GREENSBORO — Comments on a petition to ban wakeboating on Caspian Lake will be heard at a planned public comment meeting scheduled by Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR), December 12, in Montpelier.
courtesy photo
The Town of Greensboro and the Greensboro Association have submitted a joint petition to the ANR requesting that the state prohibit wakeboats on Caspian Lake. Over 200 Greensboro residents and visitors added their names in support of the 1151 page petition.
The public comment meeting, December 12. at 4:30 p.m., is being held by the ANR Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC) to hear four similar petitions. The Caspian Lake petition will be taken up first, followed by those for Lake Fairlee, shared by Thetford, Fairlee and West Fairee; the Waterbury Reservoir and Joe’s Pond in West Danville.
The meeting will be in the National Life Dewey Conference Room, 3 National Life Drive, Montpelier, and offers a remote option.
In a November 26 message to Greensboro residents, Stew Arnold, co-chair of the Greensboro Association (GA) Lakes and Environmental Stewardship Committee, explained that Attorney Ritchie Berger, a director and head of the litigation group at Shelburne law firm Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew, will have 10 minutes at 4:45 p.m. to present an overview of the petition. Berger said his work preparing the petition “was done at no charge due to my affection for the community and belief in the need to protect Lake Caspian.”
courtesy Lakes at Stake Wisconsin
Following Berger’s overview is a 30 minute window for the public to comment. Arnold asked that key supporters sign up to “speak about their personal reasons of support.”
Greensboro Select Board member David Kelley said the town and Greensboro Association are in the process of collecting what he expects will be 1,000 signatures from people who love Caspian Lake and want to see wakeboats banned. They will be handed to ANR at the meeting. “These people recognize that Lake Caspian is one of Vermont’s most precious natural resource jewels,” said Kelley.
The petition suggests wake boats create an irreconcilable conflict with the lake’s history and character. It continues, adding wake boats are not a normal use because they are significantly more powerful and disruptive than traditional motorboats and should be prohibited.
Wakeboats are a relatively new kind of motorboat, developed in the late 1980s designed to increase the size of the boat’s wake on which surfboards, wakeboards, hydrofoils and similar devices then ride.
Wakeboats have been increasing on the largest Vermont lakes in recent years, but have not been seen operating in wakesports mode on Caspian Lake. A new Vermont Wakeboat rule went into effect for the 2024 boating season, bringing wider public attention to them. The DEC rule regulates wakeboats and wakesports under Vermont’s Use of Public Waters Rules. In announcing the new rule, the state indicated it has been, “developed in response to a petition filed by Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes, that seeks to protect Vermont’s environment while balancing a range of recreational activities.”
Four hundred and thirty seven of Caspian Lake’s 789 acres qualify as a zone where wakeboats can operate in wakesports mode. That zone is defined by the state as being “an area of at least 50 acres over 20 feet deep, at least 200 feet wide, and over 500 feet from shore.”
The state noted the “wakesports zone has been established to address concerns that wakeboats erode vulnerable shoreline when the distance to shore is not adequate to dissipate the wakes and stir up lake bottom sediments in shallower waters.
During that rulemaking process, many argued wakes created by wakeboats damage shorelines and underwater fish spawning habitats and are incompatible with recreational uses of Caspian Lake. It was suggested a more appropriate rule would require wakeboats to remain at least 1,000 feet from shore if they were to be allowed on Vermont lakes.
“The wakeboat rule – developed with significant input from the Vermont public – is science-based and reflective of Vermonters’ shared interests in environmental stewardship and outdoor recreation,” said DEC Commissioner Jason Batchelder in announcing the final rule.
The Caspian Lake petition notes the many significant efforts taken over the last 25 years to protect the lake and its water quality. They have included the establishment of a special lake zoning district, a Greensboro Land Trust study of the lake’s health and ecology and creation of a greeter program at the town beach to protect the lake from Eurasian Watermilfoil and other invasive vegetation.
Greensboro’s 2019 Town Plan identifies a key objective as preserving Caspian as “a healthy, natural lake.’ Since then, several programs have been created to curtail phosphorus pollution in the Lake.
The Town, Greensboro Land Trust and Greensboro Association recently petitioned the ANR to recognize Caspian Lake has excellent—instead of merely good—aesthetic quality.
When personal watercraft, i.e., Jet Skis, became popular in the 1990s, the Greensboro Association recognized the threat they posed to Caspian Lake and petitioned the Water Resources Board to ban them from the Lake. After careful consideration, the Board agreed, ruling Jet Skis “posed an irreconcilable” and “unacceptable level of conflict” with the Lake’s normal uses, “especially the enjoyment of peace and quiet.”
Jet Skis, the Board explained, were driven at high speeds, close to shore, and created “a whining and rasping” noise that was amplified by “hills surrounding” the lake. Even though Jet Skis were already regulated, the Board recognized those rules were not sufficient to protect Caspian Lake’s “beauty” and “quiet solitude.”
The Greensboro petition asks the state to recognize wake boats are not a normal use, under Vermont’s Public Use of Waters Act, which makes special note of protecting “those uses that have occurred ‘on a regular, frequent, and consistent basis prior to January 1, 1993.
Further, the petition suggests wakeboats threaten Caspian Lake’s loon population, offering evidence of its effects on loon nesting habitat. Kelley said, “we expect Loon Biologist Eric Hanson will also testify, together with as many local citizens as time will allow.”
Despite state rules requiring cleaning of ballast tanks, the Greensboro petition asks the state to see wakeboats still create a significant risk of spreading invasive species into Caspian Lake that “cannot be effectively mitigated.”
For those reasons the petitioners ask the state to prohibit wakeboats because it will benefit the vast majority of Caspian Lake’s users, the Town of Greensboro and future generations of Vermonters and others who cherish Caspian Lake. They ask the state to see those benefits “Far outweighing any minor inconvenience to the few who might wish to drive such boats on the Lake.”
Kelley said, “The issues before ANR at this hearing have been laid out before the agency for some time now and we hope to have a final decision on our petition shortly and well before summer.”
ed. note: Minor typographical corrections were made to this story December 7, 2024.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
