Maine Lakefront Property Owners Maintain Camp Roads for Healthy Lakes

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Maine Lakefront Property Owners Maintain Camp Roads for Healthy Lakes

The clear and beautiful Kezar Lake in Lovell, Maine

As Maine lakefront property owners, we sometimes complain about the ruts, bumps, and potholes on our camp roads, but it’s the washouts that cause an even bigger problem.



Every time it rains, water that doesn’t infiltrate into the ground often rushes off the camp roads into nearby ditches, streams, or lakes. This runoff can pick up different pollutants such as sand, silt, phosphorus, bacteria, oil and grease, litter, dog waste and more. Ultimately, these pollutants find their way into a nearby waterbody, diminishing water quality.



Excessive phosphorus decreases water clarity and often causes algal blooms. With decreased water clarity may come warmer water temperatures, depleted oxygen, fewer coldwater fish and ultimately . . . lower waterfront property values.



According to the UMaine Cooperative Extension, two things cause camp road problems:
1) Roads that were not properly constructed to begin with, and
2) Poor management of surface or ground water.
We have to remember that by cutting a road into the landscape, we are interrupting the hydrologic cycle, thus interfering with flow and drainage patterns. The problem is that we need to get the water off the roadway as quickly as possible to prevent erosion, and subsequent sediment and pollution from flowing into our water.
“It only takes 16 feet for a raindrop to reach peak free fall velocity, therefore, it is very important to keep a cover of stable vegetation on soil whenever possible,” states Laura Wilson, water quality scientist for the Cooperative Extension.
Good road drainage means removing the water from the surface of the road as quickly as possible and directing it toward the vegetated buffer. If the road has been constructed with proper crowning and grading, stable ditches, culverts and other diversions and has a vegetated buffer, then it should drain well. If not, then fixes include recrowning the road, grading to smooth it out, eliminating any berm along the edge, building a ditch correctly, and installing runoff diverters such as rubber razors or open-top culverts.
For more information about camp road maintenance, please contact the UMaine Cooperative Extension and request their informational booklet entitled Camp Road Maintenance: Stable Roads Lead To Healthy Lakes.
To learn more about lakefront property listings on Clearwater Lake in Industry, Kezar Lake in Lovell and Great East Lake in Acton, just click on the green buttons above.
To read lake reviews of these three lakes with above average water quality, just click on the links below:
Clearwater Lake, Industry, Maine: Paradise Tucked Into the Forest
Kezar Lake, Lovell, Maine: Lakefront Property Retreats Offer Natural Beauty and Exceptional Vistas
Great East Lake is Acton, Maine’s Golden Pond
 
 

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