Image credit: P. Kallin
Featured Lake
Long Pond (Kennebec County)
About Long Pond
There are 27 “Long Ponds” in Maine (and 6 “Long Lakes”). One of these is located in the Belgrade chain of lakes (it is fourth in the chain sequence).
Long Pond (Belgrade, Mt. Vernon, Rome) is a 2,557-acre lake, divided into 2 distinct basins. The “deep hole” (106 ft / 32 m) is in the southern basin.
This lake has 20 fish species, including the invasive northern pike (Esox lucius), as well as both black basses.
The Kennebec Highlands (ME Bureau of Parks & Lands) lie to the west of the upper basin, while the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance manages lands along the southern basin (CLICK HERE for map)
Water clarity has been measured in this lake since 1970; the overall average Secchi depth during this period is 6.3 m (21 ft) - a value which is in the mid-range of surveyed Maine lakes.
Discover more about Long Pond HERE.
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What's New?
A Half-Century of Maine Lakes Data!
Last year, Scott Williams (long-time LSM Executive Director) wrote a short article about the early years of VLMP and the treasure trove of Secchi data produced by volunteers.
As we close out the 51st year of VLMP/LSM, it is worth taking another look at some stats on the lake water quality data collected over the years. Here are some tallies *:
- Secchi: 141,141 measurements from 1,066 lakes
- Phosphorus: 67,402 measurements from 936 lakes
- Temp/DO: 42,633 profiles from 944 lakes
- pH: 38,442 measurements from 874 lakes
- Conductivity: 31,733 measurements from 891 lakes
- Chlorophyll: 25,006 measurements from 908 lakes
- Color: 24,929 measurements from 910 lakes
- Alkalinity: 20,093 measurements from 887 lakes
Here are 3 interactive visualizations exploring these data:
(* These totals refer to data through 2018; as of the end of 2022, DEP had not released the more recent data for upload to this website. Totals include data from all lake stations and dates.)
Click here for previous What's New stories
Did You Know?
Bird's Eye Views of Maine Lakes
Some time ago, we published a collection of some spectacular aerial videos of 26 Maine lakes, all captured by drones and published on YouTube or Facebook.
As our lakes begin to freeze this winter, take another look at these videos, all taken during the open-water months.
To view this collection, click on the image, below:
We welcome suggestions for similar videos from other lakes in Maine. To submit a video for this collection, please contact us.
Click here for previous Did You Know? stories
Current Conditions
Click here to view current water quality conditions on a representative sample of Maine lakes during summer, or view which lakes have experienced ice-cover in the fall and ice-out in the spring.
Get Involved
The majority of data on lakesofmaine.org comes from certified volunteer citizen scientists. If you are interested in finding a monitoring opportunity, please visit Lake Stewards of Maine or contact our office at 207-783-7733. Email is stewards@LakeStewardsME.org
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