Sustaining Lake Opechee shores needs caring boaters

To The Daily Sun,

I am reaching out to all who live on Opechee Lake and all boaters who use and enjoy the lake. Please be a good lakefront neighbor by being mindful of your boat wake’s impact on our beautiful shoreline. We are stewards of this lake and need to cooperate to keep the lake healthy and safe.

Every spring the lake level goes up (for various reasons), but when it is at max level or above, it becomes a necessary responsibility to keep the water in the lake and not washing into yards and beaches, pulling topsoil with it as the wake recedes. Topsoil contains nitrates and phosphates which feed milfoil and algae blooms. It has been an expensive process to remove milfoil. Algae blooms can cause toxic cyanobacteria which harm people, fish and other marine wildlife. Beaches close due to this occurrence. 

Boat wakes also erode the shoreline, undercutting and weakening the ground which anchors trees and other vegetation. We who use the lake for boating in the spring need to heed to headway speed until the lake level drops to summertime levels.

Thank you for your observance. 

Jeff Paramore

Laconia