• Historically, this lake has experienced very good water quality, as evidenced in part by the fact that it supports a healthy coldwater fishery (primarily Lake Trout). At one time, Lake Auburn was a popular destination for visitors from around the globe, who would board the "Steamship Lewiston" Ferry on the easterly side of the lake at "Lake Grove Resort" en route to the westerly shore, where a world-famous grand hotel and mineral spring spa was highly valued by those who drank and bathed in its reportedly restorative waters. The hotel famously burned in the late 1800's.
  
  

• For more than a century, the municipal water district and the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission have worked diligently to protect the health of this lake through educating landowners about lake conservation practices, purchasing conservation easements throughout the watershed and virtually eliminating all shoreline development. But in 2012, Lake Auburn experienced an unanticipated severe algal (cyanobacteria) bloom, resulting in a significant die-off of the Lake Trout population, less than 2 meters water clarity, and high concentrations of phosphorus. The Auburn Water District convened a group of lake researchers who, over a period of a few years, unraveled the complex factors that led to this phenomenon. Climate warming, extreme weather events, lake sediment geochemistry and other factors combined to create the "perfect storm" that caused the bloom. In 2019, a successful "alum" treatment was conducted on the lake. Water clarity (Secchi transparency) readings in 2020 have been as high as 12 meters!

Discover more about Lake Auburn HERE.

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The average depth of Big Lake is only 12 feet. This means that the littoral zone extends far out from shore along much of the lake’s 70-plus miles of shoreline. In addition to the vast shallows, the lake is rich in tributaries, coves and islands (28 islands to be exact!), all of which further increases the potential for invasive plants to move about unseen, while steadily gaining ground.

Given the pristine nature of this aquatic wilderness, intensive planning soon started to conduct a major invasive plant survey of the lake this summer. This would involve the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Downeast Lakes Land Trust, IPP volunteers and, of course, LSM... However, Covid-19 has thrown a wrench into these plans and the planned mobilization of LSM-led volunteers to conduct a complete level-3 survey of Big Lake was postponed. Warning buoys have been placed in Clifford Bay to help boaters steer clear of known infested areas.

This summer for the first time, Downeast Lakes Land Trust staff have been conducting Courtesy Boat Inspections at Big Lake's primary public boat landing. In addition to inspecting boats launching into and leaving the lake, the CBIs are helping to educate boaters to the threat of aquatic invaders and what boaters can do to help prevent their spread.

This August, experienced solo adventurer and certified LSM Invasive Plant Patroller, Lucy Leaf, took it upon herself to travel alone to the Downeast Lakes Region to conduct screening surveys of some of Big Lake's surrounding waterbodies. (To be clear, working alone on the water is not EVER recommended by LSM, but Lucy was determined and we are very grateful for her efforts.) As a result of Lucy's work, small patches of variable-leaf milfoil have now been confirmed in downstream Lewey Lake and Long Lake. The spread of the infestation to downstream waters is very bad news indeed, but by finding these (possible) pioneer colonies early, Lucy has provided the Big Lake community with a window of opportunity to remove these new colonies before they become well established, so that the larger infestation may be contained.

DEP staff, working with local stakeholders will be conducting a major survey of Long Lake this September to get a better handle on the full extent of the infestation in Long Lake itself, in preparation for directing some targeted control operations later this fall. A group of property owners on Big Lake is also now organizing to help address the threat at the local level. LSM will contribute to this goal by providing a special online training in September, focused on the identification of variable watermilfoil and its common native lookalikes, to help broaden the local engagement in this effort to the widest extent possible.

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Catherine Schmitt has written about Sargent Mountain Pond:

“...Three thousand years later, to the north, Katahdin emerges from beneath the ice and snow; to the south, woolly mammoths browse on shrubby willows, ferns, and sedges taking root on the newly exposed tundra. Nomadic people follow the path of the receding ice to hunt and fish…..Centuries pass. The [ocean] shoreline drops as the land, freed from the weight of the ice, slowly rebounds to its now-familiar position. Salmon are stranded in Sebec, Sebago, Green, and West Grand lakes. Mammoths retreat and whales head for deeper waters.”

Around 12,000 years ago, forest vegetation first develops around Sargent Mountain Pond.

Catherine's full story is HERE.

Several years ago, Steve Norton, Steve Kahl, Randall Perry and other scientists from the University of Maine drilled down through the winter ice to take cores of the lake's sediments. Using chemical and biological analyses of these cores, they have described many aspects of the history of Sargent Mountain Pond. Perry's research is HERE. Find other research articles on this lake using Google Scholar.

Sargent Mountain Pond is on what must be one of the most visually stunning hiking trails in Maine. Joe Braun has an excellent photographic tour of the trail that includes this lake.

Click here for previous Did You Know? stories

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Also included in this undertaking are a number of regional entities, including Lakes Environmental Association, Cobbossee Watershed District, Mid-Coast Conservancy, 30-Mile River Watershed, 7 Lakes Alliance, Belgrade Lakes Association, Acton Wakefield Watershed Alliance, Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Portland Water District, Auburn Water District, Acadia National Park, and Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust. Included are the sovereign nations of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, and the Penobscot Indian Houlton Band of Maliseets.

Data have also been acquired from private consultants, such as FBE and Lake & Watershed RMA, as well as others collecting lake data as part of regulatory requirements. Additional data are acquired through the DIF&W and through cooperative projects with the University of Maine System, Bates, Colby and Unity Colleges, and County Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Field data are also collected by the Maine DEP Lakes Assessment Section under probability-based studies conducted within EPA Region I, and as part of the National Lakes Assessment Study being conducted by EPA Headquarters.

We apologize if your lake data-gathering organization has been accidentally omitted. Please let us know if that is the case. Additional types of data are also submitted to the Lakes of Maine website, including Annual Loon Count data gathered by volunteers through Maine Audubon Society, and a variety of lake and watershed information provided by The Nature Conservancy.

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