Hi Lake Lovers-
We are hoping to see most of you at the August 26th Picnic/annual meeting at Quimby's. We have a jam packed agenda for the meeting so we wanted to issue this "member extra" to report on all of the good work that our members have done on behalf of our lakes and our community. Many of you have volunteered your time and support for these initiatives and the Association greatly appreciates your involvement.
Thanks to Lu Van Zeeland's advocacy, more landowners have participated in the Lakewise Program, a free educational program offered by the DEC, offering land and stormwater management with the goal of protecting our lakes. At the annual meeting we intend to provide some up to date metrics on the number of assessments done as well as the number of camp owners earning the Lake Wise award on both lakes.
Water quality monitoring is now occurring on both lakes biweekly by Kim Hubbard and Don Tase in concert with the VT DEC's Lay Monitoring Program. Tributary testing for Phosphorus and Nitrogen continues for a 2nd season on Little Averill thanks to Connie Jackson and the VT DEC's LaRosa Partnership Program. Preparation, storage, and pickup of our samples occurs at the Lake View Store thanks to Dave Leidy.
We just completed a pilot Greeter Program for the month of July at the Big Averill boat launch. While I coordinated the pilot, many Big Averill landowners volunteered their time on weekends to inspect boats and inform boat owners of the threat of Aquatic Invasive Species.
Volunteers participated in the Loon Project with Eric Hanson helping repair the floating nests at the beginning of the season and report to Eric loon nesting behavior. On Big Averill, both nesting pairs were successful in hatching chicks. On Little Averill the north nest failed (egg found in the lake) and the west nest got a late start. She was still sitting on it as of the 31st of July.
In cooperation with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, board member Rebecca Scott placed lead collection tubes at both Averill lake launches to "get the lead out" and protect our loons and other water fowl.
And last but not least three lakeowners have completed a petition backed by the association and several agencies to present to the DEC for a ban of wake boats on the Averills. Many of you spoke at the hearing in February and again at this final public hearing August 1st. The proposed regulation will now go before the legislators and once accepted we will file our petition.
Good work and energy from all of you make this association thrive. Please get in touch if you wish to participate in any of our projects, have ideas/passion for additional initiatives, and/or want to join our "Working Board". It takes all of us to keep our lakes pristine and special. We know that you are well aware of how unique our place is in the Northeast Kingdom.
On behalf of the leadership and Board of Directors Susan Gresser, Director, Averill Lakes Association
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