The 2019 Water Quality Report can now be viewed by clicking here. The PLA thanks Steve Craig (PLA), Thom Townsend (PLA) and Bob Craycraft of the Lakes Lay Monitoring Program (LLMP) at UNH for their time and effort collecting and analyzing the water samples to create this report. Thank You!

We hope you and your loved ones are managing during this difficult COVID19 time. It has been challenging in so many ways and we all look to the future to when we can return to more normal times and activities.
There are several items we would like to share with you regarding our lake. You have the opportunity to provide your input to the relevant organizations.
1. Bonnyman Road: Those of you who use Bonnyman Rd realize it is not in the best condition. This has been an ongoing issue for quite a long time in several regards concerning road condition, erosion, and related water quality issues. The PLA has worked with the Towns of Wakefield and Effingham and AWWA regarding shoreline erosion and remediation projects on Bonnyman Rd, yet there is more that could be done and we look to support that future effort. At this time and more specifically, you can provide direct input to the Town of Wakefield by completing a road complaint form. The website of the Wakefield Highway / Public Services is:  https://www.wakefieldnh.com/highway  We would encourage anyone who uses Bonnyman Rd, regardless of what town you reside in, to provide this input to the Town of Wakefield.
2. Wake Boats: It is the collective opinion of the PLA, that wake boats on our lake would cause both water quality and invasive issues to be exacerbated. Larger wakes in our shallow lake would increase erosion and release a significant amount of phosphorus from the sediment. This phosphorus would be suspended in the water column and drive further cyanobacteria blooms. There is also great concern regarding milfoil being introduced to the lake from the wake boat tanks (we are presently free of milfoil).  Wake boats on Province Lake typically operate in other adjacent lakes, which all have invasive milfoil problems. In our opinion, the potential for introducing milfoil into Province waters is unacceptably high. With an average depth of 10 feet, the lake would be colonized by milfoil, rendering the lake unusable for all recreational activities. 

That being said, the following from NH Lakes provides you with the opportunity to provide input on wake boats.
‘Wake boats (those that use ballast water to lower the transom and increase the wake height for wake surfing) have been the subject of a legislative study commission. NH LAKES has been serving on this study commission created by House Bill 137 a year ago. Although the study commission has stopped meeting, we expect it will still issue a report by June 30, 2020. During the past few weeks, individuals have been writing or emailing the commission chair, expressing support or concern about the use or impact of wake boats on New Hampshire’s waterbodies.
Whether you enjoy wake boating or have concerns about impacts from wake boats on your favorite lake, the wake boat study commission needs to hear from you! Please email and share your personal testimony with the wake boat study commission chair, Representative Suzanne Smith at Suzanne.Smith@leg.state.nh.us. Provide factual information about how these watercraft have been for your enjoyment, or if you have observed these watercraft to have caused problems. Please reach out now. It is essential for the wake boat commission to hear from our membership community.’
3. As we are all anticipating the arrival of better weather and enjoying our lake in all it has to offer, please follow guidelines for managing your properties in ways that do not encourage erosion and degradation of water quality (see our spring newsletter for details). Spring clean up and litter collection is always encouraged, in a socially distance manner of course. 
Many thanks for your support of Province Lake. Be healthy and stay well.

Lorie for the PLA

The Spring News Letter is now available for your viewing and reading pleasure. Please be safe out there. Here is the Link. https://provincelake.org/news-2/newsletters-2/

As reported last Fall, … following the unexpected death of our Province Lake loon chick in mid-August, the body was transported to the Loon Preservation Center for examination.

They had the veterinary team at Tufts examine the bird.  The findings were:

This loon was necropsied in December at Tufts by Mark Pokras. 

1. A healthy female in good body condition (2.1 kg, precisely average for a healthy chick that age (about 33 days after hatch)).
2. No evidence of ingested fishing tackle or human-caused problems. 
3. Extensive trauma was the cause of death.  

John Cooley, Senior Biologist at LPC added:

All of the specific findings at necropsy were consistent with the observations that an intruding loon likely killed the chick.  Interestingly, this case was necropsied on the same day as another loon chick, from Kanasatka Lake in Center Harbor, NH.  In that case, people on the lake had watched a bald eagle attack the chick, so we were pretty sure of the cause, but Mark noted that the signs of trauma were very similar in the two cases.  I do not think this suggests that an eagle was the culprit at Province Lake. 

Thank you to everyone involved in monitoring last year’s nest and loon family, and in reporting the loss of the chick.  We are transferring tissue samples from this loon to UNH for cyanotoxin testing.

I know the cyanotoxin results will be of interest, because the loon chick was born and raised on Province Lake during the season when cyanobacteria were active, and I will keep you posted if I hear those results from UNH over the course of the spring and early summer. 

We hope you are enjoying fall at Province Lake.
We wanted to inform you that we will be removing the dam boards on Tuesday, Oct 15. This will allow the lake level to lower in preparation for the winter season. 
Thank you,
The PLA

PLA President, Lorie Dunne, and several other PLA board members went to the Effingham Selectmen’s meeting on September 17, 2019 to share information about the PLA and how we rely on the towns as partners in our pursuit to maintain and improve the water quality of the lake. You can watch the tape of the presentation at this link (note the PLA part starts about 20 minutes in): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtXp_xFcs10&feature=youtu.be

If you prefer, you can view the presentation by clicking HERE.

A huge thank you to all who participated in our beach clean up yesterday. In spite of some outer band Hurricane Dorian weather, we had the largest turnout ever with 26 folks who cleaned our beach along Rt 153 in little over an hour. 
We collected 5 full bags of trash and it was notable that the beach appears to be getting cleaner although firework debris, blue styrofoam bits, cigarette butts and cans are still the prevalent trash items, particularly along the Maine section of beach.
A special thanks again to the residents of the Donville, Butler Field and NH beach areas. You do a fabulous job in keeping your beach areas clean and healthy.
Again, thank you all!
The PLA

The Kayak has been returned to its owner

A Kayak was found floating in the middle of the lake this morning (8/23/19 at about 10am). The paddle was in it as well as a life jacket. The paddle, life jacket and the seat area were covered in spider webs and it had about 2 inches of water and some acorns in it as well.  It appears it hasn’t been used in a bit.  Should you think it is yours, you can contact Rick at 978-457-5346.  You will need to describe it to him and if it is yours, you can go and get it.