by ruth neagle  •  mpa treasurer

This summer Moose Pond’s LakeSmart team (Peter LaPolice, Elizabeth Stockwood and Bill Dexter) had the opportunity to visit nine properties, and we wanted to share the story of our visit to one particular site that we thought was the epitome of what a LakeSmart property can and should be! 

We had a number of LakeSmart “success stories” this summer including several invitations to tour properties during the construction process to aid in the development of lake-friendly vegetation and planting plans. We also re-surveyed the properties of several previous LakeSmart award recipients and these previous award winners have continued to demonstrate great stewardship of our lake. Other visits identified several situations where property owners simply needed to add just a little bit more “LakeSmart Love” to reduce run off that was making its way into the lake.  As most readers will remember, LakeSmart is all about mitigating unchecked run-off because that run-off frequently carries pollutants like phosphorus across the land and directly into the water.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, we visited one property that stood out to us for both its beauty and lake-friendly characteristics. Steve and Randi Petter invited us to evaluate their property on the eastern shore of the north basin. Purchased by Steve and Randi about a decade ago, it is an idyllic spot. And so, what makes this property so remarkable from a LakeSmart point of view? The lot has been left in its natural state with five robust layers of ground cover. It has many large trees forming a high canopy, medium-sized trees, low trees, bushes, ground cover and lots of “duff” (accumulated pine needles and leaves that act like a sponge to absorb water thereby minimizing runoff). The house is set well back from the waterfront with well-defined parking and driveway areas featuring proper drainage. They have a clearly defined, winding path leading from their house down to their dock. They have an undisturbed shoreline with a minimal footprint in front of the dock area and a defined boat storage area. In short, leaving the property in as near a natural state as possible, while creating a comfortable and usable waterfront ticks all the LakeSmart boxes. 

Thank you, Randi and Steve, for inviting us to your property and for your terrific stewardship of our wonderful pond. Peter, Elizabeth and I look forward to visiting even more properties next year! If you would like us to inspect your property and provide some suggestions on how to make it more lake friendly, please reach out to me using the following contact information. My cell phone number is 207-232-0726 and my email address is dexathome@gmail.com.