The vision has been alive since the mid-1990s, but this is the first year an association dedicated to the preservation of the 30 Mile River watershed has formally come together.

Representatives from a contingent of lake associations, towns and conservation groups have begun meeting and have incorporated as a larger, joint body -- the 30 Mile River Watershed Association.

The group's area of focus stretches from Kimball Pond in the north, near Chesterville, to Monmouth in the south. It encompasses a number of lakes big and small, including Parker Pond, Echo Lake, Lovejoy Pond, Pocasset Lake and Androscoggin Lake.

The membership comprises eight associations representing bodies of water in the watershed area, six towns and two conservation groups. The association has two part-time employees: a coordinator of invasive plant control and an inland harbormaster.

"We hope to be an extension of the warden service," said Wayne resident Charles Clauss, an at-large board member of the association and president of the Lovejoy Pond Improvement Association. "Not that we're going to be gun-toting law enforcement officers."