Hello LSC.

We want to make you aware of a decision made on February 15th by the Vermont Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) to pass rules to regulate wake boat use on certain public waters.

In March of 2022, a citizens group, "Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes" submitted a petition to the DEC proposing regulation of wake boat use on Vermont's lakes and ponds. You can see that petition here.

Their concerns in the petition included:

• Increased shoreline erosion from enhanced wakes
• Disturbance to lake bottom sediments creating turbidity, disrupting plants & fish habitat, & releasing phosphorus & other nutrients which can create algae blooms and reduce clarity
• Wakeboats can shred & uproot plants spreading aquatic invasive species
• Wakeboats can spread invasive species when moved between lakes
• Wakeboats create safety concerns, can damage docks and shoreland infrastructure

Based on this petition, the Vermont DEC held numerous public meetings, and in January of 2024, filed a draft rule to LCAR.

The DEC’s rule would allow wake boats to engage in wake sports on public waters under the following three conditions:

• On lakes, ponds, and reservoirs with a minimum of 50 contiguous acres that are 500 feet from shore on all sides and 20 feet deep (eligibility rule)
• Wake boats must be 500 feet from shore at all times while engaging in wake sports (operating rule)
• A wake boat must stay in one lake per calendar year unless boat is decontaminated by a DEC-approved entity (home lake rule)

Under this newly approved rule, wake boats can engage in wake sports on 30 inland lakes in Vermont, one of which is Lake St. Catherine.

This rule will be in effect for the 2024 boating season.

The DEC has provided preliminary maps for the 30 lake which show the wake sport zone, and you can see the LSC map here - also shown below.

The DEC will also be providing digital maps, via an app, that can be used on your phone to show your location on the lake using the phone's GPS - meaning cell service will not be needed to use the map and see your location on the lake.

Much more information will be forthcoming, but we wanted to make you aware of this new rule regulating wake boat use on Vermont lakes. The LSCA will be working over the spring and summer to educate boaters about this new regulation.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Hello to the good folks in the Lake St. Catherine community.

It's that time of year again... As the Lake St. Catherine Association heads into its 71st year, we are asking for your support for the 2024 season.

What does the LSCA do for Lake St. Catherine? Please check out our recently published 2023 Year In Review:

• Part 1: https://lakestcatherine.org/blog/13293804

• Part 2: https://lakestcatherine.org/blog/13293801

Your membership contributions and donations, along with allocations from the towns of Wells & Poultney, and grants earned from the state and the Lake Champlain Basin Program help us to fulfill our mission of the preservation, protection, and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine by helping to fund important lake programs and projects. Some of which include water quality improvement programs like Lake Wise, the LSC Stormwater Master Plan, and the Lake St. Catherine Watershed Action Plan, and our aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention and control programs like our Greeter, Vermont Invasive Patroller (VIP), and Milfoil Control Programs. You can learn all about these initiatives on our website: https://lakestcatherine.org

We have multiple membership levels available. These include memberships for cottage owners, business sponsors, and our Supporter Of LSC level for those of you who love LSC but are not a cottage owner (like family members of property owners, renters and those who use the lake for recreation).

There are two easy ways to renew or become a member of the LSCA.

Soon, you will be receiving a mailing from us that contains the 2024 Membership Form and a summary of our 2023 Year In Review. You can also download a copy by clicking here: 2024 Membership Form - Just print and fill out the form, then mail it in with your check to:

Lake St. Catherine Association
PO Box 631
Wells, VT 05774

Or, you can renew or become a member on our website. If you were a member in 2023, click here to renew: https://lakestcatherine.org/membership-renewal, or click here to become a new member: https://lakestcatherine.org/become-a-member - and you can pay your dues online with your credit card. If you were a member last year (whether you paid by check or online by credit card), the website has an account ready for you. If you don't remember your password, or have never logged in, please click here: https://lakestcatherine.org/Sys/ResetPasswordRequest to set or reset your password.

We'd also like to encourage you to check with your employer to see if they have an Employer Matching Gift Program for charitable donations. Many generous businesses will match donations made by their employees through these programs. So, take a look - you may be able to double your contribution!

Upon receiving your membership contribution, we’ll send you the 2024 membership package, which will include: your receipt, a '2024 Member' sticker for your LSCA window card (or a card & sticker for new members), a hand-written thank you note, and a beautiful 3" x 3" iron-on patch depicting one of our eagles overlooking beautiful Lake St. Catherine.

 

Our loon patch from last year was very popular, and we were so happy to see them on hats, shirts, and bags, and on display at your camp. We are happy to be able to create a new patch for 2024 - and we'd like to thank LSC camp owner Andrew Gioulis (VT Lake House) for again providing a fantastic design, which you can see below.

We are happy to report that in 2023, we had 395 paid members, which includes 16 Business Sponsors. The average contribution of our members was $203 - THANK YOU! Your membership dues and additional contributions over and above our base $100 membership level are crucial to funding our important lake programs. As always, we ask you to help us to spread the word by discussing the LSCA with your neighbors. We are hoping to get our membership to over 400 this year.

We will continue to work hard for Lake St. Catherine to earn your support.

Thank you for your support of the LSCA!

- The Trustees of the Lake St. Catherine Association

If you ever have any questions about your membership or Lake St. Catherine, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.

Hello LSC.

Check out this commentary in VT Digger from the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds (FOVLAP) entitled "Vermont’s Lake Associations - Preserving and Protecting Our Lakes and Ponds".

You can read an extended version of the commentary on FOVLAP's website.

Hello LSC.

At the end of each season, we like to take some time to recap the efforts of the Lake St. Catherine Association (LSCA) and our partners during the year. This work is performed on behalf of the lake community and our membership as we endeavor to fulfill our mission of the preservation, protection, and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine. 

What you’ll read below are short summaries of the projects and activities from 2023, but we encourage you to visit our website and click on our Blog to read more detailed accounts of all these efforts.

We’ve got a lot to tell you about, so please get comfortable, grab a hot cider, and read on for our 2023 Year In Review.

Membership

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the LSCA this year through memberships and donations! Your contributions are critically important to help fund our numerous lake management programs which you’ll read more about below. 

Our membership continues to grow - which shows that we have a great community of lake stewards who are invested in preserving, protecting, and maintaining beautiful Lake St. Catherine. As of this writing, we have 395 members who contributed a total of $77,791, giving us an average contribution of $203. While we did receive just slightly less than last year, we did surpass our 2022 total for active members.

Can we crack the 400 member mark next year? This will again be our goal as we continue to reach out to LSC property owners, and hope to expand our reach with membership levels for family members of property owners, renters, and those who use the lake for recreation.

We’d also like to thank camp owner Andrew Gioulis for his fantastic design of our 2023 Membership gift, this beautiful 3" x 3" iron-on patch depicting a loon scene from Lake St. Catherine. With this new patch, we are looking to start a bit of a new tradition in which members can collect these patches each year to display, or iron-on or sew onto a hat, shirt, bag, etc. We’ve just started working on the patch design for 2024.

We hope to earn your support next year as we launch our Membership Drive in early February of 2024.

Thank you for your support!

Volunteering Around Lake St. Catherine

We’d like to thank all of the volunteers that participated in the various lake related activities this season! Here is a quick summary of a few of the volunteer opportunities around Lake St. Catherine this year.

Green Up Vermont Day: Green Up Vermont Day is a state-wide volunteer cleanup day of Vermont's roads and waterways which takes place on the first Saturday in May. As Green Up Vermont's website says: "We know it isn’t your litter but Vermont needs our help to be beautiful!". Building on the success of our 2021 and 2022 efforts, we were able to organize volunteers to cover almost all the roads around Lake St. Catherine! On the morning of Green Up Day, volunteers met at the Wells Lakeside Park to kickoff the day with coffee and muffins from the Wells Country Store, thanks to the Town of Wells. Volunteers picked up Green Up Day trash bags, fueled up, and headed out to get to work. By the end of the day, the roads around the lake were cleaned up, and lined with filled Green Up Vermont trash bags. Thank you to the town crews from Wells and Poultney for picking up the bags. We’ll do it again in May!

Milfoil Cleanup Community Day: In early June, as part of our milfoil control efforts, the LSCA hosted a meeting at the Wells Lakeside Park on Little Lake. We discussed what Eurasian Watermilfoil (milfoil) is, what it does when introduced into a lake, and why we work to control it in Lake St. Catherine. We then outlined the milfoil control plans for the year, and we talked about what you can do to help to Stop The Spread of Milfoil in Lake St. Catherine. Because of the poor weather that day, we did not head out onto the lake for our usual cleanup day. However, throughout the rest of the season, volunteers placed detached milfoil and other plants on the designated float in the Channel, and we made numerous collection runs to remove the plants. Thank you to all the volunteers involved in this project! We’ll do it all again next year.

Also, in late August, the first Vermont Invasive Patroller (VIP) paddle was performed on Lake St. Catherine. Volunteers gathered at the boat launch in Wells, and performed a VIP paddle looking for aquatic invasive species. We’ll go into more detail on the VIP program at Lake St. Catherine a little later.

Lake St. Catherine Watershed Action Plan

In May of 2021, the LSCA earned a grant from the LCBP to help fund the creation of a Lake Watershed Action Plan (LWAP) for Lake St. Catherine.

From the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a Lake Watershed Action Plan is described as:

“Watershed planning helps address water quality problems in a holistic manner by fully assessing the potential contributing causes and sources of pollution, then prioritizing restoration and protection strategies to address these problems.”

In partnership with the PMNRCD, the LSCA will use this 3-year grant to create an LWAP for Lake St. Catherine. The $38,224 awarded by the grant will allow the LSCA to hire and partner with lake experts to perform various in-lake and watershed based measurements, testing, and studies to identify current or potential future issues and design a comprehensive, long-term plan to address them. The resulting plan will leverage current LSCA investments in water quality and pollution prevention, be driven by accepted best management practices, elevate under-assessed areas and gaps, and will identify issues, opportunities, and projects to guide locally-led water quality implementation work in the Lake St. Catherine watershed.

After many years of successfully managing individual lake programs which include: in-lake invasive species control (Milfoil Control Program), invasive species prevention (Greeter Program, VIP Program), and stormwater management (Lake Wise, SWMP), the LSCA is now poised to integrate these programs into a broader watershed plan with a focus on the prevention of pollutant loads (phosphorus, nitrogen, sediments) that enter into the Lake from sources outside the waterbody. The LSCA plans to use the success of these building blocks to expand its work in the watershed and focus on prevention for the future.

A Project Team led by Trustees of the Association will engage the following partners:

• Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District

• The Natural Sciences Department at Castleton University

• Fitzgerald Environmental

• Limnologist Emily Porter-Goff PhD from the Lamoille County Conservation District

• Lake community Stakeholders

Subsequent grants will be requested to implement as many projects as possible and create a culture worthy of emulation that positions Lake St. Catherine for future funding that rewards water quality improvements including phosphorus load reduction. These efforts will continue for the balance of the decade and be the most important contribution all those who love being at Lake St. Catherine can do to distinguish its future beauty and health.

Field work began in May, and will include assessment of current conditions in areas to include: in-lake, shoreline, roads & culverts, tributaries, wetlands, and forested land. The team will also evaluate and consider the characteristics and special needs of unique areas of the Lake like in our bays and channels - and everything in-between, from the Lily Pond, through the Big Lake & Little Lake, to Lake's End. The result will be a long-term lake management plan for Lake St. Catherine.

Presentation At Wells Village School

We'd like to thank the Wells Village School and Ms. Woodruff for inviting us to speak and give a presentation to the 6th grade class in early May as part of their Career Explorations day.

The students all had GREAT questions as we discussed conservation & protection of the lake, and how volunteerism plays a big part in that process.

Students also heard from Rutland District Senator Brian Collamore about his previous radio career, and his current work in the legislature.

Thanks again to the School and to the students who made it a great morning with their enthusiasm and attention!

Lay Monitoring - Water Testing

The LSCA has participated in the Vermont DEC's Lay Monitoring Program since its inception, and has assisted in collecting almost 40 years of water data on LSC. LSCA Trustees collect bi-weekly water samples from Big Lake and Little Lake from Memorial Day to Labor Day each season which are sent to the DEC for testing. The water is tested for phosphorus, clarity (secchi depth), chlorophyll-a (algae), and as of this year, caffeine. You can review the data from the Big Lake (since 1979) and Little Lake (since 2009) by visiting the Lay Monitoring Lake Water Quality Data website. When on this page, select 'Wells' from the 'Select Town' dropdown, and Big Lake and Little Lake data will be available to view.

Greeter Program - Boat Launch Monitoring

Our Greeter Program is very important to the health of Lake St. Catherine. Our Greeters have been trained to identify aquatic invasive species (AIS) - like spiny waterflea, asian clams, water chestnut, starry stonewort and zebra mussels - to stop them from entering LSC at the boat launch in Wells and the State Park in Poultney. They also educate boaters about the importance of looking for these invasives on their boat or trailer so they are not spread to LSC or another lake. Each year, they do a fantastic job checking vessels and educating the lake community on the dangers of invasive species for Lake St. Catherine. They are on duty from Memorial Day through Labor Day - working on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They also cover holidays and fishing tournaments.

In total, our Greeters inspected 1,149 boats this year at the boat launch in Wells, and at the State Park in Poultney. This is around 800 less than the number of vessels they inspected last year. Boat launches were down in 2023, most likely due to numerous rainy weekends this season.

Our Greeter Program is partially funded by a grant from the Vermont DEC, a grant from the LCBP and contributions from our membership. 

Thank you to our Greeter team! They work hard each season to keep AIS out of Lake St. Catherine.

Lake St. Catherine’s Eagles Have Three Eaglets!

Lake St. Catherine’s nesting pair of eagles had three eaglets in April! Over the course of the past several years, they have parented multiple groups of eaglets, so it was great to see babies in the nest again after they did not have any in 2022.

‘Territorial Pair’ Of Loons Observed On Lake St. Catherine

For several weeks in late May, lake resident Dawn Smith had been observing a pair of loons that were frequently active in the same area near her camp. Dawn was able to record activity by one of the loons that looked like nest building.

We sent this video to loon biologist Eric Hanson from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE), and he confirmed that the loons are performing nesting activity. Eric was here at Lake St. Catherine twice in July of 2022, once at our Libraries Love Lakes event, and then again at our Annual Meeting & Dinner. At the Annual Meeting, Eric gave a fantastic presentation about loons, which was recorded - and you can view that here: LSCA's 2022 Annual Meeting & Dinner. In 2021, Eric also rescued a sub-adult loon on Lake St. Catherine that had been caught up with a lure and fishing line. You can read about that here: https://lakestcatherine.org/blog/12107471

On May 27th, Eric loaded up loon nesting buoys and headed down from Crafstbury Vermont to the lake. We put 5 signs together and headed out to the site.

Although the loons had been performing nesting activity on the site over several days, there was no evidence of a nest yet, so we did not place the signs. So, now that our territorial pair have decided to nest, we'll need to keep an eye out to see if they attempt to nest at the initial site that they were observed at, or somewhere nearby in 2024. Based on this activity, we’ll work with Eric to place nesting platforms in the area to give them the best chance to nest next April after ice out. Thanks to Dawn for storing the signs at her camp!

Later in August, in partnership with VCE and Vermont Fish & Wildlife, we installed a collection tube provided by VCE at the boat launch in Wells to collect old lead tackle and monofilament fishing line.

Even a small lead split shot is 100 percent fatal if swallowed.

Every year lead tackle and discarded monofilament line kills aquatic wildlife, including loons, eagles, swans, geese, mammals, and other waterbirds, and nearly 50% of loon deaths from 1989-2022 in Vermont were caused by lead fishing gear, monofilament, and ingestion of hooks.

Our Greeters will inform boaters of the new collection tube, and we will monitor it throughout the year. VCE will make pickups and properly dispose of the collected lead and line.

Check your tackle box for old lead sinkers, tackle, and old fishing line, and drop it off in the tube!

Milfoil Control Control Program

Each season, the LSCA implements a Milfoil Control Program to keep milfoil in check in Lake St. Catherine using a combination of spot herbicide treatments and DASH (Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting).

The LSCA’s Milfoil Control Program consists of four components:

1. ‘Stop The Spread’ education and outreach. Our ‘Stop The Spread’ campaign educates boaters and property owners on best practices to limit the spread of milfoil. Each year, the LSCA holds a lake community meeting to discuss the control plan for the season, answer questions, and hand out a flyer with best practices for lake users to limit the spread of milfoil.

2. Volunteer milfoil cleanup. Throughout the season, we organize volunteers to collect detached floating milfoil from the lake and deposit it on our designated drop off platforms. The milfoil is then picked up from the platforms and disposed of. We also encourage boaters and property owners to remove any milfoil they see in the lake while boating or on their shoreline.

3. DASH - Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting. Our DASH crew suits up in scuba gear and hand-pulls milfoil by the roots from the lakebed. In sections of lower milfoil density, they will swim the area and hand-pull with mesh bags. In higher density areas, they will set up the DASH equipment which allows them to suction the hand-pulled milfoil up through a tube to a catch table on a boat. Milfoil is then placed in 17.5 gallon buckets for transport off the lake.

4. Herbicide spot treatments with ProcellaCOR EC. In order to maximize our DASH crew’s time, effectiveness, and number of acres covered, one of our control methods includes spot treatments with the herbicide ProcellaCOR EC (we did not perform a spot treatment in 2023).

Although not directly related to Milfoil Control, the LSCA's work on Lake Wise on LSC, the LSC Stormwater Master Plan, and the LSC Watershed Action Plan all help to limit phosphorus and other nutrients from entering the lake which can contribute to excessive plant growth, and improves overall water quality.

Our DASH crew started their work early in the summer by swimming and hand-pulling milfoil in less dense areas, and began full DASH operations on July 1st, and worked into September. Over this time, the DASH crew removed 1,057 (17.5 gallon) buckets of milfoil from the lake, covering just over 65 acres in 5 areas of the lake.

These efforts led to another successful year of milfoil control on Lake St. Catherine. Also, and just as importantly, we continue to see many species of our native aquatic plants that have been suppressed by milfoil growth like Water stargrass, Tape grass, Thin-leaf pondweed, Illinois pondweed, Common waterweed, and Robbins’ pondweed have all increased in frequency of occurrence. You can view our Aquatic Vegetation Management Reports dating back to 2001 here.

These results are exactly what we want to see!

Lake St. Catherine has over 30 native aquatic plants which are important and necessary to sustain a healthy lake ecology. Our efforts are focused on reducing the amount of milfoil in the lake so that these native aquatic plants can grow as they normally would. Keeping milfoil under control is helping to return the aquatic plant environment to conditions before milfoil was introduced in the 1970s. Because of our milfoil control efforts, we again have a complex and diverse native aquatic plant community.

In September, our contractor Arrowwood Environmental performed a comprehensive lake-wide aquatic vegetation survey taking place over several days to both evaluate the performance of our milfoil control efforts, and to assess the overall state of aquatic plants in Lake St. Catherine.

Back in 2001, 199 GPS points were plotted throughout Lake St. Catherine, and these points are evaluated for aquatic plants during each report. This is the 20th consecutive year a plant survey has been performed on Lake St. Catherine. You can see all the previous reports, dating back to 2001 in our Links & Downloads section.

The full report can be read here: 2023 - Aquatic Vegetation Management Report. We encourage you to take a few moments to read through the whole report.

In early May, the lake will again be surveyed for milfoil growth. Using the data collected during this survey, and the data from the fall survey, areas that need to be addressed will be identified, and a plan will be created. 

Sponsor Spotlight

We’d like to thank the 16 businesses who were LSCA Business Sponsors in 2022! 

Our $200 Business Sponsor membership includes a listing on the Sponsors page of our website, a listing in our spring and fall newsletters, and a Sponsor Spotlight in June on our website and Facebook pages.

Thank you: A-1 Sewer & Drain Service, A113 Productions, Aerus Water and Air Purification, Bird Dog Home Inspection, Catherine Capers, Haun Welding Supply, Lake St. Catherine Cottages, Lake St. Catherine Country Club, Merritt Environmental Consulting, New England Lakeside Realty, North Adams Sheet Metal, Inc., Rathbun's Maple Sugar House, Realty One Group Lakes & Homes, VT Lakehouse, Williams Hardware, Woodard Marine.

We’d also like to give a special thank you to the LSC Country Club for providing a discount to LSCA members by offering 10% discount off daily rates, and cart rentals at membership rates, and to Aerus Water and Air Purification who offered a free arsenic and bacteria test of your water.

If you’d like to become a Business Sponsor in 2024, please let us know!

Community Talks & Town to Trails Open House

The LSCA was happy to be asked to participate in the Poultney Comes Together Again: Community Talks & Town to Trails Open House which took place on June 16th at the Poultney High School. 

This was a great event! Lots of fantastic ideas for Poultney were shared - and lots of hard working local groups, including the LSCA, gave brief presentations about their work. It was great to see so many folks from the lake in attendance - it was great speaking with everyone.

Boating Safety Classes & Lake Safety

The LSCA was happy to be able to again provide free boating safety classes for those in the lake community who wanted to get their boating license. Anyone born after January 1st, 1974 must successfully complete an approved boating safety education course to legally operate any motorized vessel - including personal watercraft.

Frank Callahan, Trustee in charge of Boating Safety, conducted the 2 free courses - in June. 16 lake community members earned their boating safety education card. We hope to be able to offer these classes again in 2024. Keep an eye out for an announcement in the spring.

The LSCA also places and maintains no-wake zone and marker buoys throughout the lake. In 2023, the Lake Safety Committee deployed multiple new markers to replace the aging ones, and a few more will be replaced in 2024. Thank you to our ‘Buoy Buddies’ around the lake who assist us each year with the spring installation and fall removal of the markers and buoys.

We’d also like to thank our Game Warden Justin Turner who provided the lake community with six updates throughout the season - keeping us informed of Warden activity at the lake. Thanks Justin!

The Lake Wise Program

It was the 5th season for Lake Wise on Lake St. Catherine! 

Lake Wise is a program developed by Vermont’s Lakes and Ponds Program to recognize outstanding efforts by homeowners who live along a lakeshore to protect the water quality and habitat along the shoreline and within the near-shore area of the lake.

Stormwater has a widespread environmental impact which makes it a growing concern in Vermont. In a statewide effort, towns and local organizations are working to implement large scale projects to help clean stormwater before it enters water bodies. Work is being done from the headwaters all the way down to the stream outlets. Excess nutrients in the water contribute to problems which affect both human and wildlife health including; lower oxygen levels in the water, toxic algae blooms, and excessive plant growth.

This season, the LSCA again earned a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) to perform Lake Wise assessments, and to help property owners with projects on their land to mitigate stormwater runoff into the lake. The LSCA was happy to again partner with the Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District (PMNRCD) on this project.

The PMNRCD crew completed a tremendous amount of work in support of the Lake Wise Program this season. They were also able to leverage their Lake Education Action Program (LEAP) program, which pairs student and community lake education with the implementation of small planting projects for shoreline owners to increase the amount of projects completed.

20 properties were assessed (15 new and 5 re-assessments) and 15 Lake Wise projects were implemented (3 additional LEAP projects were also implemented). There were no award winners this season, but numerous properties came very close. With the guidance and assistance of the PMNRCD, these properties, and properties assessed in previous years, will have the opportunity to earn the award in the future.

Thank you to all the participants for the work they have put into their property in an effort to become Lake Wise. This work represents a model of what all LSC lakeshore owners should strive for, as these projects are both beautiful and lake friendly.

In July, at the DEC’s Lake Wise training which occurred at Lake St. Catherine, we learned that since the program's inception in 2014, 780 Lake Wise assessments have been performed, and 81 of those have taken place on Lake St. Catherine! That's over 10% of all the Lake Wise assessments in the State! This is a fantastic testament to the commitment of our lakeshore owners to work to preserve and protect beautiful Lake St. Catherine.

The LSCA would like to help other Lake St. Catherine property owners implement best practices to mitigate stormwater on their properties, and help them to earn the Lake Wise award. Including this season, approximately 100 properties have participated in the Lake Wise Program, and have at least received an initial assessment. If you would like to participate, or have your property reassessed, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.

In early December, we learned that we'd earned a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) for a Clean Water Small Implementation Grant for $18,952 for the 2024 Lake Wise Program! 

LSCA Receives Generous Land Donation

Back in August of 2021, the LSCA received a letter from someone who wanted to make a land donation to us to help support our mission for Lake St. Catherine. They said: "I am aware of the work the LSCA does in preserving Lake St. Catherine and hope this donation furthers your ability to continue that work."

After all associated costs from the sale of the property have been accounted for, the proceeds from this donation will total just over $42,000 dollars. Two of our trustees donated their professional time to minimize the expenses of LSCA related to this real estate transaction.

This donation will help to fund important water quality improvements like the creation of the Lake St. Catherine Watershed Action Plan, and the projects that will result from it.  

In addition, this large supplement to our cash reserve will help LSCA bridge the timing gap that often exists between the expenses incurred to preserve the lake and various municipal grants awarded for this purpose. Sometimes the timing gap is as long as one year. 

Please join us in thanking the donor (who wishes to remain anonymous) for this extremely generous donation which will greatly benefit Lake St. Catherine!

Click here to read Part II.

LSCA's 2023 Year in Review continued...

The 11th Annual LSCA Boat Parade

We had another great boat parade this year!

14 boats registered, 12 participated, and 177 people voted online for their favorite boats in our 4 categories: most patriotic, funniest, most original, best overall. 

Our winners were:

Most Patriotic:

Winner: Boat #3 - 4th of July / Fireworks - Joseph Cheslawski

Funniest:

Winner: Boat #11 - Sunnyside 5th Generation - Megan Caswell

Most Original:

Winner: Boat #1 - Unidentified Floating Object - The Goldman Family

Best Overall:

Winner: Boat #6 - Groovin On The Lake 2.0 - Christine & MIke Gay

Thank you to all who participated, to those who cheered from their boat and from the shore, and to everyone who voted! We are looking forward to our 12th year in 2024! Thanks to Karen Velsor for these excellent photos!

LSCA’s Annual Meeting & Dinner

The LSCA held our Annual Meeting & Dinner on Saturday, July 22nd, at the Lake St. Catherine Country Club. 

We had a packed house of approximately 100 attendees! It was great to see so many folks interested in preserving, protecting, and maintaining beautiful Lake St. Catherine. Thank you to all who were able to attend! We hope you enjoyed our guest speakers Pat Suozzi from FOVLAP and our Game Warden Justin Turner's presentations, our presentation, your dinner, and catching up with your lake neighbors. 

If you were unable to join us, you can view the full presentation on YouTube:

Lake St Catherine Association's Annual Meeting & Dinner - 7/22/23

If you have any questions about the presentation, or would like to share your feedback, please let us know - you can always reach us at info@lakestcatherine.org - and we'll get right back to you.

Thanks to the LSC Country Club and their staff for hosting us - and providing a wonderful dinner, Justin and Pat for their informative presentations, and our State and local government officials: Senators Collamore and Williams, Representative Chesnut-Tangerman, and Don Preuss from the Wells Select Board for joining us.

East Poultney Day

The theme for East Poultney Day this year was “Lakes, Mountains, and Summer” and focused on beautiful Lake St. Catherine!

We had our usual spot set up for the day on the green, and had great conversations with those in the lake community who stopped by our booth. It was great to see and speak with so many good folks who care so much about Lake St. Catherine.

We were also very happy to be asked to give a presentation at the event tent about Lake St. Catherine and the LSCA by the Poultney Historical Society. 

PEGTV was there to record the happenings at East Poultney Day, and our presentation was included in the video from the day, and you can watch that here: 88th East Poultney Day - August 12th, 2023.

Vermont Invasive Patrollers (VIP) Program

On August 19th, the first Vermont Invasive Patrollers (VIP) paddle took place on Lake St. Catherine. The focus of this program is early detection of aquatic invasive species (AIS) before they can become established in a waterbody.

From the DEC: The VIP program was established by the VTDEC in 2007 to focus on early detection of all known and potential aquatic invasive species (AIS). Although VIPs now emphasize aquatic invasive plants more broadly in their surveying efforts, they are trained to identify both aquatic invasive plants and animals that are either established in Vermont or in nearby states and pose the greatest threat to Vermont’s water bodies.

First - a THANK YOU to our participants: Kim, Gloria, Marcia, and Steve. We appreciate you all taking part in our first paddle - we hope you enjoyed it!

On this first introductory paddle, we used underwater viewers to find and identify many of our native plants, while keeping an eye out for invasive plants or animals around the boat launch. Patrolling the boat launch is a great place to kickoff this program, as it is a high-risk area for invasive species introduction.

We of course found some of our common natives like elodea, Robbins' pondweed, and white water lily, and the invasive eurasian watermilfoil.

But we also found some of our more interesting ones... we found:

• american eel-grass - with the female plants having a coiling stem which resembles a corkscrew

• watershield - which has floating, elliptical shaped leaves that have a clear jelly-like undercoating

• ribbon-leaf pondweed - which has two different leaf types: submerged long and slender grass like leaves and floating, elliptical leaves. 

As part of this Vermont DEC program, we filled out a report with our findings for the day.

We'll plan VIP paddles in 2024. If you enjoy paddling, and would like to learn more about LSC’s native plants, and help to keep an eye out for new invasive species, we hope you’ll join us. If you'd like to learn more about this new program on LSC, please visit the VIP page on our website: https://www.lakestcatherine.org/vermont-invasive-patrollers. Let us know if you’d like to participate next season by emailing us at info@lakestcatherine.org.

This is a GREAT addition to our invasive species control and prevention initiatives which includes our Greeter Program.

If you'd like to learn more about the interesting aquatic plants in LSC, check out the book "Aquatic Flora of Northern New England" by Donald J. Padgett. It contains great photos and descriptions of native (and invasive) aquatic plants that you'd find in LSC.

LSCA Marks 70th Anniversary

August 31st, 2023 marked the Lake St. Catherine Association's 70th anniversary!

A lot has changed over those 70 years, and the LSCA has evolved to meet new challenges over that time. As you’ll read below, the LSCA has updated its original stated purpose a few times as the needs of the lake have changed, and to focus on the responsibility of stewardship.

Back on August 31st, 1953, the founding Trustees of the Lake St. Catherine Association submitted our Articles of Association with the stated purpose of “…encouraging, and promoting the development and beautifying of the grounds, cottages, beaches and roads of privately owned homes and cottages on or near Lake St. Catherine...”

On August 28th, 1980, the LSCA’s Trustees submitted an Amendment of Articles of Association to update our purpose. It was changed to “The purpose of this corporation is the promotion of the common good, general welfare and civic betterment of the Lake St. Catherine community by restoring and maintaining the quality of Lake St. Catherine, a public body of water, and the surrounding area, for the benefit of all those people who visit and use the lake and for the benefit of the total environment of all people.”

Then on July 30th, 2011, the LSCA’s Trustees submitted another Amendment of Articles of Association which updated our purpose to what it is today, and instituting our 501c3 non-profit status: “The purpose of this corporation is to be a public charity to receive donations, grants or contributions and to utilize its income and assets for the preservation, protection, and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine, a public body of water in the State of Vermont, and its environs.”

What started in 1953 as a well-intentioned group of folks promoting the beautification of the grounds of Lake St. Catherine has evolved into an association of dedicated volunteers planning for the long-term future and health of the lake.

As we acknowledge this occasion, we also reflect back to think of those who started this great organization. We sincerely hope that they would be proud to see what the Association has grown into.

So, as we mark our 70th anniversary, cheers to those founding members of the LSCA, to those who have served in the past, and to our current 15 Trustees who continue to work to preserve, protect, and maintain beautiful Lake St. Catherine!

Dockside Chats

Dockside Chats began in 2020 as a way to have safe, face-to-face interactions with members around LSC to discuss lake related issues during COVID. We invited lake residents to schedule a Dockside Chat with a LSCA Trustee who would meet you at your dock to chat about the lake. These were again very popular in 2022, so we continued the program this year. 7 Dockside Chats were scheduled this year. Let us know if you’d like to get a chat scheduled for next season by emailing us at info@lakestcatherine.org.

Lake St. Catherine Stormwater Master Plan

In 2018 and 2019, extensive field work by the PMNRCD and Fitzgerald Environmental Associates took place in the LSC watershed. The goal was to identify sources of increased stormwater runoff and associated sediments and nutrients flowing into the lake. Phosphorus reducing projects are of particular importance given the water quality concerns within the watershed. The work involved identifying sources of stormwater, prioritizing sources based on various environmental, economic, and social criteria, and designing projects to mitigate those sources. This resulted in the creation of the Lake St. Catherine Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP). 50 potential sites were identified, and as of today, 6 projects have been implemented. Projects have recently been completed on Quinn Cove and Ferncliff Road.

In 2022, we were informed that we had earned part of a $100k grant being administered by the PMNRCD from the LCBP. $50,000 of this grant will be used directly for Lake St. Catherine to design Stormwater Master Plan Projects on LSC. The goal of this grant is to develop 10-12 projects identified in the Lake St. Catherine Stormwater Master Plan to be ready for implementation and submitted to our region’s Clean Water Service Provider for funding. 

Our Project Team, consisting of the LSCA, PMNRCD, Fitzgerald Environmental, and local partners, identified a list of the remaining high and medium priority projects and presented those to the lake community at a meeting at the Wells Town Hall in September. 12 projects from the SWMP were selected by attendees and will move ahead into the design phase. They include projects on: Clayton Tract, RT 30 (near Cluckin’ Chicken), the end of Cones Point Road, Lochlea Lane, West Lake Road, (south of the Lighthouse), West Lake Road (near Idylwild), Channel Drive, and a grouping of issues on Ferncliff Road. This was an extremely productive meeting, and we thank all attendees for your participation, input and enthusiasm to make this project a success!

Fitzgerald Environmental will now develop 30% conceptual designs to address these issues. Included with the conceptual designs will be detailed budget estimates, anticipated permitting needs, and preliminary landowner agreements or letters of interest. 

You can read more about the SWMP, and view an interactive map with the identified sites by visiting our Stormwater Master Plan page.

LSCA & PMNRCD Interviewed For Public Affairs Show Catamount Community Connection

The LSCA was happy to be asked to participate in a public affairs show hosted by Senator Brian Collamore called Catamount Community Connection. This edition featured an interview with the Lake St. Catherine Association (LSCA) and Poultney Poultney Mettowee Natural Resource Conservation District (PMNRCD) and it aired the morning of October 1st, on 98.1 WJJR Rutland.

Jerremy Jones from the LSCA and Hilary Solomon from the PMNRCD had a great discussion with Senator Collamore about the projects and programs our organizations are working on, and how we are working together on numerous preservation and protection initiatives for the lake and the Lake St. Catherine watershed.

Thank you to Senator Collamore and to Catamount Radio for this opportunity to speak about these important topics for the lake community and all in the Poultney Mettowee conservation district.

You can listen to it here on YouTube: Catamount Community Connection - WJJR - October 1st, 2023.

LSCA Newsletters

Our traditional Spring and Fall newsletters were posted digitally on our website, and printed copies were made available at Wellsmere Farm in Wells (thanks Michelle!). If you missed them when they were released, you can read them here:

• Spring Newsletter

• Fall Newsletter

Keeping You Up-To-Date Via Our Website & Facebook Pages

When we have Lake St. Catherine news, we like to inform the lake community as soon as possible by posting it on our website Blog, and on our Facebook page. So, keep an eye on these sites for all the latest information on LSC. We also send out news summaries via email updates to our members who have shared their email with us - so please be sure to provide your email address when you become a member!

• Website: https://lakestcatherine.org

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LakeStCatherineAssociation

If you are not a Facebook user, you can still view our Facebook posts on the homepage of our website.

Grants - Working To Bring Funding To Lake St. Catherine

The LSCA has been working hard throughout 2023 to bring grant funds to Lake St. Catherine for 2024.

In July, we learned that the Libraries Love Lakes initiative at Lake St. Catherine will continue. Based on the FANTASTIC ideas and grant proposal created by Wells Village Librarian Gina Ellis, the Lake St. Catherine Association and the Wells Village Library were awarded an Education & Outreach grant for $20,360 by the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) for a series of initiatives and events in support of Libraries Love Lakes!

Libraries Love Lakes is an outreach project which pairs school and public libraries with lake scientists to provide collaborative programming emphasizing the importance of lakes in our everyday lives.

Last year, the inaugural Libraries Love Lakes event took place on July 3rd at the Wells Lakeside Park. Nine presenters offered opportunities for stewardship-based, hands-on, lake-related learning, and families were given lake-themed kits that included numerous books and activities. Boat tours were also provided to get attendees out on the lake to learn more about beautiful Lake St. Catherine. This effort also led to the creation of a new section in the Wells Village Library called "The Lake St. Catherine Collection."

This new Libraries Love Lakes project is entitled: "Libraries Love Lakes II: Conveying an Understanding of How Lake St. Catherine Fits to the Broader Watershed in order to Promote Inter/Intra-Community Collaboration and Sound Stewardship," and it is chock-full of fun and educational activities!

Libraries Love Lakes II includes:

• The creation of an interactive watershed model of Lake St. Catherine

• The creation of a Lake St. Catherine mascot through community participation

• Expanding "The Lake St. Catherine Collection" at the library

• Four seasonal themed, hands-on, fun & educational events for winter, spring summer & fall, which will include a larger summer event at the Lake St. Catherine State Park

Work on this project will begin in December, with the first event based on the winter theme taking place in February 2024.

As you read earlier, in early December, we learned that we earned a grant for $18,592 for the 2024 Lake Wise Program from the LCBP, which will be our 6th year for Lake Wise on Lake St. Catherine.

We will also be applying for a grant from the State of Vermont for AIS prevention and control to help fund our Greeter and Milfoil Control Programs, and an Organizational grant from the LCBP to purchase water testing equipment. This new equipment will allow us to take additional and constant water readings, along with macroinvertebrate monitoring. This data, along with the Lay Monitoring data from the State, will be analyzed and reported on by our limnologist. We’ll let you know how we do!

Thank You For Your Support!

Finally, thank you to all those in the lake community who showed their support of the LSCA in 2023 by being a member, or making a donation, or volunteering, or participating in Lake Wise, or attending meetings, or helping to clean up milfoil - there are so many ways we can all contribute! We hope you found our efforts in 2023 for Lake St. Catherine to be worthy of that support.

2024 is going to be another busy year, and LSCA Trustees are hard at work getting ready. 

Be on the lookout for our Membership Drive which will begin in early February. We hope to earn your support so we can continue to all work together to preserve, protect, and maintain beautiful Lake St. Catherine.

Happy Holidays, and we’ll see you at the lake soon,

- The Trustees of The Lake St. Catherine Association

Good afternoon LSC.

Hot off the press, we have some great news about Lake Wise on Lake St. Catherine for 2024!

We've just learned that we've earned a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) for a Clean Water Small Implementation Grant for $18,952 for the 2024 Lake Wise Program!

Lake Wise is a program developed by Vermont’s Lakes and Ponds Program to recognize outstanding efforts by homeowners who live along a lakeshore to protect the water quality and habitat along the shoreline and within the near-shore area of the lake.

Thank you to LCBP and NEIWPCC for helping to fund our 6th year of Lake Wise on LSC!

...and THANK YOU to our partner the Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District (PMNRCD) for their continued great work and dedication to this program for Lake St. Catherine!

2022 Lake Wise Award Winners - Steve & Marcia Turcina (and neighbor dog Boone)

If you would like to participate in this fantastic program, or have your property reassessed in 2024, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org to reserve your spot - spots will fill up quickly.

This program is FREE to property owners. PMNRCD will make project recommendations to you based on their assessment, and will work to implement the projects you select from those recommendations.

You can read all about the Lake Wise Program on LSC on our website here: https://lakestcatherine.org/lake-wise-program, including an interactive map showing the Lake Wise properties around LSC.

Email us to get on the list for 2024.

Thank you!

The Lake St. Catherine Association would like to thank the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) and the State of Vermont's Aquatic Nuisance Control (ANC) Grant-In-Aid Program for helping to partially fund important components of our aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention and control programs which include our newly launched Vermont Invasive Patrollers (VIP) Program, our Greeter Program, and our Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH) Program.

Vermont Invasive Patrollers (VIP) Program

The VIP program was established by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in 2007 to focus on early detection of all known and potential aquatic invasive species before they can become established in a waterbody. Early detection is vital to protecting Lake St. Catherine from harmful invasive plants and animals. Volunteers participating in the VIP Program will monitor Lake St. Catherine for new introductions of invasive species and report their findings to the DEC. If a new invasive is discovered, the DEC will dispatch a team and work with the LSCA to organize an effort to remove it from the lake.

In late August, members of the LSCA and 4 volunteers performed the first VIP paddle at the boat launch in Wells. On this first introductory paddle, we used underwater viewers (purchased as part of the LCBP grant) to find and identify many of our native plants, while keeping an eye out for invasive plants or animals around the boat launch. Patrolling the boat launch is a great place to kickoff this program, as it is a high-risk area for aquatic invasive species introduction. 

We'll perform more VIP paddles in 2024. We hope you'll join us - it was a lot of fun! If you'd like to learn more about this new program on LSC, please visit the VIP Program page on our website to learn more.

Greeter Program - Boat Launch Monitoring

Our Greeter Program is very important to the health of Lake St. Catherine. Our Greeters have been trained to identify aquatic invasive species - like spiny waterflea, asian clams, water chestnut, starry stonewort and zebra mussels - to stop them from entering LSC at the boat launch in Wells and the State Park in Poultney. They also educate boaters about the importance of looking for these invasives on their boat or trailer so they are not spread to LSC or another lake. Each year, they do a fantastic job checking vessels and educating the lake community on the dangers of invasive species for Lake St. Catherine. They are on duty from Memorial Day through Labor Day - working on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They also cover holidays and fishing tournaments.

In total, our Greeters inspected 1,149 boats this year at the boat launch in Wells, and at the State Park in Poultney. This is around 800 less than the number of vessels they inspected last year. Boat launches were down in 2023, most likely due to numerous rainy weekends this season.

Milfoil Control Program

Each season, the LSCA implements a Milfoil Control Program to keep milfoil in check in Lake St. Catherine using a combination of spot herbicide treatments and DASH (Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting).

The LSCA’s Milfoil Control Program consists of four components:

1. ‘Stop The Spread’ education and outreach. Our ‘Stop The Spread’ campaign educates boaters and property owners on best practices to limit the spread of milfoil. Each year, the LSCA holds a lake community meeting to discuss the control plan for the season, answer questions, and hand out a flyer with best practices for lake users to limit the spread of milfoil.

2. Volunteer milfoil cleanup. Throughout the season, we organize volunteers to collect detached floating milfoil from the lake and deposit it on our designated drop off platforms. The milfoil is then picked up from the platforms and disposed of. We also encourage boaters and property owners to remove any milfoil they see in the lake while boating or on their shoreline.

3. DASH - Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting. Our DASH crew suits up in scuba gear and hand-pulls milfoil by the roots from the lakebed. In sections of lower milfoil density, they will swim the area and hand-pull with mesh bags. In higher density areas, they will set up the DASH equipment which allows them to suction the hand-pulled milfoil up through a tube to a catch table on a boat. Milfoil is then placed in 17.5 gallon buckets for transport off the lake.

4. Herbicide spot treatments with ProcellaCOR EC. In order to maximize our DASH crew’s time, effectiveness, and number of acres covered, one of our control methods includes spot treatments with the herbicide ProcellaCOR EC (we did not perform a spot treatment in 2023).

Although not directly related to Milfoil Control, the LSCA's work on Lake Wise on LSC, the LSC Stormwater Master Plan, and the LSC Watershed Action Plan all help to limit phosphorus and other nutrients from entering the lake which can contribute to excessive plant growth, and improves overall water quality.

Our DASH crew started their work early in the summer by swimming and hand-pulling milfoil in less dense areas, and began full DASH operations on July 1st, and worked into September. Over this time, the DASH crew removed 1,057 (17.5 gallon) buckets of milfoil from the lake, covering just over 65 acres in 5 areas of the lake.

These vitally important programs for Lake St. Catherine are partially funded through grants earned by the LSCA from the LCBP and the State, with the majority of the funding coming through generous donations and membership dues from the lake community.

THANK YOU to the LCBP, the State, and all those who have contributed to the LSCA this season to help make these programs a success.

Hello LSC.

We'd like to take some time today to inform you about some recent activity in the Vermont Legislature that could have an impact on the Lake St. Catherine Association's Milfoil Control Program.

As you may be aware, the Vermont legislature has created an Aquatic Nuisance Control Study Committee with the passing of Act 57 (H.31). From the Act 57 Committee’s website:

"The Aquatic Nuisance Control Study Committee was created to assess the environmental and public health effects of the use of pesticides, chemicals other than pesticides, biological controls, and other controls in comparison to the efficacy of their use in controlling aquatic nuisances recommendations regarding whether and when pesticides, chemicals other than pesticides, or biological controls should be used to control aquatic nuisances in Vermont in a report to the VT General Assembly on or before December 15, 2023."

As introduced, the intent of H.31 was to institute a 'moratorium' on pesticide use  (notably carving out an exception to allow lampricide use to control lampreys in Lake Champlain), along with the creation of a study committee to summarize pesticide use, safety, effectiveness, use recommendations, and impact on non-target species.

Many lake associations, including the LSCA, the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds (FOVLAP), and the DEC testified against this bill which looked to eliminate one of the safe and effective tools available to control Eurasian watermilfoil (milfoil, EWM).

Thankfully, the 'moratorium' was removed, but the scope of the study committee was expanded, and the bill was passed. The study committee will now additionally look at the existing Vermont statute permitting herbicide use (10 V.S.A. § 1455), and make recommendations for changes, if any. Study committee members include representatives from the DEC, Fish and Wildlife, Department of Health, a UVM Aquatic Biologist, a UVM Public Health Expert, and a member from the State House and State Senate. 

Members of the LSCA have been attending the public meetings of the study committee, and we have submitted comments to them. We urged them to consider the tremendous amount of volunteer effort put forth by lake associations like the LSCA, as we work to preserve, protect, and maintain Lake St. Catherine and Vermont's lakes and ponds for all Vermonters and our visitors through our aquatic invasive species prevention control efforts, and our numerous water quality improvement projects. We asked that changes they propose, if any, to the already rigorous permitting process, will be based on the facts and the science, and not by those who seek to influence the process by providing misleading and false information, and that lake associations continue to have access to regulated, safe, and effective use of herbicides as a tool to maintain control of Eurasian watermilfoil in infested waterbodies.

As mentioned above, there has been a lot of misinformation about milfoil, ProcellaCOR, and the permitting process in online postings, newspaper commentaries, and during testimony given during the H.31 hearings.

So, we'd like to share a few publications and webpages with you which deal directly with this recent misinformation, while also providing fact-based information about milfoil, milfoil control, ProcellaCOR, and the permitting process. We hope you will give them a few minutes of your time.

1. Vermont DEC White Paper: "Permitting Aquatic Herbicide Projects in Vermont"

The Vermont DEC describes that the purpose of this document is to:

• Provide background information about DEC’s Aquatic Nuisance Control (ANC) permitting program, with a specific focus on aquatic herbicide projects;
• Identify some of the recent findings related to ProcellaCOR; and 
• Provide a Q&A section on this topic reflecting common questions that DEC receives about our ANC permitting program

2. Vermont DEC Presentation: "ANC Permitting 101"

This presentation goes into great detail about the lengthy and rigorous process lake associations like the LSCA goes through to apply for a permit, what it takes to receive a permit, and what conditions and reporting requirements are included in approved permits. It also discusses the ongoing work that is needed on a yearly basis after the permit is approved.

3. Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds Webpage: "Eurasian watermilfoil"

This new webpage from FOVLAP talks about what milfoil is, what it does when it's introduced into a lake, prevention and early detection, control, and an FAQ section which deals directly with recent misinformation on milfoil, ProcellaCOR, and the permitting process you may have come across online or in newspaper commentaries.

4. Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds White Paper: "The Case for an Accessible Path for Vermont Lake Associations to Use ProcellaCOR to Control Invasive Milfoil"

This white paper was recently submitted to the Act 57 study committee. We thank FOVLAP for their work on this document as they make the case that the permitting application and review process remains rigorous but without unjustified new burdens. 

An increasing share of the burden of preserving Vermont’s lakes and ponds falls on the volunteer associations, who must address a host of challenges to ensure the protection and the long-term health of these vital Vermont aquatic resources. Currently, management of invasive milfoil is Vermont’s most pressing AIS problem. The current regulations governing this management provides a means to manage milfoil with a high but sustainable cost and with a bearable permitting burden.

Ongoing action is needed to care for and protect Vermont lakes and ponds from the threat of milfoil and other AIS. The Act 57 Study Group’s recommendations for changing herbicide use permit regulations should carefully consider the concerns of the volunteer organizations who are passionately devoting time and resources to milfoil management. The State of Vermont has the statutory responsibility to preserve the public waters of the state. This common goal leads to a vital partnership between the State and the associations. An effective partnership can improve lake health, avoid loss of lakeshore property values, and continue to attract the robust tourist economy that Vermont lakes and ponds provide.

If the Act 57 Study Committee findings result in a delay or in significant changes to the permitting process that make the process yet more complex and burdensome, many milfoil infested lakes with active, successful, long term management programs (like Lake St. Catherine) could be negatively impacted, as they seek ANC permit renewals for ProcellaCOR. There would be similar negative impacts to those lakes that will, out of necessity, newly seek herbicide permits to control growing infestations.

We ask that you take some time to read through these resources. If you'd then like to take a step to help support the LSCA, and other lake associations that are working to control milfoil infestations, please consider writing in to the study committee to show your support of the LSCA, and let them know that lake associations should continue to have access to regulated, safe, and effective use of herbicides as a tool to maintain control of Eurasian watermilfoil. Comments can be sent to the study committee by sending them to this address: anr.wsmdlakes@vermont.gov with 'Act 57 Study Committee' in the subject line.

As mentioned above, the study committee's report is due on December 15th.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us, we'd be happy to discuss these issues with you. Email us at: info@lakestcatherine.org.

Thank you for your support of the LSCA!

Hello LSC.

As you may have heard, back on Saturday. September 30th, someone completely destroyed the Welcome to Lake St. Catherine sign, and a memorial slate plaque for Martin Greenberg at the bottom of North Street.

A plaque was placed there in memory of Martin when he passed away in December of 2018. Unfortunately, Martin's plaque was also completely destroyed.

LSCA Trustee John Belnavis reached out to Sheldon Slate, who produced the plaque for us back in 2018, and they were able to recreate it for us:

We'd like to thank Sheldon Slate, and especially Pete & Karen, for reproducing Martin's plaque, and for very kindly donating to the LSCA.

THANK YOU!

You can read more about Martin, and his contributions to Lake St. Catherine and the LSCA here: "Longtime LSCA Trustee Martin Greenberg Passes Away".

The LSCA is currently working on designs for a new sign. We'll share those with you when we are a bit further along in the process.

You can read more about the hit and run destruction of the sign here. Based on reported observations, it happened between 7:30 AM and 8 AM on the morning of September 30th. Based on parts left behind, the car was a blue 2000-2005 Toyota RAV4, which would have parts missing from its front bumper. If you have any additional information you can provide, please let us know.

Our Game Warden Justin Turner sent us this final summer update about Game Warden patrols at the lake to pass along to the lake community. He has been providing updates throughout the season, and this is his sixth and final update for the season.

We thank Justin for his work, and providing these updates to the lake community!

Justin's Report:

"Game Wardens conducted approximately 100 vessel inspections on the lake this summer, the majority of which resulted in a pass and a sticker. To date, there were not any boating incidents that required an immediate response. One arrest was made for boating while intoxicated. The majority of violations were addressed with a warning and education, and significantly less were addressed with civil tickets.

The State Park was busy with campers and call volume for complaints was nearly nonexistent.

The brown trout fishing seemed to pick up as summer came to an end, with the occasional lake trout hitting the net. If you’re going to be out targeting brown trout during the “frost bite” season or any other target species for that matter, please remember your safety equipment. Life jackets save lives.

The LSC patrol boat will remain ready and operable for the coming weeks. As the local Warden, it was nice to meet many people on the water and I look forward to seeing you all next summer, if not sooner. As always, please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Lastly, as deer season is upon us, if you witness a wildlife crime or see poaching activity, please do not hesitate to contact Warden Turner directly at 802-595-8754 or through Vermont State Police dispatch at 802-722-4629. In the event you wish to remain anonymous, you can call the toll-free hotline: 1-800-75-ALERT (1-800-752-5378). The toll-free hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to report wildlife violations or visit this link if you wish to remain anonymous via online submission:

https://vtfishandwildlife.com/hunt/hunting-regulations/operation-game-thief

Thank you and be safe."

Thank you to Justin for working to keep us all safe on the lake, and for providing these updates throughout the season!

You can read more about boating rules, and how to contact Justin on our Lake Safety page here: https://lakestcatherine.org/lake-safety