On Saturday November 25, 2017 Friends of Sebago Lake paid a visit to Songo Beach at Sebago Lake State Park. In 1988 Songo Beach was designated by the State of Maine as Maine “Finest Inland Beach”. It has been ruined. With these recent photos it is apparent that Songo Beach is suffering continuing ongoing erosion. The trees with exposed and eroded roots visible in the photos were protected behind the beach berm 15 years ago. The upper profile of the beach is steep and becoming steeper. Those who made the decision to increase Sebago Lake’s average lake level and eliminate the lower historic lake level range have shown no interest in the continuing demise of the Songo Beach and the Sandbar. SAPPI, the Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection, other State agencies have failed in their responsibility to acknowledge that erosion and resulting shoreline recession is continuing. When lake levels are three feet higher and the berm is under wave attack month after month in the spring and summer there will be little beach for the tens of thousands of visitors to the park.
In another 10 to 15 years another row of 80 year old trees will disappear.