The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Gravel Camp Roads Being Made Greener

July 01, 2009 - "We are going on the bumpy road," says my young daughter as we turn onto the road to our family camp. My siblings and I called it the same thing years ago when we would drive to the lakeside camp with our parents.

Each spring in the 1940s and '50s, our forebears would challenge themselves to "get into camp" with their passenger cars on the muddy and rutted road. With Maine's many lakefront cottages, I am sure this scenario is still common for many families.

Altogether, Maine has more than 44,000 miles of private gravel roads traversing the landscape. Because of lack of resources and knowledge, many of these roads are poorly maintained, and stormwater runoff from them poses a threat to water bodies that receive the runoff. Soil material washed from the road covers lake and stream habitat and carries in pollutants like phosphorus that are responsible for lake algal blooms.

Several years ago, to help landowners conduct proper road maintenance and repair, the Legislature enacted the Private Ways Law. This law allowed the owners of three or more parcels of land on a private road to call a meeting to address road repair and maintenance issues. It further allowed the assessment of fees on landowners using the road, to fund the repair and maintenance work.

The law has enabled the formation of many road associations and has resulted in an overall increase in the quality of roads.

This year, the Legislature has improved the law by amending it to clarify the purpose and permanence of associations and to allow them to negotiate easements for road repairs.

To encourage the formation of more associations, the Legislature has also provided immunity from lawsuits to association road commissioners and boards for organizational activities.

Other new beneficial legislation for gravel road owners allows municipalities to use public resources on private roads to help to protect the quality of certain lakes and ponds.

For roads to be eligible for assistance, the water bodies must be threatened or impaired (as determined by the Department of Environmental Protection, based on declining water quality and other factors); the roads must be evaluated by the DEP or municipality and found to be contributing to degradation of water quality; and the repairs must be maintained by an organized road association.

So if you live on a private gravel road, there may be no better time to get together with your neighbors and organize a road association for road maintenance and repair.

Beside the benefits of having a better driving surface, you will help to protect nearby lakes and streams for current and future generations.

The Department of Environmental Protection (287-3901), as well as the Maine Alliance of Road Associations (www.maineroads.org), can provide prospective road associations with information and advice about forming a legal association.

So remember the "bumpy road" doesn't have to be so bumpy, and our lakes and streams can remain clean if we all work to maintain the gravel roads in our backyard.

This column was submitted by William Laflamme, an environmental specialist with the Maine DEP's Bureau of Land and Water Quality.


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