WHEREAS, lakes and ponds and the uplands that surround and protect them provide recreational opportunities for Maine residents and visitors, including more than 380,000 licensed freshwater anglers and over 112,000 boaters, as well as drinking water valued at $334 million for more than half of all Mainers, and vital habitat for more than 70 percent of our wildlife species; and

WHEREAS, according to a recently released University of Maine study, Maine’s lakes and ponds are the state’s most important natural resource asset, valued at more than $13.3 billion annually with more than $3 billion in related direct and indirect expenditures each year; and

WHEREAS, today's unprecedented climate impacts and growing development pressure are driving rapid and historic changes to the future health of Maine's lakes, requiring greater and more diverse support for lake protection efforts; and

WHEREAS, our lakes and ponds improve the quality of life for all Maine's residents and their importance should be widely recognized; and WHEREAS, Maine's more than 6,000 lakes and ponds have been cared for and stewarded by the Wabanaki people for thousands of years, and the State of Maine recognizes the need to continue to protect these lakes and ponds for future generations and continues to actively work on lake protection efforts; NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the great State of Maine do hereby proclaim July 2024 as

Lakes Appreciation Month

in Maine, and I encourage all citizens to take a moment to appreciate Maine's lakes and ponds that we are so fortunate to enjoy today, and to let us all take the appropriate steps to safeguard the health of our freshwater bodies for future generations of lake stewards so that they may enjoy the same clean, clear waters in the decades to come.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this twenty sixth day of June Two Thousand Twenty-Four