Understanding the Moose Pond Association in Eight Questions
May 20, 2026
What does the Moose Pond Association do?
- We make sure that the health of your lake gets monitored on a regular basis
- We pay for services to try to prevent invasive plants and animals from getting into the lake
- We try to stop unhelpful nutrients from making their way into the lake
- We advocate for courteous boating behavior
- We try to educate local property owners to help them understand their role in keeping the lake healthy for all to enjoy for generations to come
- We collect membership dues so that we can pay for all of the things I’ve just mentioned
When was the Moose Pond Association started?
- Whe MPA was founded in 2008
- A group of local residents including Chip Wendler, Mark Patterson and David Ehrman started it because we were concerned about the long-term health of Moose Pond and there is a lot of data to suggest that lakes with active lake associations have better long-term outcomes than lakes without lake associations
- David Ehrman was the first president, Mark Patterson was the second president and Chip Wendler is the third and current president of the MPA
Why was the Moose Pond Association started? What were you concerned about at the time?
- There are a growing number of lakes in Maine that are infested with invasive plants
- There are a growing number of lakes in Maine that are covered w/thick green slimy algae
- Look no further than Arrowhead Lake (only 34 miles from Moose Pond) where the entire lake is infested with Milfoil and local residents spend more than $100,000 a year just to clear pathways to their docks
- You cannot swim or fish near the shoreline
- Property prices are depressed. Studies say that prices fall >30% when a lake gets infested.
- There have been several outbreaks on Long Lake and parts of Sebago are struggling
What gets monitored and how does that get done?
- We pay LEA to sample Moose Pond’s water throughout the year to look for four key things
- How much Phosphorus (P) is in the lake as too much P can lead to algae blooms
- Clarity = how much sediment is in the water
- How much Chlorophyll is in the water as high Chlorophyll can be a leading indicator of a potential algae bloom
- Invasive plants and animals = LEA divers do spot checks once a summer at the most vulnerable (high traffic) areas of the lake
- In addition, two years ago the MPA started something called the Lake Section Captain program where we sliced up the lake’s shoreline into 17 sections and two times per summer volunteers (mostly MPA Board Members) scan “their section” of the lake to look for invasive plants/animals and report any suspicious plants to LEA for closer inspection
What steps are you taking to prevent problems from occurring in Moose Pond and how are you making that happen?
- The first line of defense are the Courtesy Boat Inspectors that you see at the Route 302 and Denmark boat launches.
- The CBIs are there to look for fragments of invasive plants and animals on boats and boat trailers to stop them before they enter Moose Pond
- Each year more than 1,500 inspections were performed and, normally, dozens of plant fragments are discovered and removed.
- Fortunately most of them are non-invasive but a few years ago the inspection process prevented invasive Milfoil from entering your lake
- Donations to the MPA pay for the CBI program that is staffed/managed by LEA
- The MPA also maintains and pays for the Boat Washing Stations that are situated near the Route 302 and Denmark Boat Launches
- We also try to educate boaters on the importance of washing down their boats, trailers and bait wells before entering and after leaving Moose Pond
- MPA also promotes the LakeSmart program which gives lakeside property owners free access to a property inspection to check to see if their property is designed in a way that stops phosphorus laden run-off from making its way into Moose Pond
Why does the MPA care about courteous boating behavior?
- It’s really all about big wakes near the shoreline as big wakes
- Cause shoreline erosion allowing more phosphorus to enter the lake
- Disturb loon nesting grounds and
- Beat the hell out of peoples docks and boats
What is the MPA’s annual budget and what do you spend it on
- Our annual budget is about $60,000 per year
- Our largest expenditures are
- The CBI program is the biggest part of our budget at $25,000
- We spend about $10,000 each year to pay LEA for their testing/monitoring services
- We spend about $12,000 annually on member education and communication
- We save $10,000 per year to fund and emergency reserve fund so that if Moose Pond does get infested we can catch it early and try our best to prevent the spread of invasive plants or animals
- I think that gets us to $57,000 of the $60,000 mentioned above
What can you do to help?
- Become a member by making an annual donation to the MPA because if we had more member donations we could
- Pay for more CBI hours
- Help fund projects to help keep phosphorus-laden run off from entering the lake
- Build up the emergency reserve fund
- Only 300 of the roughly 900 property owners around the lake are members – more would be much better
- I would encourage you to have your property assessed by one of our LakeSmart inspectors to see if there are some easy fixes you could implement to stop unhelpful run off from entering that lake
- Join the Moose Pond Association Facebook page so that you can stay informed