Grab your family, friends and neighbors and join in the Rte 153 Beach Clean Up on August 23rd. This will be a great opportunity to spend a short amount of time helping your lake and involving/teaching your kids too. Although it is a long beach, it shouldn’t take too long, so come out and support the Watershed Plan. See attached for more info and sign up.
Author Archives: Jon Samuelson
Baby Eagles and an Article about Loons
Thanks to some great photography from the Nickerson family, I can share with you some photo’s of two baby eagles that were in the nest along Point Road. One photo only shows one baby in the nest and the other shows the two of them on a limb .. see below. These were taken over the last couple of weeks and I am guessing they may have flown the coup by now.
Also, a fellow member forwarded the below article about Loon’s that has some good information that you should share with families and friends.
A recent NH Union Leader Story:
July 02. 2014 7:30PM
Loon activists urge boater holiday caution
DAN SEUFERT
Union Leader Correspondent
MOULTONBOROUGH — Loons may be protected by the government, but loon preservation specialists say lots of disruption and death of young birds occurs over holiday weekends.
“People see the loons, and they want to get closer because they are cute, or they don’t see them at all and they hit them crossing the lake,” said Harry Vogel, senior biologist/executive director of the Loon Preservation Committee.
This July 4th weekend, the committee is asking people to play it safe when it comes to loons on New Hampshire lakes and ponds. Vogel said boaters should stay at least 150 feet away from adult loons and their chicks.
“People may or may not see them when the loons cross the lake. We’re asking boaters to keep a close eye on what’s ahead of them,” Vogel said.“Also, when boaters see them in coves, remember that the parent loons have full-time jobs to do, and anything any of us do to disturb what they are doing can cause problems, maybe even deaths.”
Loons, a threatened species in New Hampshire, are protected by state and federal laws from hunting or harassment.
The Loon Preservation Committee was created in 1975 in response to concerns about a dramatically declining loon population and the effects of human activities on loons.
Its mission is to restore and maintain a healthy population of loons throughout New Hampshire, to monitor the health and productivity of loon populations as sentinels of environmental quality, and to promote a greater understanding of loons and the larger natural world.
For more than 35 years, the Loon Preservation Committee has undertaken state-wide monitoring, research, management and outreach to preserve loons and their habitats. The committee has a large grassroots network of more than 1,500 members and volunteers.Last year, the Loon Preservation Committee recorded 157 loon chicks hatched, but nearly a quarter of them did not survive, Vogel said.
Vogel also urged anglers to use non-leaded sinkers and avoid poisoning the birds.The Legislature has ruled that all lead sinkers under 1 ounce must be replaced with non-lead sinkers by 2016.
WILLIAM CARTER said:
The use or sale of lead sinkers weighing one ounce or less is already illegal in New Hampshire, as is the use or sale of lead jigs (weighted fishhooks) less than one inch long.
See pages 10 and 11 of Fish & Game’s Freshwater Fishing Guide for 2014, which is on line at:
http://www.eregulations.com/
What will change June 1, 2016, is that it will become illegal to use or sell lead jigs more than one inch long.
See the law at http://www.gencourt.state.nh.
If you are hosting or meeting visitors from other states who will be fresh-water fishing in New Hampshire, don’t let them be caught unaware, and help protect New Hampshire’s loons.
July 4, 2014 10:48 am
PLA Boat Parade Is Back!
A fellow laker has offered to organize the PLA Boat parade … it has been several years since we have had the fourth of July boat parade, so it is nice we are going to give it another go.
The parade will be this coming Saturday the 5th of July and will start at 1:00 over near the Province Shores Campground.
So, get the kids and family together and get your boat all decked out and meet up over near the campground … its a great way to show your lake and American spirit.
Watershed Action Plan Q&A Document Available!
The Q&A doc we created based on the input from several members and other area folks in regards to the Watershed Action Plan can be viewed by clicking the link below. The draft version of the Action Plan was created at a meeting in mid January. In order to get input from those not able to attend the meeting we gathered comments, questions and suggestions via phone and e-mail. Thanks to all that contributed. Some of the comments/suggestions resulted in edits to the action plan and the attached is the answers to the questions that came in. Several questions were similar, so the wording may not be exactly what an individual had asked as we tried to consolidate them. As always, any further comments, questions, suggestions or concerns you may have in regards to the Watershed Plan or anything else are always appreciated. There will be more coming in regards to the Watershed Plan specifically as we look to have the final report ready for the Annual Meeting on July 19. Here is the link:
Save the Date and Help Needed
We hope many of you can attend the Invasive Species event described in the attached. I believe most of you are aware that invasive species (particularly milfoil) can get into our lake and are already in some of the area lakes. Milfoil can grow in waters as deep as 16 to 17 feet (the maximum depth of Province lake). If it ever gets into Province Lake, we could never get rid of it. The milfoil issue is as much of a concern as the cyanobacteria blooms we have been having.
Even if you can’t attend the June session, we need your help to keep invasive species out of our lake. The PLA has a lake host program to inspect boats during peak hours at the launch ramp. We can’t afford paid lake hosts to cover the ramp all the times, so volunteers willing to inspect boats, even for a few hours over the summer, would be helpful. We also have a weed watch program that could use more volunteers to help inspect the lake once a month. More importantly, we need someone to be the weed watch program coordinator. Coordinator duties include: assuring we have a volunteer for each section of the shore, and getting regular feedback from those people.
Please, please, please .. if you are willing to help, the PLA and our Lake need you. To volunteer or discuss any of the above please e-mail president@provincelake.org or call 207-200-3234
UNH’s Dr. Haney Returns for Winter Water Sampling
It has been a very long winter up this way as I am guessing it has for lots of you. As you may recall, Dr. Jim Haney of UNH’s Center for Fresh Water Biology and his class of students visited the lake in September of 2013 to get some lake samples and do some tests … you can read more about that by clicking the link below:
Well, Dr. Haney and a couple of his assistants returned to the lake on Thursday, the 28th of March 2014 to get some more samples during the winter. The Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance (AWWA), one of our partners in the watershed plan development, has posted a nice write up, photos and videos that you can enjoy at this link:
For those wondering how thick the ice is, watch the video of the auger cutting the hole in the ice and see how far he goes …. I think it will be a while for ice out!
Watershed Draft Action Plan Posted
The meeting presentation from the January 18, 2014 Watershed Action Planning meeting and the resultant draft action plan are posted below in PDF format. We are looking for questions/comments/recommendations etc. from any and all that read these. Since we are looking to finalize the action plan and keep the planning process moving forward we request that any comments etc. be sent to president@provincelake.org no later than Friday the 7th of March 2014.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts and interest in helping to protect our lake.
The Watershed Steering Committee
Watershed Survey Report and Septic Survey Report Posted
The survey results of the Watershed Survey conducted on May 18, 2013 and the survey results of the Septic Survey conducted on August 24, 2013 have been completed and are linked below for your reading pleasure. The Watershed Survey also includes a Summary document which is a short 2 pager.
The full text versions of both have some very good information about the watershed and the lake and both are a pretty easy and short read.
Enjoy and should you have any questions, you can e-mail us at PLAwatershed@provincelake.org or call us at 207-200-3234.
Province Lake Watershed Survey Report
January 18, 2014 – Watershed Action Planning Meeting
The Province Lake Association (PLA) in conjunction with the Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance (AWWA), FB Environmental Associates and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES) will hold a Province Lake Watershed Action Planning Meeting on Saturday January 18, 2014 from 9 am to noon (registration at 8:30) at the Greater Wakefield Resource Center, 254 Main Street, Union, NH. Forrest Bell and Jen Jespersen from FB Environmental Associates will present a summary of our Watershed Management Plan which includes the results from the Watershed and Septic Surveys conducted this past summer. More importantly – we would like to gather your input about what you think the critical components are to incorporate into the plan as we move towards the future of protecting Province Lake.
This meeting is the next phase of work resulting from a watershed assistance grant awarded by NH DES to the PLA. The end result will be a management plan for the Province Lake watershed. Once the plan is complete, future grant funds will be available to support local projects for the implementation of the recommended action items.
Community leaders from the three towns surrounding Province Lake (Effingham, NH, Wakefield, NH and Parsonsfield, ME) are encouraged to participate. A key to local economic vitality (including property values and tourism) is clean water. Having the perspectives of the community decision makers is essential to creating a useful and relevant document that will help guide future planning decisions relating to protecting the water quality of Province Lake. The best and most effective plans are those with the most community input.
All interested community members are encouraged to lend their voice to this process. Please share this invitation with your friends, neighbors and/or other interested parties. Snacks and lunch will be provided. To facilitate our planning, we request that you please RSVP by calling the Province Lake Association at 207 200-3234 or e-mail to president@provincelake.org . Additional information regarding the Watershed Plan can be found on the this website.
2014 Annual Meeting Scheduled
Mark your calendars! The 2014 Annual Meeting has been scheduled for July 19, 2014 from 9am to noon at Province Lake Golf. In addition, this will be the final Watershed Plan Public Meeting, the entire community is invited. The Province Lake Association wants to again thank Province Lake Golf for their support of the association by offering us their facility for our meeting. We encourage all that golf to please also support the golf course.