For the preservation, protection, and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine
Hello LSC.
Today, we'd like to take some time to discuss boating safety on Lake St. Catherine, as we've noted a recent increase in complaints and concerns passed along to the LSCA.
We'll review the general Vermont boating rules, the LSC specific boating rules, and provide you the information on how to report violations to the proper authorities.
To begin, here are the Vermont rules for unlawful operation of a vessel.
Vermont law states that these dangerous operating practices are illegal:
Careless and Reckless Operation of a vessel or the reckless manipulation of water skis, a surfboard, or a similar device is operating in a manner that causes danger to the life, limb, or property of any person. Examples of illegal, reckless operation are:
Overloading is loading the vessel beyond a safe carrying capacity, taking into consideration the weather and other operating conditions.
Improper Speed or Distance is not maintaining a proper speed or distance while operating a vessel or while towing a person on water skis or any similar device. Specifically, the following actions are illegal:
- The shoreline - A person in the water - A canoe, rowboat, or other vessel - An anchored or moored vessel with a person on board - An anchorage or dock
Note: “No Wake Speed” means operating your vessel at a speed at which the vessel does not produce a wake, not to exceed five miles per hour.
Many more rules and regulations for boating in Vermont can be found here, in the Vermont Boating Laws And Responsibilities Handbook.
Next, let's review the Lake St. Catherine specific boating rules that are in place, under Vermont Statute 10 V.S.A. § 1424, (effective November 17, 1980, amended January 1, 1995):
Water-skiing is prohibited in the following waters:
The operation of vessels powered by motor at speeds exceeding five miles per hour or in such a manner as to cause a disturbing wake is prohibited in the following waters:
With regard to Forest House Bay, Hall’s Bay, Horseshoe Bay, and Oxbow Bay:
For purposes of this regulation only:
Finally, we'd like to inform you on the best way to report violations that you witness.
This past weekend, we had a conversation with our Game Warden, Dustin Circe:
[Dustin Circe, pictured left. Photo credit: Vermont Game Warden Association's Facebook page]
Dustin's patrol area includes 6 towns: Wells, Poultney, Middletown Springs, Tinmouth, Pawlet, and Danby. He's on Lake St. Catherine two to three times a week.
While Dustin patrols LSC, he looks for things like fishing violations (while checking for licenses), unsafe boating (including checking for life jackets, boating while intoxicated) and littering. While it's not possible for Dustin to be on the lake every day, we can assist him in keeping LSC for everyone.
Dustin has outlined a few tips that are helpful if you witness a violation or an unsafe situation. The more detailed information you can provide, the better his investigation can be. If possible, try to:
Then, call Dustin at (802) 793-6629 to report the incident so he can begin investigating using the information you provide.
Dustin explained that we can all be his eyes and ears around the lake helping to keep it safe.
So, let's all be considerate of others while sharing the lake, and let's all work together to keep everyone on Lake St. Catherine safe.
Thank you!
In cooperation with Misha Cetner from the Vermont Department Of Environmental Conservation and SOLitude Lake Management (SLM), the Lake St. Catherine Association would like to inform the community that the lake will be treated for milfoil on Wednesday, June 24th, 2020.
On May 13th, biologists from SLM and our DASH suction harvesting team visited the lake to perform a milfoil survey. They have identified areas to be treated with ProcellaCOR and areas to be suction harvested.
3 areas, totaling 18.3 acres will be treated with ProcellaCOR.
During and after the treatment, please be aware of the following lake water use restriction recommendations:
• NO USE of Lake St. Catherine waters and water from the outlet stream FOR ANY PURPOSE including boating, fishing, swimming, domestic (household) use or irrigation, the day of treatment on:
Wednesday, June 24, 2020, beginning at 9 am
• Swimming/wading, boating, fishing and domestic (household) use may resume on:
Thursday, June 25, 2020, beginning at 9 am
• USE of water from Lake St. Catherine FOR IRRIGATION PURPOSES including for watering lawns, trees, or other plants may resume on:
Wednesday, July 1, 2020, beginning at 9 am or earlier based on sampling results, please refer to the website below for results
Please refer to www.solitudelakemanagement.com/vermont for additional information and updated water use advisories and recommendations.
Along with the herbicide treatment, 10 areas, totaling up to 38.7 acres have been selected for DASH. DASH is an acronym for Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting. This process involves scuba divers using suction hoses powered by a surface compressor to selectively remove milfoil from the lake bottom. They will be working throughout the season to remove milfoil by the roots in these designated areas.
As a comparison, last year, we treated 38.1 acres with ProcellaCOR and 65.8 acres with DASH for a total of 103.9 acres. Because of the success of our milfoil control program last year, we only need to address 57 acres - a 45% reduction.
Here is a map of the treatment areas for ProcellaCOR and DASH:
Treatment Notice:
Links:
If you have any questions about the upcoming milfoil treatment, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.
We'd like to announce that we will have the 8th Annual Boat Parade this year!
It is scheduled for Saturday, July 4th, starting at 1 PM in Forest House Bay.
There will be some important changes this year due to the current COVID-19 situation:
1. There will be no prizes this year. With our local businesses working as hard as they can to stay open, we will not be asking for prize donations and sponsors this year. Instead, we ask that you do your best to support our sponsors from last year. They are:
Our 2019 sponsors:
Our winners will of course receive bragging rights for the rest of the season :)
2. We will not have judging stations for safety reasons. However, we will take photos of every boat, and we will post them online for the entire lake to vote on in an easy to use voting survey. We'll set a time range to cast your votes, and we'll announce the winners for each category that evening. We are looking for a volunteer that can take photos of all the boats as they start their course around the lake and be able to quickly transmit those to us so we can post them online for voting. If you can help us with this, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.
As many other 4th of July celebrations are being canceled because of social distancing recommendations, we are happy to be able to safely continue this yearly tradition on LSC.
So, let's start planning for the 4th! To register you boat, please email us at at info@lakestcatherine.org. and please provide your name, phone number, and we'll reply back with your boat number for the parade.
Our categories:
Be well, and thanks for your support of the LSCA.
For inspiration, here are some of the boats from last year:
Best Overall Winner, 2019:
1st place: Boat #4 - Loon Pontoon, the Tardie family
2019 Boat Parade Video:
Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. The LSCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.
Hello good folks of the Lake St. Catherine community.
We'd like to let you know that the LSCA Spring 2020 newsletter is now available.
In an effort to save on printing and mailing costs, we've decided to only print a short run of copies and distribute them to Otto's Cones Point General Store. If you'd like a printed copy, please feel free to pick one up when you are out and about (available now). Thank you to Otto's!
The digital version is now available online via our website through this link: Click here to view the Spring 2020 Newsletter, or click on the image below. When you click on the link for the newsletter, you will be able to view it on screen - and be able to zoom in or out using the controls on the bottom of the screen. Or, you can click the download button in the top right corner to save a copy to your computer to view with a PDF reader or print a copy.
We hope you'll enjoy this edition of the LSCA newsletter.
We welcome your comments: info@lakestcatherine.org.
Thank you for your support!
Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.
In other news...
- As you will read in our newsletter, COVID-19 will have a significant impact on the LSCA's funding this season. We would hate to lose any ground in preserving and protecting our watershed, so we respectfully ask our members (and potential members) to please submit your dues as soon as possible so we can have a better idea of the funds we will have available for budgeting. We hope to earn your support in 2020.
- For all the latest news on Lake St. Catherine, please follow us on Facebook, or keep an eye here on our Blog. Thank you!
Hello to all in the LSC community.
Last evening, we received official word that due to conditions created by the COVID-19 outbreak, we will not be receiving our Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) grant as part of the Grant-in Aid program run by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's Agency of Natural Resources.
Based on last year, that represents approximately $27,000 that we will not receive in 2020 to help fund our milfoil control efforts which includes our DASH team (Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting), and ProcellaCOR spot treatments. This is a huge loss for Lake St. Catherine.
As part of this same grant, we will be receiving $5,573 in support of our Boat Launch Monitoring / Greeter Program.
We are now in the process of adjusting and updating our 2020 budget to accommodate the loss of this grant. We will need to make some difficult decisions on how to best use our available funding for the benefit of Lake St. Catherine.
We would hate to lose any ground in preserving and protecting our watershed, so we respectfully ask our members (and potential members!) to please submit your dues as soon as possible so we can have a better idea of the funds we will have available for budgeting in 2020. Additional contributions over and above our standard dues and donations would be extremely helpful at this time.
To all of our potential LSCA members out there in the lake community, we hope to earn your support in 2020.
Thank you to our members for your support as we continue to work to fulfill our mission of the preservation, protection and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at info@lakestcatherine.org.
We'll have more updates for you this weekend, along with the release of our Spring 2020 Newsletter.
Becoming A Member:
- You can download a copy of our Membership Form by clicking here: 2020 LSCA Membership Form PDF. Just fill out the form and mail it in to our Treasurer Elaine with a check for your dues.
- Or, you can renew or become a member on our website - 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 never set one up, click on the "Forgot Username/Password?" link, and the site will send you an email with the information.
Thank you.
Hello LSC fans.
Occasionally, we come across a Lake St. Catherine reference in an old publication. They are an interesting snapshot from that time, so we like finding them, and then passing them along for all to enjoy.
This particular article, entitled "A Place Excused From Change: Recapturing Summers From The 50's" by Charles Strum, appeared in the Friday, August 31st edition of the New York Times.
It's an old newspaper scan, so the images are not great, but it's better than nothing... You can read the full text of the article (no images) by clicking here.
Scans from the paper (you can click on the scans to see a larger version):
You can read a previous "LSC Blast From The Past" by clicking here to see "A Family Kind Of Place - Lake St. Catherine's Appeal Spans The Generations" from Vermont Life Magazine.
Hello to all in the Lake St. Catherine community.
We were recently contacted by Peter Hathaway, the Rutland County rep for the 2020 Census. We discussed the importance of the 2020 census, and how low the response rate has been for our area.
On the importance of the 2020 Census from the 2020 Census website:
"School lunches. Plans for highways. Support for firefighters and families in need. Census results affect your community every day. The results of the 2020 Census will help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade. That funding shapes many different aspects of every community, no matter the size, no matter the location. Think of your morning commute: Census results influence highway planning and construction, as well as grants for buses, subways, and other public transit systems. Or think of your local schools: Census results help determine how money is allocated for the Head Start program and for grants that support teachers and special education. The list goes on, including programs to support rural areas, to restore wildlife, to prevent child abuse, to prepare for wildfires, and to provide housing assistance for older adults."
"School lunches. Plans for highways. Support for firefighters and families in need. Census results affect your community every day.
The results of the 2020 Census will help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade. That funding shapes many different aspects of every community, no matter the size, no matter the location.
Think of your morning commute: Census results influence highway planning and construction, as well as grants for buses, subways, and other public transit systems.
Or think of your local schools: Census results help determine how money is allocated for the Head Start program and for grants that support teachers and special education.
The list goes on, including programs to support rural areas, to restore wildlife, to prevent child abuse, to prepare for wildfires, and to provide housing assistance for older adults."
The low response rate could be related to the amount of seasonal properties in our area. So, Peter asked if we could share the attached flyer:
So, we hope you can all take a moment to fill out the census questionnaire by clicking here: www.my2020census.gov. It is very important for our community!
Hello to all in the Lake St. Catherine community. We hope you are all staying healthy and well.
The LSCA was just provided the following information from the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department concerning the Governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order and how that may potentially impact boating activities this summer. The stay at home order was recently extended to May 15th.
The department’s Fishing Access Areas are open 24/7 as they always have been, but the public is reminded to practice safe social distancing and only recreate with people that you have been self-quarantining with.
Information from Vermont Fish & Wildlife:
"In order to comply with the Governor’s orders for maintaining essential services and reduce the potential spread of COVID-19, VFWD will not be providing portable toilet services, installing docks, or allowing Public Access Greeters. This will last until at least May 15th to keep the public and contractors safe and healthy during this pandemic.
To use the access areas safely, the public is reminded to practice social distancing and only recreate with people that you have been self-quarantining with. While using the fishing access areas, ANR asks residents to use the necessary precautions to help limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Residents are always asked to maintain on-going aquatic invasive species spread prevention measures to comply with the Aquatic Nuisance Species regulations (10 V.S.A. 1454). These regulations require persons to inspect their vessel, vessel trailer, motor vehicle and other equipment upon entering and departing a waterbody and to remove any aquatic plants, plant parts and aquatic nuisance species found on vessels or equipment.
The recreational boating season generally kicks off Memorial Day weekend and ANR is working to develop practical guidelines, potential training opportunities, and educational and informational signage to support invasive species spread prevention operations that will be available prior to that time. However, Special Use Permits and Public Access Greeter Programs are on-hold until further notice. Staff will continue to work with boaters and Public Access Greeter Programs to keep them updated to ensure a safe boating season."
The LSCA is committed to our Greeter / Aquatic Invasive Species Program. Keeping invasive species out of LSC is one of our top priorities. Over the past few months, we have been preparing our 2020 program - and we hope to be able to kick it off over the Memorial Day weekend.
We'll keep you up to date.
Be well.
First, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy during this COVID-19 pandemic. Please be sure to follow all CDC advice to keep yourself safe.
We’d like to take a few moments to inform you on how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the Lake St. Catherine Association’s efforts for the 2020 season.
Over the Fall of 2019, the LSCA applied for numerous grants from various environmental agencies. In the late Winter / early Spring of 2020, we were very happy to learn that we were awarded 4 grants. However, we’ve recently received indications that these may be in jeopardy. Then, this week, we’ve learned that one has just been cancelled.
We are also very concerned that planned State and local government funding may also be pulled or reduced.
We are now in the process of adjusting and updating our 2020 budget to accommodate these uncertainties. We will need to make some difficult decisions on how to best use our available funding for the benefit of Lake St. Catherine.
During this uncertain time, the LSCA will continue to work on our important lake management programs, some of which include: stormwater runoff & pollution control, water testing, lake safety, milfoil control, boat launch monitoring (Greeter program) / aquatic invasive species education & prevention. You can learn about our efforts in more detail by clicking here to read our 2019 Year In Review.
With all this in mind, we would hate to lose any ground in preserving and protecting our watershed, so we respectfully ask our members to please submit your dues as soon as possible so we can have a better idea of the funds we will have available for budgeting.
We started our 2020 membership drive in mid February, and we are happy to report that we’ve had 204 members submit their dues so far - so we are off to a good start. Last year, we had 350 paid memberships.
Each season, we work to grow and expand our membership base, which we have done over the past 4 years. However, we realize this may be a difficult goal for 2020 as folks may be out of work, or worried about what the future will bring.
If you plan on becoming a member for 2020, please do so as soon as you can. It will be very helpful to know how much we will receive in membership dues as we continue to work on our 2020 budget.
You can also download a copy of the 2020 membership form by clicking here: 2020 LSCA Membership Form PDF. Just fill out the form and mail it in to our Treasurer Elaine with a check for your dues.
Or, you can renew or become a member on our website - 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 never set one up, click on the "Forgot Username/Password?" link, and the site will send you an email with the information.
Thank you to our members for your support this season.
I'm guessing we could all use a little distraction from current events... That, along with some open water appearing on the lake - makes it feel like a good time to start up #IceWatch2020.
So, let's try to have a little fun again this Spring and make some predictions for when the ice will go out.
Last year, with her guess of 4/15 at 6:00 AM, our winner - and 2019 LSC Ice Out Champion was Judy Cummings.
We called Ice Out a little early last year, and had to be corrected by many eagle-eyed ice spotters around the lake. We hope you'll share your ice reports again this year!
Make your prediction here: LSC Ice Out Prediction Form
The winner will be crowned "LSC 2020 Ice Out Champion" and will have bragging rights all year!
Make your guess - and good luck!
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