Fund-Raiser: Maine NFC Installs Water Pumping System to Benefit Rare Arctic Charr

The Maine chapter of NFC has developed a portable water pumping system for use at Floods Pond in conjunction with the University of Maine’s ongoing rare Arctic charr study.

The Floods Pond program is critical to the long-term health of the last remaining populations of wild native Arctic charr in the contiguous United States as it is the only place where they can be studied that is not impacted by development, angling, and other forms of recreation.

“Prior to the completion of the pumping system, students were required to bucket water from the lake to the make-shift lab to fill the holding tanks.”

Prior to the completion of the pumping system, students were required to bucket water from the lake to the make-shift lab to fill the holding tanks. Frozen bottles of water were dropped into the holding tanks to keep them cool, and clean-up was done using buckets as well.

The new pumping system will allow the tanks to be filled via hose while allowing for mid-research refills to address warming water or water spoiled by too many fish in a small area. At the end of each session the tanks will be flushed and cleaned using the system as well.

The system was designed to be easily put up and taken down with quick-release connections and dedicated intake, output, and drain hoses. A manual priming pump allows students to easily prime the intake hose and pump.

“Raising hundreds of dollars for projects like this is in some ways harder than projects requiring thousands of dollars as grant money is rarely available.”

While NFC raised the money needed to get the system in place for this years fall survey season, we hope to recoup our costs so we can use our money for other native fish initiatives. If you would like to help offset our costs for this important conservation equipment purchase please click the link below.