On Saturday, June 22nd, the Lake St. Catherine Association held their second meeting of the 2019 season.

The Trustees gave their reports on many topics - Click here to see the full meeting agenda. Meeting minutes compiled by Kemi Mcshane.

June 22nd 2019 Meeting of the Lake St. Catherine Board of Trustees

Lake St. Catherine Country Club, 8:30 AM

Meeting called to order by President Jim Canders at 8:32AM.

Present: Ken Abt, Elaine Bagley, John Belnavis, Kemi McShane Bostock, Jim Canders, Jeffrey Crandall, Jerremy Jones, Mary Jo Teetor, Bob Williams.

Absent: Rob Goldman, Ed Laird, Martha Pofit, Phil Pope.

1. Recording Secretary’s Report: Minutes of the May 25, 2019 meeting approved.
2. Treasurers Report: reviewed budget and expenditures. Presented in the new format, that reflects the current budget and expenditures entered in the program. Elaine, Martha and Jerremy are continually updating the accounting to make the report current. Discussion ensued regarding the monies received by State in increments and is recorded accordingly. Grant monies received to fund the SOLitude, Greeters program, and the Suction Harvesting. Managing the water quality of the Lake requires monies to support the programs in place, need to have a membership drive, fund raising, educating the community to what is required to get the work done to maintain the Lake for recreational purposes. It was moved to accept the Treasurers report as presented but slate it for further discussion to make the adjustments that reflect the current budget and expenditures to date.
3. LSCA Annual Meeting and Dinner- Saturday July 27, 2019 6:00 Meeting and dinner served at 7:30. Venue- Lake St. Catherine Country Club. Menu- Fish, Chicken and pasta for $16.00, Prime Rib for $26.00. Meal includes coffee and cake. A power point presentation will be shown, any updates to be sent to Jerremy. Discussion revolved around the meeting format. It was decided not to have a presenter. It was stressed to educate the membership on the importance of the work being done and fiscal responsibility for that work. Appeal to the general membership to increase their donations to the Association, increase active participation in the LSCA and to discuss the future direction for LSC.
4. Milfoil Management- Received the 5-year permit, to be reviewed yearly to assess the designated treatment sites. DASH is a 10-year permit. State has mandated no treatments allowed before July 1st as it relates to the Fish and Wildlife concern for the nesting and spawning of the local fish. Language used to notify the community that the lake is being treated does not state that the Lake is closed.
5. Water Quality- Water quality poor currently due to heavy winter and increased amount of rain fall this Spring. Not scheduled any water testing as a result. So much runoff in Lake.
6. Publicity- Jerremy updating the information on the Milfoil page. Requesting pictures from 2003 that will show the weed infestation of the Lake before the LSCA began the treatments for managing the Lake. Wants to increased awareness of how far the LSCA has come in controlling the milfoil and improving the water quality of LSC. The update information will be in the Fall newsletter. Martha has a “Meet Your Neighbor” for the newsletter.
7. Placement of Markers- Requested Markers in the Stonehedge bay, the second Marker for the Sunken Island, and Forest House Bay. The Marker in Halls Bay needs to be moved and a Marker removed from the Channel. A request for more volunteers to distribute Markers was made.
8. Nominating Committee-Rob Goldman resigned as of today. He is still involved in setting up for East Poultney Day and being the lead boat in the 7th Annual Boat Parade. Rand’s position is still not filled. There will be a need for 4 trustees to fill the positions. The need to form committees for fundraising, membership, grant writing, and contacting the community as seeking new trustees. The importance of trustees with a history and knowledge base of what the LSCA has been working on to keep the Lake healthy is vital. Reaching out to State agencies and forming relationships is necessary. Newsletter needs to appeal to the membership explaining the importance of being involved in the LSCA, its mission and purpose. Post need for new trustees on the BLOG to elicit response from the membership.
9. Membership- Elaine has taken over the letter writing and post card mailings to target the members to send in dues. Again, discussion was for how to target and increase new members to be actively participating in the LSCA.
10. Government Relations- Martha resigned from the FOVLAP committee. Not aware of reasoning for her decision. She wrote a questionnaire for them.
11. Old Business- Boat Parade- committee formed to complete the job. At present only 6 boats registered. Prizes collected from local sponsors, judges contacted, and locations confirmed. A new location added this year at Wissahickon on West Lake Rd. Concern for continuing the boat parade if no participation or interest. Increase advertising the event, awareness of the wonderful sponsorship given. Wells Day July 13, 2019 and will check to see if Frank can still set it up and monitor tent. East Poultney Day August 10, 2019 to be manned by Rob Goldman. PMNCD was attended by Jim, and educated on the importance of shoreline planting, the LAKE scorecard. It is a good time to form important relationships with the State Agencies that make decisions regarding the well being of LSC. LSCA meetings are July 27, 2019 (Trustees and General Membership) and August 24, 2019.

President Jim Canders called for the meeting adjournment at 10:57. Motion for adjournment was made and seconded. Meeting adjourned at 10:57.

Hello LSC.

A few weeks ago, we told you about an upcoming workshop on installing infiltration steps on your property.

Infiltration steps minimize the potential for erosion and runoff. As a result, they prevent excess nutrients, sediments, and other pollutants from entering the lake.

It is extremely important that we ALL take a good look at our lakeshore property and mitigate potential areas of stormwater runoff into the lake. Stormwater runoff carries pollutants and nutrients that help to feed weed growth.

The Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District partnered with the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) for an educational opportunity on infiltration step installation. Justin Giebel, coordinator of the VYCC lead the installation and education of PMNRCD staff on this project.

The day started out with Justin leading the PMNRCD staff in an icebreaker which incorporated some safety, stretching and humor. Justin asked each member of the circle to lead the team in a warm-up stretch of their choosing, list a safety tip for the day, and then bestow a super power to the person on our left. The catch on the super powers? They had to have an inconvenient side effect. That lead to some funny exchanges as the crew got ready for the day ahead:

Everyone then got right to work:

Here is a time lapse video of the installation of the first 2 steps:

As they were working up to the 3rd step - a BIG problem presented itself:

A GIGANTIC rock. But, as you'll see in the photos below, a plan was created and implemented to accommodate the rock - and incorporate it into the design.

...and here are the results:

Before:

After:

There is now a safe way to walk into the lake AND infiltrate runoff water before it enters the lake!

Through Lake Education and Action Program (LEAP), the PMNRCD partners with homeowners along Lake Saint Catherine and Lake Bomoseen to provide education and promote good land stewardship practices to protect the water quality in the lake. The District combines forces with a team of Poultney High School student interns to provide native buffer plantings and invasive plant removal activities, complete educational surveys, and go door-to-door with information about a variety of water quality topics.

...and now they have added infiltration steps to their skill set!

If you are interested in installing steps or buffer plantings on your property through the PMNRCD LEAP Program, please contact Ashley Leemans, LEAP Coordinator at ashleemans@gmail.com.

An excellent job by all involved!

Hello Lake St. Catherine fans,

We are posting this message and sending letters to you today to inform you about a significant budget shortfall we are projecting for 2019.

Each year, the Lake St. Catherine Association works to raise money for our seasonal projects by securing grants from the State of Vermont, the Towns of Wells & Poultney and from environmental groups. We also reach out to lake property owners and the lake community to collect membership dues and donations.

This year, we are projecting taking in $111,112 in grants, membership dues and donations, and projecting $141,273 in expenses. This will result in a $30,000+ deficit, greatly reducing our savings from approximately $70,000 to $40,000. Please see the pie charts below for the breakdown of our income and expense projections for 2019.

While we’ve been steadily increasing in both the number of members - and the total amount collected from membership dues, support from state and local governments has been decreasing. For example, in 2019, we will receive approximately $7,000 less from the State of Vermont and $5,000 less from the Town of Poultney.

As of this writing, we have 302 paid members who have made contributions from $35 to $5,000, totalling $48,600. That’s an average contribution of $161. 85 members contributed more than the base $100. Thank you to all who have contributed to help support our mission to preserve, protect and maintain Lake St. Catherine.

However, consider that there are approximately 700 properties on the lake. That means that less than half (43%) of the lake property owners are contributing to help fund our collective efforts for the lake. If these 400 potential members joined with a $100 contribution, we’d be able to cover our budget shortfall in 2019. Although we will keep trying to reach out to those 400 potential members, we realize that it’s unrealistic to think we could get every one of them all to join.

Maybe you are one of these 400, and you have decided to not support the LSCA. Maybe you don’t like that we spot treat the milfoil with herbicide each year, or maybe you have another reason. Well, as part of our milfoil control program, we also employ a very dedicated and hard-working dive team that swims down to the lake bottom to hand pull milfoil and remove it from the lake (this is called DASH, diver assisted suction harvesting). As part of our long term plan, and as we have for several years, we’ve been increasing our acres of suction harvesting and decreasing the acres of herbicide spot treatments. Support our dive team and help support the lake.

We also employ a dedicated team of young adults that work in our Greeter Program at the Lake St. Catherine boat launch. Lakes within driving distance of LSC contain invasive species that we DO NOT want to be introduced into our lake. These include: zebra mussels, spiny waterflea, starry stonewort and asian clams. The Greeters inspect boats entering and leaving LSC, educating boaters on these invasive species and how to make sure their boat or trailer does not carry an invasive hitchhiker to another lake. Support our Greeters and help support the lake.

We test the water for E coli and water clarity, we offer two free boating safety courses each season so boaters can get their license, we purchase and maintain navigation and shore line protection buoys throughout the lake, we organize the annual boat parade, we work with environmental groups to work on runoff issues around the lake, we share lake news with the community through our website and Facebook pages - and we collect membership dues and write and apply for grants to help fund all these projects.

If you love Lake St. Catherine as we do, we hope you can find at least one of these initiatives that you can support, and you’ll become a member, make an additional contribution for 2019 or make a donation.

More Information:

Why are you writing to me?

This posting is an appeal to the lake community to help us reduce the projected $30,000 deficit for the 2019 season.

We will continue to spread the word about what we do for the lake and try to reach the 400 property owners that we wrote about on the previous page. They are all potential members. If you are one of them, please join us!

But, we are also appealing to our current members. Can you help us by making an additional contribution this year?

What other means does the LSCA have to raise funds other than membership dues and donations?

Last year, we wrote 4 grants to apply for funds totalling $50,000 from the Lake Champlain Basin program. Although we were not awarded any of the grants, we learned a lot about the process and we’ll be ready to apply for them again this year with a better understanding of what will be needed to earn them.

We are also searching for additional grants from other agencies and organizations that we can apply for.

Why is there such a large projected budget shortfall this year?

Our state and local government support has been declining each year. As state and local budgets decrease, these decreases get passed down to supported organizations. We mentioned some examples of these decreases on the previous page for 2019, but here are a few more: in 2016, the State of Vermont granted us $50,000. This year, it will be $27,000. In years past, the Town of Wells granted us $20,000, now it’s $12,000.

We are certainly very thankful for the continued support from the State of Vermont and the Towns of Wells and Poultney, their budget crunches have an impact on us. We need to work to raise additional funds to cover these cuts or we will not be able to maintain the standard of milfoil control that we’ve set over the past 15 years. We cannot let that happen.

Also, costs have increased.

This year, we will be using a new, highly effective and milfoil targeted herbicide called ProcellaCOR. As compared to the herbicide we have used for the past five years (Renovate), with ProcellaCOR, we’ll use 200x to 400x less herbicide, the recommended water restrictions for recreation and household use are just limited to the day of treatment and may resume the next day, and lake water may be used for irrigation after 1 week (it was 90 days) - and it will be more effective in taking out problem areas of milfoil. However, it’s more expensive.

We also want to keep our dive team in the lake, removing as much milfoil as they can throughout the season.

What can I do to help?

If you are not a member, please become one. See the below on how to do that.

If you are already a member this year, please consider making an additional contribution to us this season.

Please, spread the word about the Lake St. Catherine Association. Speak to your neighbors - ask them if they are members. Tell them about all the good work we do for the lake, and ask them to support us like you do.

Become A Member:

To become a member (or renew your membership), you can join on our website by filling out the form on our Become A Member page, using a credit card. Or, you can fill in this 2019 Membership Application and Donation Appeal form and mail it in with a check.

Make An Additional Donation In 2019:

There are a few ways you can make a donation to the LSCA. You can visit the Donation Page on our website, or click on the blue Donate button at the top of our Facebook page to make your donation by credit card. Or, you can fill in this 2019 Membership Application and Donation Appeal form and mail it in with a check.

Projected 2019 Income:

Projected 2019 Expenses:

Thank you for your continued support of the Lake St. Catherine Association.

UPDATE: All 2019 recommended water use restrictions have been lifted. - 7/18/19

In cooperation with Misha Cetner from the Vermont Department Of Environmental Conservation and SOLitude Lake Management (SLM), the Lake St. Catherine Association would like to inform the community that the lake will be treated for milfoil on Wednesday, July 10th, 2019.

On May 16th, biologists from SLM and our DASH suction harvesting team visited the lake to perform a milfoil survey. They have identified areas to be treated with the aquatic herbicide ProcellaCOR and areas to be suction harvested.

This season, the LSCA needed to apply for a new 5 year permit for milfoil treatment, which we did in December of 2018. This new permit was not approved by the state until 5/10/19. There was then a 30 day comment period, then a 30 day notice period, which set the treatment date at July 10th. We did all we could to try to maintain the schedule that we've had in the past, but that was unable to happen this year because of the approval delay.

5 areas, totaling 38.1 acres will be treated with the new herbicide: ProcellaCOR. As compared to the previous herbicide, Renovate, ProcellaCOR is highly selective to milfoil, much less is used during the application, and the water use restrictions are significantly reduced.

During and after the treatment, please be aware of the following lake water use restriction recommendations:

• NO USE of Lake St. Catherine waters and water from the outlet stream FOR ANY PURPOSE including boating, fishing, swimming, domestic (household) use or irrigation, the day of treatment on:

Wednesday, July 10, 2019, beginning at 9 am

• Swimming/wading, boating, fishing and domestic (household) use may resume on:

Thursday, July 11, 2019, beginning at 9 am

• USE of water from Lake St. Catherine FOR IRRIGATION PURPOSES including for watering lawns, trees, or other plants may resume on:

Wednesday, July 17, 2019, beginning at 9 am or earlier based on sampling results, please refer to the website below for results

Please refer to www.solitudelakemanagement.com/vermont for additional information and updated water use advisories and recommendations.

Along with the herbicide treatment, 15 areas, totaling up to 65.8 acres have been selected for DASH. DASH is an acronym for Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting. This process involves scuba divers using suction hoses powered by a surface compressor to selectively remove milfoil from the lake bottom. They will be working throughout the season to remove milfoil by the roots in these designated areas.

Here is a map of the treatment areas for ProcellaCOR and DASH:

Treatment Notice:

Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. The LSCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.

Links:

- LSCA Permit Application
- Draft Permit
- SePRO ProcellaCOR® EC Specimen Label
- SePRO ProcellaCOR® EC Safety Data Sheet

If you have any questions about the upcoming milfoil treatment, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.

Nicely done LSC - you did it again! Another creative and fun boat parade!

...and we were able to just sneak it in before that quick but powerful thunderstorm came through.

We had 22 boats registered this year, but there were a few no-shows and a few cancellations (probably due to the weather) - so we had 15 boats parading around the lake this year.

Thank you to all who participated, all who volunteered, all of our sponsors - and to everyone cheering from their boats or from the shore. We hope you all enjoyed the parade!

Now, let's get to the winners... The judges cards have been tallied, and here are the results:

Best Overall:

1st place: Boat #4 - Loon Pontoon, the Tardie family

2nd place: Boat #3 - The Water Wagon Returns, the O’Connell family

Most Original:

1st place: Boat #19 - Harry Potter Hogwarts, the Roth family

2nd place: Boat #6 - Gilligan’s Island, the Copeland family

Funniest:

1st place: Boat #9 - Let’s Get Flocked Up, the Dunbar family

2nd place: Boat #22 - LSC Floating Zoo, the Bagley family

Most Patriotic:

1st place: Boat #18 - Patriotic Boat, the Caswell family

2nd place: Boat #10 - 4th of July Fun on LSC boat number 10, the Bergner family

Boat Parade Video:

Again, thank you to all involved - we hope everyone enjoyed the parade this year!

Our sponsors:

• Lake St. Catherine Country Club
• Full Belly Deli of Poultney, VT
• New England Lakeside Realty Inc.
• Edwards Market
• The Wells Country Store
• Otto's Cones Point General Store
• The Gold Trout
• Pine Grove Diner
• The Barn Restaurant & Tavern
• The Pawlet Station
• Village Yarn Shop
• Rebecca J. Thomas, Inc. dba Country Horizon Realty
• MacDaddy's Car Hop
• Stewart's Shops
• Williams Hardware
• Wellsmere Farm
• CBH Business Services
• Everyday Flowers

Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.

Hello LSC.

We'd like to let you know about an upcoming workshop on installing infiltration steps at your lakeshore property. Infiltration steps minimize the potential for erosion and runoff. As a result, they prevent excess nutrients, sediments, and other pollutants from entering the lake.

On Wednesday, July 10th 2019, Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District will be partnering with Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) for an educational opportunity on infiltration step installation.

Photo Credit: awwatersheds.org

Justin Giebel, coordinator of the VYCC will be leading the installation and education of PMNRCD staff and any other interested parties.

This workshop will be taking place at 396 Cones Point Road, Poultney, VT at 9:30AM.

If interested in attending or installing steps through the PMNRCD LEAP Program, please contact Ashley Leemans, LEAP Coordinator at ashleemans@gmail.com.

You can learn more by reading this Vermont DEC Lake Wise publication on infiltration steps.

Hello LSC.

We'd like to invite you to the 2019 Lake St. Catherine Association Annual Meeting & Dinner at the Lake St. Catherine Country Club on Saturday, July 27th, beginning at 6 PM.

The LSCA Trustees will update you on lake issues, give you reports from their committees, and discuss current and future initiatives for the lake. The meeting will conclude with an open question and answer session - we'd like to hear from you!

At approximately 7:30, dinner will be served. If you'd like to stay for dinner, the LSC CC has provided the menu below.

Dinner options:

• $16.00 per person: Chicken Francaise, Baked Haddock, Pasta Dish, Cake, Coffee

• $26.00 per person: Prime Rib Dinner

Please RSVP for Dinner to get numbers for the chef: call Mary Jo Teetor, 802-287-5836 or ferncliff@comcast.net

We hope to see you there!

Good Sunday to you LSC fans.

We are less than two weeks away from the 7th Annual Boat Parade - and we are looking to register more boats to participate!

We'd like to thank our sponsors that have donated some EXCELLENT prizes for the winners this season.

Prizes have been donated by:

• Lake St. Catherine Country Club
• Full Belly Deli of Poultney, VT
• New England Lakeside Realty Inc.
• Edwards Market
• The Wells Country Store
• Otto's Cones Point General Store
• The Gold Trout
• Pine Grove Diner
• The Barn Restaurant & Tavern
• The Pawlet Station
• Village Yarn Shop
• Rebecca J. Thomas, Inc. dba Country Horizon Realty
• MacDaddy's Car Hop
• Stewart's Shops
• Williams Hardware
• Wellsmere Farm
• CBH Business Services
• Everyday Flowers

WOW!

Thank you to these local businesses for supporting the Boat Parade!

If you'd like to participate in the parade - and get your chance win one of these great prizes, please contact Kemi Mcshane at 802-342-8065 or k.mcshane56@gmail.com to register your boat.

The Town of Poultney's Summer Recreation program has a lot of activities to offer kids of all ages this year.

Activities include: outside adventures, nature exploration, craft camps, sports camps, theatre & make believe and kinder camp.

You can read all about the available activities on the Poultney Recreation website, or in their Poultney Summer Rec 2019 PDF brochure.

Also in the brochure, they are promoting events and activities for all ages taking place in Poultney this summer. Activities include events at the Poultney Public Library, at the Poultney Historical Society, on Lake St. Catherine and at Stone Valley Arts - and many more.

Finally, check out the all-day 4th of July celebration, beginning at 8AM on Thursday, July 4th with the Martin Devlin Memorial Fun Run and ending with fireworks at dusk. See the flyer below for more info.

Registration is underway for the Lake St. Catherine Association's 7th Annual Boat Parade!

Saturday, July 6th at 1 PM.

Sure, its fun to watch the Boat Parade... but it's even more fun to be in it!

[Overall 1st Place winner 2018: Lake St. Catherine Welcomes Back The 'Bald" Eagles - Pofit Family]

It's time to come up with some creative ideas for your boat theme or decorations... and your creativity will be rewarded.

How?

Fabulous prizes, of course!

Prizes are awarded for the top 2 boats in each of these categories:

• Most original
• Most patriotic
• Funniest
• Best overall

Plus, all kids that participate get a free ice cream coupon from Stewart's Shops!

To join in on the parade, please contact Kemi Mcshane at k.mcshane56@gmail.com, or call her at 802-342-8065 to register your boat today.

Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. The LSCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.

Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. The LSCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.