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Plants in Georges Pond 
"Once introduced into a lake, Eurasian watermilfoil is virtually impossible
to eradicate. It grows rapidly and aggressively,
reproducing primarily through fragmentation. The introduction of one
single fragment of this plant can result in the infestation of an entire
lake." --- from http://www.state.me.us/dep/blwq/doclake/euratext.htm
I work for DEP in Massachusetts and spend some of my time each summer surveying lakes and ponds that have been literally conquered by some of these non-native species. It is not a pretty sight.
There are a number of existing links that document the plants and the fight to keep them out and I will shortly add them to this web site - see the Links page.
In the meantime, learn what you can about the issue and take it seriously. Know which lakes and ponds in Maine already have a problem - and, if I were you, I'd keep my boat far away from those water bodies lest you infect Georges Pond or any other pond. Lakes and streams in Maine currently afflicted with Variable Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum heterophyllum) are Thompson Lake in Casco, Sebago Lake, Cushman Pond in Lovell, Messalonskee Lake in Belgrade, Lake Auburn in Auburn, Little Androscoggin River, Little Ossipee River Flowage or Arrowhead Lake in Waterboro/Limerick, Pleasant Pond or Mud Pond in Richmond/Gardiner, and Short Stream between Pleasant Lake and Parker Pond in Casco. These waterbodies are listed at http://www.state.me.us/dep/blwq/topic/doc.htm
But, remember, all plants are not bad, most are beneficial to the pond. In fact, there appear to be none in Georges Pond that are harmful at this point (except for some algae - see below).
I'll have more to say later on this. But I would like to try to do a species survey on Georges Pond this summer (2002) or next. If anyone has any expertise or just plain interested, please get in touch with me. I work with folks who are expert at identifying macrophytes and algae so what we can't idenify, they can. From what I've seen in my kayaking around the pond, things are good. Except for those algae blooms we've had recently - let's hope the drought last year was a factor.
A lot of you probably noticed the short-lived blooms last year in July and August where the water column was visibly flecked with small greenish particles. You might not have noticed an even more interesting bloom sometime in July consisting of whitish particles. The greenish particles were a species of Anabaena, probably flos-aquae, a blue-green algae that accumulates at the surface and can look like spilled paint. The whitish particles were, if I identified them correctly, a species of Uroglenopsis and might be fairly uncommon. Swimming through them during the bloom, it felt as if you could feel them. It will be interesting to see what this summer brings. I do know that people have told me of seeing "lots of pollen" in the pond but I suspect this has been Anabaena. To see some slides of what I collected last year, click on this link (might take a few seconds to load): algae in Georges Pond 2002
Well, we did have a minor Anabaena (flos-aquae) bloom on or about June 29, 2002. I haven’t been on the pond that much this summer so I don’t know if there have been others. While eating pizza on the Grant’s deck, one of us tossed a bit to a passing duck (we usually don’t feed them); when the piece hit the water which was thick with Anabaena at the surface, an ever-increasing circle of clear water appeared as the Anabeana was affected by the spreading oil from the pizza – quite similar to the effect of oil calming the waters!
A lot more on this later, what causes it, what we can do about it.