On Thursday, June 17, from 6:30- 8 p.m., Midcoast Conservancy will offer a webinar on Damariscotta Lake water quality, focusing on the cyanobacteria outbreak last summer. Patricia Nease, Midcoast Conservancy Watershed coordinator: Damariscotta Lake Lead, and Marty Welt, a lakefront property owner and Midcoast Conservancy board member, will lead the presentation.

In August of 2020, Midcoast Conservancy received multiple reports of a suspicious "algae" in the South Arm of Damariscotta Lake which was ultimately confirmed to be a cyanobacteria bloom. Midcoast Conservancy staff, volunteers, and partners from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Bigelow Laboratory quickly mobilized to do more comprehensive sampling including collecting samples for eDNA and quantification of cyanotoxins.

Those who attend the webinar will hear some of the results of this sampling effort and learn more about what can be done to prevent future blooms from happening. The presenters will also talk about best management practices to limit nutrient pollution from entering the lake, the LakeSmart program and Midcoast Conservancy’s continued monitoring efforts. 

To register for this free event, go to https://www.midcoastconservancy.org/events/cyanobacteria-webinar/