Do Watersheds Matter to Maine Lakefront Property Owners?

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Do Watersheds Matter to Maine Lakefront Property Owners?


Protect Maine’s Lakes Like Highland Lake in Bridgton

by Leigh Macmillen Hayes
As Maine lakefront property owners, you may or may not spend a lot of time thinking about your watershed. “Watershed?” you may ask. “What’s a watershed?”



Look around you. You are currently sitting in a watershed, whether you can see water or not. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection defines a watershed as a drainage area or basin in which all land and water areas drain or flow toward a central collector such as a stream, river, or lake at a lower elevation. Basically, “watershed” is a broad term used to describe how water flows across land to feed these streams, rivers and lakes [source: Environmental Protection Agency].
For instance, the 1,334-acre Highland Lake in downtown Bridgton, Maine, has a direct watershed area of 10.2 square miles. It’s northerly range are the hills of Sweden that surround Trull Brook, which flows from Stearns Pond. To either side are the heights of land just above Route 302 and Highland Road.
Likewise, this is all part of the bigger picture–within the Sebago Lake/Presumpscot River drainage system. So . . . water drains from Highland Lake at the outlet that leads into Stevens Brook. Two miles downstream, Stevens Brook empties into Long Lake. From there, the water flows through Chute River to Brandy Pond, along the Songo River to Sebago Lake and eventually into the Presumpscot River.
That’s a lot of water and a lot of land. Water cannot travel up a hill, so topography determines all watersheds. You might live on western side of Highland Lake while your friend lives on the Denmark side of Pleasant Mountain, where the water drains into the Saco River. Thus, you and your friend live within minutes of each other, but in different watersheds, which can vary in size depending on the highest points surrounding them.
In the example above, you can see that the Highland Lake watershed combines with the Long Lake/Brandy Pond watershed to form a network that progressively drains into Sebago Lake/Presumpscot River.
Why does a watershed matter? For all kinds of reasons. Whether for drinking water or recreation, water quality is important and watersheds directly affect water quality. Algae blooms from fertilizer runoff, plus mercury and lead seepages and other things contaminate the water.
Polluted water not only affects us humans, but native wildlife as well. Aquatic life may suffer quickly, with fish kills and other problems, but entire wildlife habitats can also be affected. The result: reduced biodiversity if some species are eliminated and the introduction of invasive species that destroy natives, thus throwing a curve ball at the food web–think microbial organisms ➜ birds & animals ➜ fish ➜ humans
According to the EPA paper “Sustaining Healthy Freshwater Ecosystems,” one freshwater ecosystem can be greatly affected by another: “Far from being isolated bodies or conduits, freshwater ecosystems are tightly linked to the watersheds or catchments of which each is a part, and they are greatly influenced by human uses or modifications of land as well as water” [source: Environmental Protection Agency].
So, yes, a watershed does matter because without it, our quality of life throughout Maine would be dramatically diminished. Besides being the source of our drinking water and providing habitat, it’s a place where we and visitors to our great state find the necessary respite from the hectic demands of our everyday lives. And it matters on a regional level because it’s worth hundreds of billions of dollars in real estate and property values. Businesses are supported by it, as are hundreds of jobs across the state. The watershed matters because it matters.
To learn more about lakefront properties for sale on Highland Lake in Bridgton, click on the green box above.
To learn more about the Highland Lake area, check out these blog links below.
Enjoy Lakefront Living on Highland Lake in Bridgton, Maine
Steps from Highland Lake, Bridgton, Maine: It’s Bridgton Books

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