by Gerry Boyle, CLA Director

More than 30 area residents gathered at China Baptist Church Park* for a Shoreline Buffer Workshop on Aug. 21, as part of ongoing efforts to reduce phosphorus runoff into China Lake.

The hands-on workshop was hosted by the China Lake Association (CLA) and reminded the community of the importance of vegetated shoreline buffers, demonstrated planting methods, and offered free, native plants for local owners to take home to plant on their shorefronts.

“When landowners around the lake collectively do their part to prevent soil erosion and improve their shoreline buffers, it goes a long way toward helping improve China Lake’s water quality,” said Jen Jespersen, ecologist and owner of the environmental consulting and design firm, Ecological Instincts, who helped coordinate the workshop. 

After additional presentations from CLA member Elaine Philbrook about LakeSmart and China Region Lakes Alliance Executive Director Jessie Mae MacDougall about Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), attendees observed YCC employees Nathaniel Levesque, Sam Worthley, and Noah Bechard (who is certified in erosion control practices by the state Department of Environmental Protection) demonstrated buffer-planting techniques along eroded areas of the church park before receiving plants to take home.

Plantings included sweet fern, yarrow, low bush blueberry, low creeping juniper, black-eyed Susan, bush asters, goat’s beard, and upland ferns. The plants are all preferred for being native or very well suited to the lake environment, as well as being deep-rooted to hold soil in place and prevent erosion, McDougall said. Erosion control mulch—a special mulch made of ground-up woody material and heavy sand—was used. The special mix doesn’t float and wash away, as typical bagged mulch will do in heavy rain.

The workshop was a “two-fold success,” said CLA President Stephen Greene. “The church park site was improved and the community learned how easy-to-install buffers are a line of defense against stormwater runoff and shoreline erosion. Without them, phosphorus runoff would foster algae blooms and deteriorate water quality.”

Additional workshop sponsors included Kennebec Savings Bank, Kennebec Water District, and Kennebec County Soil & Water Conservation District. Organizers expect the hands-on event to be repeated annually, Greene said.

Landowners within China Lake’s watershed are encouraged to contact CLA’s Watershed Grant Remediation Program via chinalakeassociation.org/grantprogram or leave a voicemail at (207) 200-6640 for additional information on property remediation. Please allow five business days for a response.

*China Baptist Church Park was identified during the 2020 China Lake Watershed Survey as a nonpoint source pollution priority site.

Photos left to right:

1. Participants at the workshop on buffer planting to protect China Lake gather at the China Baptist Church Park Aug. 21. The hands-on workshop included presentations and a demonstration of planting methods.

2. Workers from the Youth Conservation Corps on China Lake plant native plants in a demonstration of the best way to create a protective buffer on lake shoreline. From left, Nathaniel Levesque, Sam Worthley, and Noah Bechard.

3. and 4. The resulting plantings help reduce runoff and erosion on the park’s shoreline.