The Songo River in Naples, one of Maine’s busiest waterways, is 3.1 miles long and connects Long Lake and Brandy Pond with Sebago Lake. Separating the upper and lower river is Songo Lock, the only remaining operational lock of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal. The lock was completed two years before the Town of Naples was incorporated in 1834.
LEA’s Milfoil Crew on the Songo River. The Songo River is infested with variable leaf milfoil. The extent of the well-established infestation in the river was documented in 2003 by LEA. In 2004, LEA found milfoil in Brandy Pond, which had appeared clean after a Maine DEP survey a few years earlier. After nearly a decade of extensive work on the river, the section above the lock is now mostly clear of milfoil and requires only periodic removal of scattered new growth. The section below the lock still has several heavily infested areas, although LEA has recently made much progress on this section as well. Please visit our Songo River and Brandy Pond milfoil page for more information on this project.
The Songo River is a thoroughfare for fish as well as boats. So the list of fish in the Songo includes all fish that frequent Brandy Pond, Long Lake and Sebago Lake, even though they may not be resident year-round. Smallmouth and largemouth bass provide the most significant fisheries. Brook trout are stocked in the river. Large numbers of white perch are present in Brandy Pond, but due to their abundance, they are generally small in size and not attractive to many anglers. They also compete with most other species for both food and space which tends to limit the potential of other species, particularly salmon, trout, and smelt.
In 2012, the first survey of Brandy Pond revealed only a few dozen plants in four locations. Except for one medium-sized patch, which has already been removed by the LEA crew this spring, the upper Songo River is clean of milfoil. With the use of extensive bottom barriers and suction harvesting, the crew has also cleaned out the lower river from the lock to the ranger station.
