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POLAND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BOON TO OUR LAKE

Students at Poland Regional High School and their ecology teacher, Elke Christofferson, along with lake volunteers Charlie Rodway, Jack Quinn, Ron Getchell, Douglas Carbone and Babs Shapiro, helped clean the area and install plantings at the Public Beach as well as rake out ditches and culverts on Jordan Shore Drive.

Helpful High-Schoolers at Public Beach

In April, we’d been approached by Maine Department of Transportation via the Androscoggin Soil and Water Conservation District to find volunteers to help plant 55 shrubs at the Public Beach. I contacted the high-school several times and on June 6 was finally able to recruit fourteen happy-to-get-out-of-class youngsters and their teacher to help. Meeting with Richard Chick, Town Manager, to inform him of our intended projects, it was found that the Town insisted on safety precautions. They supplied us with orange vests and "workers" signs on the road.

Second group of students work at Public Beach

 

Bob Moosman, landscape architect with MDOT and his associate Susan Breau, brought plants and mulch funded by the MDOT Surface Water Quality Protection Program to the Beach. This program makes state and federal funds available to help lessen the impact of highway runoff to surface water bodies. Moosman then instructed the students on the importance and methodology of proper buffering. Having paved the shoulder of the road previously to stabilize it, the State also added rocks and mulch to further protect the area.
A couple of weeks later, on June 19, thirteen more teens worked under the supervision of Charlie, Jack and myself on Jordan Shore Drive, raked ditches. The kids rewarded themselves on that hot day by "falling" into the lake to cool off. We rewarded them with thanks and TLIA caps. The Town of Poland helped by picking up the debris. A planned meeting with John Laskey, our Volunteer Lake Monitor, to demonstrate lake testing, was delayed until next year.
High -schoolers who helped at the Public Beach were Emily Anthony, Lyndsay Stevens, Abbe Withell, Kim Cash, Jesse Mynahan, Isaac Boardman 3rd, Ben Bernard, Kyle Coolidge, Sarah Grant, Adam Whittier, Josh Roy, Shannon Huskins and Jason Westleigh. Jordan Shore Drive helpers were Jen Greenlaw, Mychelle Small, Bryan Lowe, Josh Sturtevant, Matt Yates, Angela Roberts, Sarah Grasse, Mindy Cyr, Chrissy Cox, Angie Belanger, Mark Martin, Nick Noble and Vanessa Jordan.

Jack Quinn supervises High-School road crew

A science teacher, Al Wanamaker, recently contacted me and looks forward to a collaboration with our group in the coming year. He’s currently instructing 9th graders in a watershed study. Since Tripp is in their backyard, he hopes to connect with us. I gave him copies of our recent watershed study as a guide.

We’re truly lucky to have this resource and hope to do some cooperative work with them next spring and summer. They’re a wonderful, enthusiastic and responsible group and we’re fortunate to have them in our backyard. Our thanks to them, their teachers and to our faithful volunteers.

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