Dexter Lake Association

The mission of the DLA is to help preserve and protect the health of Lake Wassookeag and Echo Lake. This year is the 23rd year of the Dexter Lakes Association. There are currently 148 paid memberships including 13 new members, with 63 attending the annual meeting on July 10, 2024.

 

Annual dues are still $10/person, $20 /family.

 

The Board of Directors includes: Dan Hutchins, President Cathie Frost, Vice President Michael Ann Wells, Treasurer Ruth Fogg, Secretary Adam Briggs, Membership Valerie Silverman Debra Morse Ron Apel Heather Mullen JC Forgotson Janie Snyder, Advisor Membership is open to anyone interested in the lakes.

 

DLA maintains two professional and scientific memberships to assist in fulfilling our mission, the Maine Lakes Society and Lake Stewards of Maine. Through them, DLA currently has seven (7) Trained Invasive Plant Patrollers and two (2) Secchi Disc water clarity testers. Both groups have completed training and certification through the Voluntary Lakes Monitoring Program. Our annual general meeting, open to all, was held on July 10, 2024 at the VFW Hall on Cedar Street, Dexter. The invited speaker was local Ron Apel who is a Audubon Society Lookout-For-Loon Program Volunteer who talked about the special qualities of loons and their behavior and how we can help them thrive better. The DLA participates in the Dexter Town Fourth of July Parade with a decorated towed boat followed by The Boat Parade on Lake Wassookeag. This year, Adam Briggs organized a very successful and fun contest for the best decorated boat. More than twenty decorated boats paraded around the lake to the delight of hundreds of spectators. Nine DLA volunteers assisted with the Audubon Society's annual Loon Count on July 13. Ten (10) adults were counted and two chicks (twins) hatched on the Little Lake compared to 19 adults and 2 chicks last year. As of October, one loon chick, now adolescent, is still surviving. The Invasive Plant Patrol (IPP) revealed no aquatic invasives, which is good. The shoreline purple loosestrife had a lesser promenance this year due to very high water levels early in the summer, and small patches of Yellow Water Iris are getting larger and are being monitored. Both species are on the Maine State shoreline invasive List. Approximately 60 hours of IPP volunteer time were logged in 2024. Six safety buoys are maintained and monitored by Frank Spizucco. Buoys are removed in the winter months and replaced in the spring. Several Directors went to a special presentation of the Sebasticook Lake Association to learn new ways of mitigating algae blooms in their lake besides draining the lake each year. Ice-in on Big Wassookeag finally occurred on Jan 2, 2024. Ice-out was April 11, 2024. Temperatures in early March were so high the lake ice was unsafe for about 4 weeks till final ice out. The ice season was shorter than most and ice thickness maxed out at about 14 inches (4 inches less than the previous year) due to the fairly mild winter. Smelts were not running as normal this year. Also of note this year, we had at least three heavy rain events early in the summer which caused more silt to run into the lake than normal, as the lake levels were drawn down in July and August the temperature of the water stayed high resulting in more algae blooms in the Big Lake than normal in late summer.