Landscaping & site work in Standish, Maine.

Sebago Lake supplies drinking water to nearly a sixth of Maine's population, according to the Portland Water District. It is also one of the few surface supplies in North America exempt from federal filtration requirements, which the District credits to how well the watershed is protected. Its watershed runs from Standish northwest all the way to Bethel.

For any work near the lake, keeping soil and nutrients out of the water is the whole point. Maine's shoreland zone covers land within 250 feet of the lake and rivers. Inside the buffer, cleared openings are capped at 250 square feet and tree cutting is limited to 40% of volume over ten years. Standish also prohibits storing pesticides anywhere in the shoreland zone. Paths, patios and plantings at a camp are designed to slow runoff and let it soak in before it reaches the shore.

Standish is in zone 5b on the 2023 USDA map. UMaine Extension recommends fine fescues for dry, acidic, low-fertility and shaded ground, which describes a lot of wooded lake lots. Seed between mid-August and mid-September, and near the water skip phosphorus unless a soil test calls for it.

The Maine Forest Service lists Standish in its quarantines for emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, spongy moth and white pine blister rust. Shoreline hemlocks and pines do real work holding banks, so pruning beats removal wherever the tree is sound.