Hello LSC.

At the end of each season, we like to take some time to present a recap of the work performed by the LSCA for Lake St. Catherine on behalf of the lake community and our membership. What you’ll read below are summaries of the projects and activities. We encourage you to read through our website Blog to read the detailed accounts.

It was another busy year! We’ll do our best to recount the year chronologically for you.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Here is our 2021 Year In Review.

Membership

First, a sincere THANK YOU to everyone who was able to contribute to the LSCA and become a member this year. We are all still dealing with the impact of the pandemic in our daily lives, so we truly appreciate your support again this year.

We had a great membership drive this year. As of this writing, we have 372 members who contributed $75,186, giving us an average donation of $202.12. These stats represent the highest number of members and dollars contributed that we’ve received in many years.

Can we reach 400 members next year? This will be our ambitious 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 take this opportunity to thank long-time LSCA Treasurer and Membership Committee member Elaine Bagley who retired from the board in August. Our members know Elaine would send you your membership package when you renewed each year, including her very popular hand-written thank you notes. The new Membership Committee members will work to continue this practice. Please note that all correspondence with the LSCA, including contributions and membership dues should be mailed to PO Box 631, Wells, VT 05774.

We hope to earn your support in 2022 as we launch our Membership Drive in early February of 2022.

Little Lake Fundraiser

Throughout 2020, the LSCA and LSCCF had been working together to discuss the best ways to mitigate the persistent and intensifying problem caused by the invasive weed Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM, milfoil). This resulted in a 3-year plan to get milfoil under control in Little Lake.

In mid March, the LSCA and the LSCCF launched a fundraiser in support of this plan. Year 1 of the plan included a 70 acre milfoil treatment in Little Lake using the herbicide ProcellaCOR which was estimated to cost $36,000. The LSCA and LSCCF each agreed to contribute $12,000 for a total of $24,000. This left $12,000 to cover the full cost of the treatment.

The lake community immediately stepped up to support this plan, and in just over a week, we exceeded the $12,000 goal in donations. In fact, we raised $17,200! At that time, this meant that we had $5,200 already collected to support year 2. However, after the final costs came in, it was determined that the Little Lake treatment cost $31,240. This means that we actually have $6,786.67 in reserve to support year 2. You can view the project page here (it will be updated soon).

The treatment was very successful, and we were so happy to see and hear the comments about how good Little Lake looked this summer. All the details about the Little Lake treatment and our lake-wide milfoil control efforts are included below in the Milfoil Control section.

Thank you for your support of this plan for Little Lake! The LSCA and the LSCCF will begin work on year 2 soon. We’ll keep you up-to-date on the plans as they become available.

Little Lake Webinar

Just over a week after the Little Lake fundraiser launched, the LSCA and LSCCF hosted a webinar for the lake community to discuss the 3-year milfoil control plan for Little Lake, and to introduce the expansion of the Lake Wise Program into Little Lake. Representatives from both groups presented the plans for both projects and fielded questions from the attendees. We were also able to announce the great news that year 1 of the 3-year milfoil control plan had been fully funded. This webinar was recorded and can be viewed on our website Blog.

Volunteering Around LSC: Green Up Vermont Day, Lake’s End Dam Cleanup, Milfoil Cleanup Community Day

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 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 May 1st. As Green Up Vermont's website says: "We know it isn’t your litter but Vermont needs our help to be beautiful!". We reached out to the lake community asking for volunteers to help clean up around LSC - and you stepped up! Teams and individuals volunteered to clean up sections around the lake, and with the exception of a stretch of Rt 30, the whole lake was covered! There were numerous filled green bags all around the lake when the day was done. Thank you to the town crews from Wells and Poultney for picking up the bags. We’ll do it again in May! Read the recap here.

Lake’s End Dam Cleanup: In early June, a resident from Wells sent in an email to the LSCA commenting on a large amount of debris being caught on the top of the dam. We sent out a note to the lake community asking for volunteers to meet at the dam on Saturday, June 13th to help get it cleaned up. It was so great to see folks from all around the lake come together to pitch in. We made quick work of the cleanup - with a truck loaded up to take to the transfer station, and all the lake neighbors got to meet and exchange stories about how much we love LSC. What a fun morning! We were also happy to see that volunteers continued to keep the dam clear of debris for the rest of the year! Read the recap here.

Milfoil Cleanup Community Day: In early July, as part of our milfoil control efforts, the LSCA and LSCCF announced that they had been planning for a 'Community Day' in the Channel and Little Lake areas to organize volunteers to collect all the floating milfoil they can find as an educational and hands-on 'Stop The Spread' event. On Sunday, July 25th, 2 drop-off points were set up so volunteers could collect milfoil by boat, kayak, or canoe and deposit the collected weeds at convenient locations. We then arranged for our diver assisted suction harvesting (DASH) crew to collect the weeds from the drop-off points for disposal. It was quite a haul - they filled (21) 17.5 gallon buckets! The drop-off points remained in place for the rest of the season, and volunteers continued to collect the floating weeds - and the LSCCF harvesting crew handled the pickups. Thank you to all the volunteers involved in this project! We hope to do it again in 2022 and start it much earlier in the season. Read the recap here.

The Lake Wise Program

It was another great 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 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.

Although the Lake Wise Program is open to all LSC property owners, we decided that the 2021 program would focus on properties on Little Lake. In cooperation with the LSCCF, we began the outreach to the lake community to get folks excited and signed up for Lake Wise. On May 20th, the LSCA, the LSCCF and the PMNRCD held an informational Zoom meeting to discuss the Lake Wise Program on Lake St. Catherine. This webinar was recorded and can be viewed on our website Blog.

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.

Some statistics for 2021:

• 24 property owners signed up for Lake Wise
• 20 assessments were completed (some assessments are awaiting property owner input)
• 89 written recommendations were made to property owners by PMNRCD staff
• 22 projects were implemented, including: vegetated buffer plantings, infiltration step installation, culvert stabilization efforts, and rain garden construction
• 340 feet of shoreline buffers were installed
• 412 native plants planted
• 40 live stake cuttings planted
• 4 Lake Wise Award winners!

Our 2021 Lake Wise Award winners are:

• Andrew Gioulis - West Lake Road, Poultney
• Barbara Gutheil - Ferncliff Road
• Michael Marine - Channel Drive
• Sue Williams - West Lake Road, Wells

Congratulations to this year’s Lake Wise Award winners! This brings the total Lake Wise Award winning properties on LSC up to 16.

Thank you to all the winners and Lake Wise 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.

All winners will be receiving the Lake Wise Award plaque that they can proudly display on their shoreline. Keep an eye out for them as you cruise around the lake next season.

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. To date, 57 properties have participated in the Lake Wise Program, and have at least received an initial assessment. If you would like to have your property assessed, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.

Watershed Action Plan

In our 2020 Year In Review, we told you about a grant that we applied for with the LCBP to help fund the creation of a Watershed Action Plan for Lake St. Catherine. In late May, we were thrilled to announce that our grant application had been accepted, and we began the process of creating a work plan.

From the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a 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 a Watershed Action Plan 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), and stormwater management (Lake Wise Program), 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 to do field work on the areas adjacent to the Lake to identify sources of pollutants and recommend 20 projects to address them.
• The Natural Sciences Department at Castleton University to use its environmental chemistry lab with access to water sampling supplies and instrumentation; Castleton undergraduate students to conduct broader in-lake and in-flow tributary water sampling and analyze the impact of major storm events. Students will help literature review of best management practices for water quality to sample collection, to water analysis, to data analysis, to GIS modeling.
• A Limnologist consultant and/or chemist will advise on lake nutrient cycling, lake functions, and assist with any in-lake studies, such as water chemistry, sediment testing, and measuring phosphorus concentrations.
• A series of community Stakeholders will be actively engaged to evaluate their part in understanding and mitigating excessive phosphorus and erosion around the Lake. These include: The Lake St. Catherine Conservation Fund; the Towns of Wells and Poultney, especially the road crews as well as zoning provisions; members of the Association and homeowners to enact prevention on their properties; the Vermont DEC who has agreed to co-sponsor an annual symposium on best practices; businesses and the lake community who use the Lake and surrounding area for recreation.

Using the data and information collected about the Lake St. Catherine Watershed, the Project Team will create the Lake St. Catherine Watershed Action Plan by the end of the grant period in 2024. This plan will identify “Opportunities For Action” and the strategies, interventions, and projects to best address them.

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.

Read more about the LSC Watershed Action Plan here on our website.

Work will begin in January!

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.

Although we expanded monitoring hours at both the Fish & Wildlife boat launch in Wells, and at the State Park in Poultney, our Greeters inspected far fewer boats in 2021 as compared to 2020. We believe a number of factors led to the decrease. 2020 represented an all-time high in boat inspections, most likely due to the huge increase in folks looking to outdoor activities for fun. Also, as you may recall, many weekends experienced rainy weather, which limited the amount of boats being launched.

An interesting stat in the Greeter data this season was that the percentage of boats retrieved from the lake that had milfoil present dropped from 13% to 6% of boats. This was most likely due to the milfoil treatment in Little Lake and the work of the cleanup volunteers throughout the summer.

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

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

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).

This year, we expanded our program to include:

• An educational campaign called, "Stop The Spread", and a community meeting at the Wells Lakeside Park to inform lake residents and boaters of best practices to limit the spread of milfoil.
• Partnering with the LSCCF and arranging a 3-year plan to address the milfoil in Little Lake. Equal contributions consisting of donations from the lake community and funding from the LSCA and LSCCF paid for the ProcellaCOR treatment as part of the year 1 plan.
• A Milfoil Cleanup Community Day in which volunteers collected floating milfoil and other weeds to deposit at drop-off points in the Channel and on Little Lake. This planned one day event in July extended throughout the rest of the season as boaters & kayakers continued to collect and deposit the weeds. The LSCA DASH team handled the Community Day pickup, and the LSCCF harvesting crew made the pickups for the rest of the season.

These efforts led to another successful year of milfoil control on Lake St. Catherine.

In late September, our contractor SOLitude Lake Management performed a comprehensive, 2 day lake-wide aquatic vegetation survey 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 18th consecutive year a plant survey has been performed on Lake St. Catherine. You can see all the previous reports, dating back to 2004 in our Links & Downloads section.

The full report can be read here: 2021 - Aquatic Vegetation Management Report. We encourage you to take a few moments to read through the whole report.

Some information from the report:

• Milfoil cover percent, which represents the abundance of milfoil in the lake, is at its lowest point for the entire lake since 2010 at 3%. For reference, before the whole lake treatment in 2004, the milfoil cover percent for the entirety of Lake St. Catherine was 49%.
• Specifically in Little Lake in 2021, milfoil cover percent was at 5%, down from 36% in 2020.
• Of the 199 GPS data points in Lake St. Catherine, 43 are in Little Lake. Milfoil frequency of occurrence (FOC) refers to the percentage of GPS points at which milfoil was found. In 2021 in Little Lake, milfoil frequency of occurrence was at 28%, down from 98% in 2020.
• A potential treatment in Little Lake in 2022 is estimated at approximately 25 to 30 acres. For reference, the 2020 treatment area was 70.2 acres.
• With the exception of a few GPS points in the Big Lake at which milfoil was found, only trace levels were seen (single stems).

Based on the data, and the results we've all seen throughout the whole of Lake St. Catherine, our Milfoil Control Program had a very successful year. The ProcellaCOR treatments were highly effective, our DASH team did another great job this year (read about the 2021 DASH efforts here), and you got involved as well by participating and volunteering to collect floating milfoil from July to September as part of our Milfoil Cleanup Community Day. We also heard numerous reports throughout the season of folks removing milfoil from their props, their shorelines, and if it happened to float by their dock.

For 2022, we hope to expand the volunteer milfoil cleanup program by beginning much earlier in the season. We have also applied for a grant which could fund the purchase of floating drop-off platforms and other equipment that would assist our volunteers. We should hear about this grant soon!

In early May, the lake will again be surveyed for milfoil growth. At that point, a final treatment map will be created which will show proposed spot treatment and DASH locations.

Drone Photos

On June 23rd and September 1st, a member of the LSCA took drone photos and video of Little Lake. The June photos were taken the morning after the treatment, and they showed us both the beauty of Little Lake and the dense milfoil cover under the surface. The September photos, taken 10 weeks after the June photos, showed us a dramatic difference in milfoil cover in Little Lake. You can view the photos and video on our website Blog here: June | September. Thank you to Andrew for your efforts to provide these photos for the lake community!

Sponsor Spotlight

We’d like to thank the 10 local businesses who were LSCA Business Sponsors in 2021!

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: Haun Welding Supply, Lake Hill Compost, Lake St. Catherine Cottages, Lake St. Catherine Country Club, Lakes & Homes Real Estate, Merritt Environmental Consulting, New England Lakeside Realty, VT Lakehouse, Williams Hardware, Woodard Marine.

If you’d like to become a Business Sponsor in 2022, please let us know!

Meet & Greet With Our Game Warden Justin Turner

Early in the season, we were receiving reports of unsafe boating around the lake. So, we reached out to our Game Warden, Justin Turner and invited him to a Meet & Greet with lake residents. On Saturday, July 10th, Justin hosted a meeting at the Wells Lakeside Park.

​​Justin listened to everyone's concerns, and answered everyone's questions.

Residents described boaters speeding through the Channel causing potential safety issues with children swimming nearby and shoreline erosion. Also discussed were reports of jet skis being operated at high speeds too close to other boaters, and operating after sundown.

Justin explained that he can't be here as often as he'd like, and that the Wardens are understaffed. He informed the attendees that if they witnessed unsafe boating, and would like to report it, the could call him on his cell: 802-595-8754.

As a followup to this meeting with Justin, we reached out to Sergeant Trevor Carbo of the Vermont State Police who is in Special Operations, Recreation Enforcement with the attendees' concerns. Sergeant Carbo indicated that his department is also experiencing staffing issues. He noted that they are seeing an increase in reports of unsafe boating on all bodies of water in the state, fueled by a combination of increased interest in outdoor activities and inexperienced boaters. Sergeant Carbo stated that he would share our concerns with Fish & Wildlife, and that he'd also share our concerns with his department in the Rutland office so they can focus on these issues when they are here.

You can read more about LSC Lake Safety including Vermont and Lake St. Catherine specific boating rules on our Lake Safety page.

The 9th Annual LSCA Boat Parade

We had another great boat parade this year! It was a rainy day, but we were able to get the parade completed before the storms hit.

23 boats registered, 17 participated, and 185 people voted online for their favorite boats in our 4 categories: most patriotic, funniest, most original, best overall.

Our winners were:

Most Patriotic:

Boat #19 - Laura Frost - Liberty

Funniest:

Boat #12 - Sarah Conine - Horsing Around With The Cows

Most Original:

Boat #2 - The Roth Family - Scooby Doo Mystery Machine

Best Overall:

Boat #10 - Tonia and Paul Ramirez - Sponge Bob

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 10th year in 2022!

Boating Safety Classes

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 - the first in late June in Wells, the second in early July in West Pawlet. 24 lake community members earned their license this year. We hope to be able to offer these classes again in 2022. Keep an eye out for an announcement in the spring.

Annual Meeting

On July 24th, the LSCA was so happy to be able to host an in-person Annual Meeting at the LSC Country Club this year. It was great to see everyone!

The LSCA Trustees gave their committee reports as part of the presentation, and then we had a great dinner with our lake neighbors.

You can see photos from the evening and view the full presentation here on our website Blog.

Dockside Chats

Dockside Chats began last year as a way to have safe, face-to-face interactions with members around the lake. 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 very popular in 2020, so we continued the program this year. 10 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.

LSCA Newsletters

Our traditional Spring and Fall newsletters were posted digitally on our website, and printed copies were made available at Otto’s and the Wells Country Store. 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

As soon as 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!

Grants

In May, when we were notified that we had earned the $38,224 grant to create a Watershed Action Plan for Lake St. Catherine, it was the largest grant the LSCA had ever received.

We are happy to report that we have just been informed that we have been awarded a $49,000 Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystems Projects Planning grant from the LCBP which will be used to fund the planning, prioritization, outreach, design, and budgeting of projects identified in the Lake St. Catherine Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP).

In 2018 and 2019, extensive field work by the PMNRCD and Fitzgerald Environmental Associates (FEA) took place in the LSC watershed. The goal was to identify sources of increased stormwater runoff and associated sediments and nutrients. 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.

While the previously mentioned Lake Wise projects are focused on individual properties on the parcel level, SWMP projects can involve larger areas that may include a combination of public and private lands.

50 sites were identified, and as of today, 4 have been implemented, and 2 others have been designed and are awaiting installation. Projects have recently been completed on North Street, Ferncliff, the boat launch in Wells, and at the Wells Lakeside Park. That leaves 44 others that need to be designed. This grant will allow us to hire a consultant to design these projects to prepare them for funding and implementation.

Other 2022 grants we have applied for:

• A $25,000 Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystems Projects Small Implementation grant to fund Lake Wise from the LCBP
• An Small Educational and Outreach grant (amount TBD) from the LCBP to help fund a Libraries Love Lakes event, including ongoing education at the Wells Village Library, in cooperation with the LSCCF and the Wells Village Library
• An Organizational Support grant from the LCBP to help fund project management and organizational support software for the LSCA to be able to efficiently manage upcoming projects like the Watershed Action Plan
• An Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) grant from the Vermont DEC to help fund our Greeter and DASH Programs
• An Outdoor Conservation and Participation grant to help fund an expansion of our Milfoil Cleanup Community Day / Stop The Spread program by purchasing floating platforms and other equipment to be used by volunteers throughout the season to assist their milfoil cleanup efforts

We have been working hard over the fall to bring grant funds to Lake St. Catherine for 2022!

Thank You For Your Support

Thank you to everyone who supported us this year. We hope you have found our efforts in 2021 for Lake St. Catherine to be worthy.

2022 is going to be a busy year, and we cannot wait to get started!

We hope to earn your support again in 2022. Be on the lookout for our Membership Drive which will begin in early February.

Please keep yourself healthy and be well. We’ll see you at the lake soon,

- The Trustees of The Lake St. Catherine Association