Happy 2020 to everyone!
Here’s to a great start to your new year and decade! We enjoyed nice holidays with family and friends and I hope all of you did as well. As I write this note, I am looking at a beautiful winter wonderland scene. Mother Nature dropped about 3 inches of new snow last night as a couple of snow squalls came through the area. Along with that snow came some of the coldest temps so far this winter. It is a chilly 20 degrees out with a nice breeze. All of those lake lovers who have traveled to warmer climates for the winter are probably very happy right now! It has been a fickle winter so far. The lake is frozen, however only thick enough for the brave who want to travel by foot to do some ice fishing. The lake is usually dotted with bob houses at this time, but only a few pop up ones have appeared for the day to this point. The hum of snowmobiles is absent as well. The fickle weather is to continue this weekend with rain and temperatures nearing 50+!!
I received a nice thank you from the Franklin Opera House for our donation of a decorated Christmas tree and $100 gift card to Hannaford’s for their Festival of Trees fundraiser. The winner of the tree was Mary Dacuycuy. I was present when Mary picked up the tree. She and her daughter were very excited to be winners. The event was another success and the Opera House hopes to continue the event next year. If anyone happens to have an artificial tree that they will no longer be using and would like to donate it to the WLA for this event, I would be happy to accept it. We have decorations that have already been donated.
I have been made aware of a proposed bill for the 2020 NH Legislature. It is with regard to floating docks, seasonal platforms, inflatable floats or platforms. Please take a look here for more information. If I hear of any other information on this bill, I will pass it along.
We all love our loons here at Webster Lake. This article appeared in NH Lakes December newsletter, some interesting reading.
Sara Steiner, our limnologist contact at DES, sent a summary of information collected through the Volunteer Lake Assessment Program(VLAP) in 2019. A total of 178 NH lakes were tested in 2019 by approximately 500 volunteers. Webster Lake participates in this program. We will receive a report specific to our lake in the next couple months. I will pass that along to you when it is received. The data collected from all the lakes is essential in determining trends on the health of NH lakes. I have attached this general summary for your information. It reinforces that we need to remain vigilant about what is going into our lakes and how we can be proactive in limiting what enters the lake from our own properties.
Warm thoughts to all of you,
Val