Balch Lake Improvement Association

Balch Lake Improvement Association

Keeping our lake healthy
Board of Directors

Volunteer Opportunities

  • Fundraising
    •  Volunteer to help with one of Join the team of tireless volunteers who sponsor a variety of events and activities to help BLIMP’s financial well being. See the events page for the type of events that might interest you.
    • Contact Person: Linny Seaver
  • Net Cleaning
    • Volunteer for 1 day during the summer to help clean the nets at the head of the lake, designed to catch milfoil from entering Balch.
    • Every week of the summer a net at the mouth of the river on the northwest corner of the lake needs to be cleaned. Each of our 12 associations takes a week.
    • Contact: Your association representative
    • Each of the lake associations finds a volunteer to clean the net at least once a week. We can always use more help.
  • On-water DASH assistance
    • Although we use professional divers in the water we are always looking for people to assist with spring/fall setup including dock & DASH boat. We are also looking for people who would like to be trained as DASH “crew members”.
    • Contact: Kathleen Lisbon
  • Leadership
    • We are always looking for board members or volunteers to help with the diving operations.
    • Contact Michael Kattman
  • Data entry
    • There are several areas where data entry are necessary. Each require a good comfort level with Excel spreadsheet.
    • Contact: Michael Kattman

Educate yourself and others

Educate yourself and educate others. Tell your friends and neighbors about the threat, especially if they are a boater who might inadvertently spread the plant. Whenever you fish or boat, look for milfoil; early detection will help keep it from spreading. If you think you found milfoil, contact your association rep or BLIMP. Someone will take a sample, have it verified by the state, and then schedule treatment or pulling of the weed. BLIMP has used Maine’s office of Plant identification in Auburn and recommends we use state services to test for milfoil rather than private companies.

Clean your boat

Check your boat often and remove all plants. You may have picked up milfoil while boating on Balch, or from other lakes. DO NOT throw it in the lake, please dispose of it properly. Always remove all plants from your boat, trailer, fishing gear and anchor when going in and out of a body of water.

Getting ready to collect milfoil

Clean the Nets

Please check with your association President to see what week your association has net cleaning duties. You can always check with BLIMP to volunteer anytime you are available. 

milfoil cleaning the net