Hello Everyone,
The holiday weekend was not great lake weather, but this current blast of summer heat brought everyone out this past weekend. Life at our lake has begun!
The WLA Board of Directors met last Saturday morning. There was much discussion around the WLA summer activities. I did not receive an influx of volunteers from my request in previous emails and the newsletter. The “crew” that has run the Breakfast on the Beach for many years has decided to step away. Since no one was willing to chair this event and others not wanting to be involved, it was decided that the Breakfast on the Beach will not be held this year. I am overwhelmed by our members monetary generosity to our association for dues, donations and milfoil mitigation. We all love this little piece of paradise as we enjoy creating memories with family and friends. I understand that taking time away from that is tough to do. The WLA strives to educate everyone on living lake friendly and protecting our lake. Some events that have been held also try to give everyone a chance to socialize with each other and meet new people. If anyone has a new idea they would like to propose and coordinate to foster this spirit, it would be welcome. The Boat Parade will be held on Sunday, July 4th. I will be coordinating the Yard Sale and we have a few volunteers to help on Saturday, July 17th, however more volunteers will be welcomed. We will also need a few more volunteers to help with set up on Friday, July 16th. Please let me know if you can volunteer. We will end the season with the Ice Cream Social on Saturday, September
Last week we had an outbreak of cyanobacteria in the area of the loon cove. DES came and sampled the water and determined an advisory be placed. The bloom disappeared the next day. We did our VLAP sampling on Monday and took extra samples for cyanobacteria. I spoke with Amanda at DES Monday afternoon and she had removed the advisory and indicated that everything was well below levels of concern. There has been a lot of pollen on the lake, which is yellow and stays pretty much on the surface. When an outbreak of cyanobacteria occurs, it is a green scum that can be striated along the surface or get concentrated near the shore, but will also appear throughout the water column. If you should see any outbreaks of this nature, take a picture and send it along to me. I will pass it along to Amanda at DES and she is very good about getting here to take samples. It is most important not to go in the water in the areas of these blooms as they can be toxic, especially to pets and young children because they are more apt to ingest the water. Amanda explained that blooms are typical in June and there were many outbreaks noted in a number of lakes last week. Here is a link to a fact sheet from DES to learn more about cyanobacteria. Preventing nutrient loading into the lake is one way to keep down on the outbreaks. Please check your septic systems, refrain from using fertilizer on your lawns, cleaners with phosphates, and control runoff from your property into the lake.
SOLitude Lake Management company will begin treating Chance Pond for milfoil on June 17th. Property owners have been notified and a public notice has been placed in the paper. The whole area will be treated. In a few weeks the company will return to check for herbicide residue. Sometime between August and October they will conduct a survey to assess results. We will receive their report in November. Thank you to everyone who has made donations specifically for this milfoil mitigation.
We are still in need of Lake Hosts. The WLA board agreed to increase the hourly rate for Lake Hosts to $15 per hour. The one person who is interested in being a Lake Host was unable to start last weekend, thus our boat ramp was not monitored. It was a busy weekend, but we did not have any volunteers to cover the hours. If you know of anyone who would like to earn some extra money this summer, please send their name to Deb Steadman at dsteadman@metrocast.net or kalpers@franklinnh.org. If we have others who would like to volunteer at the ramp as a Lake Host, we could cover more hours over the summer. This is one more way to help protect our lake from invasive species.
The Little Free Libraries will be up and running soon. Thank you to Linda Stronge who will be coordinating the libraries on Webster Ave and at the Steadman Pavilion and Bruce Browne who provides one on Lake Shore Drive.
We will be looking for great photos of your favorite Webster Lake scene or memory for our 2022 photo calendar. Keep your cameras ready to capture that special moment. If you would like to submit a photo to be considered for the calendar, you may send them to nancy.wolcott.47@gmail.com. The photos should be at least 1MB in size. Thank you Nancy for once again agreeing to design another calendar.
One last note, if anyone is missing a blue, hard plastic ziffy board, I have it on my dock. I spotted it floating in the water yesterday along our shoreline. You may contact me to pick it up, if it belongs to you:)
Enjoy some nice weather ahead,
Val