Do you enjoy being outdoors and on the water? The PPCSLA offers volunteer opportunities that will get you outside and on the water while making a big diference for the protection and conservation of our beautiful lake and stream.
Courtesy Boat Inspectors (CBI)
The PPCSLA can proactively get involved with prevention of aquatic invasive specis coming into our system and help prevent them moving to other waterbodies by have a group of trained, volunteer courtesy boat inspectors (CBI). New CBI volunteers will be trained by staff at Watershed Friends in 3-4 hour workshops. CBI volunteers inspect boats and trailers entering or departing the lake to detect plants or plant fragments inside the boat or snagged on the trailer superstructure and remove them. In addition, you would distribute information to the boat owners about ways to prevent inadvertent tramnsport of AIS to lakes or streams. Suspicious plant material may be bagged and tagged for Watershed Friends presonnel to examine as being potential new invasive species. Once certified, PPCSLA CBI volunteers will then perform CBI at the Thorofare Road boat launches (Litchfield) on days when the Watershed Friends CBI teams aren’t working or may need assistance on peak days such as holiday weekends. Shifts would be approximately four hours on a given day. Volunteer CBI greatly increases protection of our lake and stream, and raises awareness of AIS prevention among our visitors.
If becoming a PPCSLA CBI volunteer is of interest to you, please contact Greg Anderson to learn more. Email: anderson.gregoryj.me-AT-gmail.com
Aquatic Invasive Plant ID and Survey Techniques
Another way to get involved and support our association’s efforts to protect our lake and stream is to learn how to identify the invasive aquatic plants that infest the Cobbossee Watershed, and then learn how to conduct surface surveys to locate them. Watershed Friends will be hosting workshops thoughout the year to train new volunteers in aquatic plant ID and survey techniques. Once certified, PPCSLA volunters can asist Watershed Friends survey teams to increase their coverage of the lake and stream. Over time, as our volunteers become skilled, PPCSLA can begin to do ongoing surveys of the lake and stream to increase the likelihood of early detection of any new AIS infestations or even detecting a new invasive species. The more we can involve volunteers in monitoring/detecting AIS, the more money we can save as an association. Want to become a plant ID/survey volunteers? Contact Greg Anderson to learn more. Email: anderson.gregoryj.me-AT-gmail.com