential issues and of maintaining the quality of lake life. Many lakes in Maine have groups of Invasive Plant Patrollers and Water Quality Monitors who perform this task, and Lake Arrowhead has one too!
Meet my team of enthusiastic aquatic plant patrollers on Lake Arrowhead. We've been botanizing together for 2 summers, and are planning on doing more comprehensive surveys this year using our sectorized, laminated maps produced by generous friends. We're gearing up for a community shoreline cleanup when the water level goes down for dam repairs, and some hands-on plant-petting sessions too, to teach other community members how to recognize and look out for our invasive aquatics.
We've recently had t-shirts printed by another generous friend, that include Arrowhead leaf shapes and our team name: PALZ - Patrollers of Arrowhead's Littoral Zone. It's so much fun being with people who can't wait to get back out on the lake each year and enjoy finding out all the fascinating things it has to offer. There's always something new and exciting to discover; it just never gets old.
