Recently, the New Hampshire Lakes Association recognized our own Pawtuckaway Lake Hosts for their excellent work. In an article of its October newsletter “Shorelines”, the organization described an important discovery of invasive milfoil that was made in the course of boat and trailer inspections at the Fundy boat launch:
“Last week we found a large, mature piece of milfoil on a boat trailer coming from Massachusetts. If we had not been staffing the ramp on weekdays after Labor Day, that milfoil would have been in the lake.”
– Dee-Ann D., Lake Host Point Person for the Pawtuckaway Lake Association (PLIA)
“The PLIA has been working very hard during the past few years to help control the infestation of milfoil in Pawtuckaway Lake—thank goodness a Lake Host was at the NH Fish and Game Fundy Access site on October 1 to prevent this piece of milfoil from hitchhiking into the lake. Had a Lake Host not been at the ramp at the time, it’s possible that all the time and money the PLIA and its partners have spent over the past few years trying to control the milfoil growth in the lake would have been in vain!
Thank you to all the Lake Hosts at Pawtuckaway Lake—and at all our lakes—for being there to protect our lakes from the spread of invasive species, one boat and boater at a time!”
In addition, milfoil was also discovered on its way into the Fundy and removed in late September, so our gratitude goes to these wonderful Lake Hosts – both paid and volunteer – for making this program such a success.
Twice a year, PLIA volunteers gather to spend an hour fanning out along both sides of Route 156 between the signs bearing our name on them. Spring and fall, volunteers in reflector vests scan the roadside, collecting and bagging trash. It is a program of which the PLIA is very proud, and is one way we are able to give back to the community. Plus, believe it or not, we have fun in the process!
The Cox Conserves Heroes Award, in recognition of the volunteer work that Neil Santos has been doing to search for variable milfoil in Pawtuckaway Lake, has already benefitted the PLIA with a $5,000 grant. This is your chance to vote for Neil and increase the chances of an additional $5,000 award if he gets more votes than the other two finalists in this program.
Pawtuckaway Lake Improvement Association member Neil Santos has been nominated as a 2017 Cox Conserves Heroes finalist for the Boston area for his volunteerism. Of course, Neil is already a hero to us because he created the milfoil snorkel patrol that has devoted hundreds of hours in search of variable milfoil in Pawtuckaway. Cox Conserves Heroes is a national awards program that honors and celebrates environmental volunteers across the country. Please read the story on their website at