The Good & The Bad – Collins Pond Battle with Milfoil

Let’s get the “bad news out of the way…..

The Lakes Environmental Association (LEA) states “Fighting Milfoil costs money and considerable time. Once an infestation takes hold, there are many options for removal but none of them are easy. In other states, there are cases where lakes are closed to the public because the plants have grown so thick that recreation is difficult or impossible.” So how are we doing……

Collins Pond is infested with a very aggressive variable leaf form of milfoil and being a shallow pond it is a perfect petri dish for its growth. As a result we are losing areas on the Pond where it is no longer possible to swim or has become very difficult due to the heavy infiltration. Not only does this affect recreation & Collin Pond’s property value it affects all the bodies of water downstream from us. Our milfoil is being shared! Collins Pond’s shorefront property owners concerns should be the concerns of all who enjoy Maine recreational waters. I will not go into financial aspects but I’m sure you all can imagine the financial impact this will create for us as well as the state of Maine.

Although we may be very content living on our small private pond surrounded by unique small neighborhoods we don’t have the resources of the larger lakes with active associations to raise funds. Their pool is much larger than ours. Most of CPIA funds to date have come from two grants one from Maine DEP & another small grant is from the Town of Windham. In the last two year both our grants request for funds have been slashed. As result for 2017 we will have to reduce the number of days we can contract with New England Milfoil unless we can raise funds from different sources. This would be a shame because they have done an amazing job.

I definitely don’t enjoy being a kill joy but there is one more bad news item to mention. Our volunteer workforce to run the CPIA DASH Boat Operations has been dwindling so on most weekends we do not have enough volunteers to run the DASH Boat.

Now on to the good new!

Your CPIA board members have been very active on several fronts. First the Board met in October to rewrite and update the CPIA bylaws. They held a CPIA special meeting in January for a vote to amend our bylaws, this passed. The main intent of the bylaws’ change was to add a mission/purpose statement for the purposes of applying for 501(C) 3 nonprofit status in order to help us with our mission of raising funds. Which we are very excited to announce the Federal Government has approved our tax non-profit status!

At the January special meeting it was decided to move forward with developing a CPIA website for the purposes of community outreach for fundraising, volunteerism as well as social interactions. The board regrouped in February to work on website development and content and we are pleased to announce Collins Pond Improvement Assoc. website. www.collinspondassoc.org

Now this is where we are asking for your help! Please participate! How? Below are several ways.

• On the CPIA website you will see Donation Button; please donate as much as you can. Don’t forget your donation is now tax deductible!
• Please volunteer. There are several ways in which you can help. Not only do we need your help with our DASH Boat Operations, we need help with creating awareness by promoting and sharing the CPIA website.
• Do you enjoy writing? Help us with the blog/news page of the website. Are you interested in fundraising we definitely need you!
• Last but not least – please enjoy the website and keep it active- share your pictures & stories. We would love to hear from you!

Cheryl Rawson
CPIA President

You can contact Cheryl & CPIA Board Members at collinspondme@gmail.com