For the preservation, protection, and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine
Today, we and the Poultney Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District were very happy to host Lake Shoreland Coordinator Alison Marchione from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation at Lake St. Catherine as Alison conducted a Lake Wise training.
All these fine folks were learning how to perform Lake Wise assessments for Lake St. Catherine, and other local lakes.
Thank you Alison, and all the trainees!
Lake Wise is a DEC program that works with lake property owners to help make their shoreline lake friendly.
If you would like to participate in Lake Wise this season, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org - we have a few spots left!
Finally, a cool stat that we learned today... 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.
Please consider signing up! Learn more here: https://lakestcatherine.org/lake-wise-program
This Lake St. Catherine Association project is made possible by a grant earned from the Lake Champlain Basin Program & NEIWPCC, and is partially funded by the US EPA. The LSCA has again earned a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to perform Lake Wise assessments and implement projects for 2023.
Good evening LSC, we hope you are dry and safe this evening.
Our Game Warden Justin Turner sent us this update about Game Warden patrols at the lake through the 4th of July weekend to pass along to the lake community. He will be providing updates throughout the season, and this is his third update.
We thank Justin for his work, and providing these updates to the lake community!
Justin's Report:
“Game Wardens conducted efforts leading into the 4th of July weekend to include evening patrols. On Saturday July 1st Wardens made an arrest for boating while intoxicated.
Throughout patrols Wardens continue to address wake violations, unregistered motorboats, personal flotation device violations, and operation of jet skis after sunset.
As a reminder, the operation of personal watercraft (aka jet ski) is prohibited between sunset and sunrise. Here is a link that that statute, Vermont title 23 V.S.A. 3312a; https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/029/03312a
During every patrol Wardens are issuing safety inspection stickers to multiple boats for having all the required safety equipment, valid registration, boaters’ safety card, etc. Stay safe and keep enjoying the lake!”
Thank you to Justin for working to keep us all safe on the lake, and for providing these updates.
You can read more about boating rules, and how to contact Justin on our Lake Safety page here: https://lakestcatherine.org/lake-safety
Finally, Justin will be one our guest speakers at the LSCA's Annual Meeting & Dinner on July 22nd at 6 PM at the LSC Country Club. You can click here to RSVP, and reserve a dinner: https://lakestcatherine.org/event-5329309 - please join us!
Hello LSC, we have more exciting news to share with you today!
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.
We'll keep you up-to-date as this project progresses!
On Saturday, June 24th, the Lake St. Catherine Association held their second meeting of the 2023 season.
Attendance: Jim Canders, Jerremy Jones, Mary Jo Teetor (Online), Kemi McShane (Online), Frank Callahan, Ed Laird, Mike Gay (Online), Sue Williams (Online), Lisa Micich, John Belnavis. Absent: Bob Williams, Rob Nesbit, Jeff Crandall, Mark Shea, Nancy Liberatore
Guests: None
Call to Order: President Jim Canders called the meeting to order at 8:35.
Public Comment: None.
Approval of Meeting Minutes: Minutes of May 27, 2023 posted. Motion to accept the minutes as presented, made by Frank, seconded by Lisa. All in favor, so moved.
Treasurer’s Report: Mary Jo Teetor, MJ outlined 2023 income and expenditures, Lake Wise payment to PMNRCD, DASH contract, Arrowwood and limnologist contracts, and discussed completed land sale. Jerremy will draft an announcement. Motion to accept the Treasurer's Report as presented made by Frank, and seconded by John. All in favor, so moved.
Annual Meeting: John Belnavis, John outlined the plan for the CC and the Annual Meeting. Dinner choices will be chicken piccata, baked haddock, prime rib. CC can support up to 80 dinners, need to have count by the Friday before meeting. John suggested $375 for facility fee to the CC. Motion made by John, seconded by Lisa, All in favor, so moved. Guest speakers mentioned were Pat Suozzi from FOVLAP, our Game Warden Justin Turner. Also discussed reaching out to town boards and legislators. Jerremy will reach out, start on presentation. There was also a brif discussion about the LSCA's upcoming presentation at East Poultney Day.
Milfoil Management: DASH team report was read, They began hand-pulling near the State Park, will be ready to start full DASH operations on July 1. They will start on areas identified in the May survey as moderate density - North Bay and the Channel.
Boat Launch Greeter Program: John Belnavis, John reported that he had some initial issues with staffing, but now has a good crew in place. Lots of floating milfoil in the channel. Discussed Arrowwood taking over the plant survey, and will use SOLitude's existing GPS points.
Water Quality: May Jo Teetor, lay monitoring bi-weekly. Also discussed limnologist Emily Porter-Goff’s presentation and recommendations for water testing. Discussed gradual increase in water clarity since 1998 from DEC charts.
Publicity: Jerremy Jones, Jerremy reported about recent appearances at the Town 2 Trails open house at Poultney High School, and the Milfoil Control meeting at the Wells Lakeside Park. Keeping the website and Facebook pages up-to-date with all the latest news.
Lake Safety: Frank Callahan & Mike Gay, new buoys are being placed, with a few left to put out. Frank spoke about the first boating license class, the second one is happening next week.
Nominating Committee: The 5 trustees whose terms end in 2023 all indicated that they would serve another term: Jim, Jeff, Jerremy, Sue, Bob.
Membership: Jerremy Jones, 350 members, getting closer to our goal of 400. Nudge postcards will be sent to those who have been members in the past but not yet renewed for 2023.
Grants / Government Relations: Discussed continued work on grants. Quarterly reports will be due in early July.
New & Old Business: Discussed East Poultney Day & and our presentation, boat parade signups are low, upcoming Lake Wise training at LSC - DEC to drop off award plaques for 2022 winners, Libraries Love Lakes grant earned in partnership with Wells Village Library, upcoming permit renewal, our Game Warden's new weekly updates to the lake community, the upcoming DEC wake boat meetings on the draft rule,
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 10:20, seconded and all in favor, so moved.
Next meeting: July 22, 2023 at 8:00 AM LSC CC, followed by the Annual Meeting & Dinner later that evening at 6 PM.
Meeting minutes compiled by Kemi McShane & Jerremy Jones.
The results are in, and after 177 votes, here are your winners of the LSCA's 11th Annual Boat Parade:
Most Original: Boat #1 - Unidentified Floating Object - The Goldman Family
Most Patriotic: Boat #3 - 4th of July / Fireworks - Joseph Cheslawski
Funniest: Boat #11 - Sunnyside 5th Generation - Megan Caswell
Best Overall: Boat #6 - Groovin On The Lake 2.0 - Christine & Mike Gay
THANK YOU to all our participants - fantastic creativity all around, and to Karen Velsor for the photos!
If you enjoyed the boat parade, please consider becoming a member of the Lake St. Catherine Association to support our work for the benefit of LSC. We have multiple membership levels for you. You can learn more about becoming a member here: https://lakestcatherine.org/become-a-member
Thank you, and have a safe and fun 4th of July weekend!
Hello LSC - we hope you enjoyed the 11th Annual Boat Parade!
Cast your vote: https://forms.gle/F6jiLGU491d2CHXe6
THANK YOU to all the participants! Your enthusiasm and creativity was fantastic!
...and thank you to Karen Velsor for all these fantastic photos!
The poll will be open until 9 PM.
Hello LSC, we have some very exciting news to share with you today. Back in August of 2021, we received a letter from someone who wanted to make a land donation to the LSCA 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. THANK YOU!
> Photo by Andrew Gioulis
Good afternoon LSC.
Our Game Warden Justin Turner sent us this update about his work at the lake this past week, June 17th - 24th to pass along to the lake community. He will be providing updates throughout the season, and this is his second update.
"Last week Vermont Game Wardens conducted boating patrols throughout the week, to include more safety inspections, fishing compliance checks and general patrol for boating safety. Wardens addressed personal floatation device (pfd) violations, wake violations, and failure to have an observer while water skiing.
Wardens have noticed while doing safety inspections that life jackets and fire extinguishers are not always easily accessible or found in a known location. For example, safety equipment found in a compartment under an anchor line or other miscellaneous items. It may be worth checking your safety equipment to ensure you know where it is and that it is easily and quickly accessible.
As a reminder, its is a violation to operate a boat within 200 feet of the shoreline; an individual in the water; a canoe, rowboat, or other vessel; an anchored or moored vessel containing any individual; or anchorages or docks, except at a speed of less than five miles per hour that does not create a wake.
In addition, and worth noting, an individual shall not operate a vessel, except at speeds of less than five miles per hour, within 200 feet of a designated swimming area. This applies to the designated swimming area buoys found off the beach at the State Park.
Here is a link to distance requirement statute: https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/029/03311
As mentioned before, Wardens will be conducting safety inspections throughout the summer. A safety inspection is an equipment check including but not limited to the following items when applicable, working lights, pfd’s, fire extinguisher(s), registration numbers, current validation sticker, muffling device, a working bilge blower, and a boating safety card. If you see Wardens out and about, please feel free to flag us down on the water or from your dock and we are happy to complete an inspection for you or answer any questions/concerns you may have.”
Hello LSC.
We'd like to invite you to the 2023 Lake St. Catherine Association's Annual Meeting & Dinner at the Lake St. Catherine Country Club on Saturday, July 22nd, 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, then we'll have a nice dinner together with our lake neighbors.
Guest speakers will be announced soon.
We are looking forward to seeing 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:
- Includes dinner rolls, cake and coffee.
Please RSVP for the meeting by clicking here to register. You will be able to indicate the selection of dinner(s) you'd like to reserve. If you'd like to attend the meeting, but not stay for dinner, leave the dinner selection fields blank. You can pay online with a credit card or with cash at the door.
You must RSVP for a dinner by July 14th so the Country Club can properly prepare. We'll not be able to take walk-ins for dinner.
80 dinners available. Dinners sold out last year, so please RSVP as soon as possible.
Thank you!
Good afternoon LSC - we'd like to give you an update from our Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH) team.
Owen and Beck have started hand-pulling in Area F by the State Park (see the attached map) by swimming the area and using mesh bags for collection.
Full DASH operations will begin on July 1st. At this time, the team can use the DASH boat and suction tube. After hand-pulling the milfoil from the lakebed, they place the pulled weed into the suction tube and it's transported to the collection table on the boat. Milfoil is then placed in buckets and removed from the lake.
Once full DASH operations can begin, the team will prioritize Area M in the Channel and Area C in North Bay. These are 2 of the 3 'moderate' density areas.
Also, you may have seen milfoil fragments (see attached photo) making their way around the lake. You can help to make a difference by scooping these fragments out of the lake, and out from around your dock & shoreline. As a general rule, get as much milfoil out of the lake as you can - let it dry out on land and dispose of it as you would yard waste. See the attached flyer for other tips - and try to avoid driving through milfoil patches with your boat.
Keep an eye out for the guys, and give them plenty of room to work. We'll keep you up-to-date on their progress throughout the season.
Thanks for your great efforts Owen & Beck!
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