Category: Uncategorized

According to Wikipedia, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen “is widely regarded as the foremost playwright of the nineteenth century.” He also coined the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” So, you may ask, why is RWVL talking about Ibsen in this newsletter? Well, we aren’t, at least not directly. But we are talking about…

Time goes by and the public is still waiting for the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to publish its final rule. While acknowledging that everyone feels frustrated by the delay, perhaps we can breathe hope into the fact that this process is taking so long. After all, there were so many public comments made in…

Bob Popp, a 30-year veteran botanist of Vermont’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, weighs in on the need to manage wake boats — he recommends a ban on Vermont’s lakes and ponds. Read Bob’s comments to the Lakes and Ponds Division of the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and send us back your comments.  Bob Popp eating…

The common loon is a favorite species of many Vermonters. It is also “… a species of greatest conservation need in Vermont …”, according to the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) and Audubon Vermont. This is in part because loons typically nest only two to eight inches above the water level and within two feet…

Last May, paddler Chip Stone spoke out loud and strong in his compelling VT Digger piece, Wake Boats Are a Genuine Threat to Paddlers. In addition to his love of paddling, Chip is a former state legislator, former commissioner of economic development, and a retired banker. Chip knows his stuff. In his VT Digger piece, he noted that, “Vermont…

This is a question we’ve been asking ourselves for the last several weeks as we await the ANR’s final decision on changes to the Use of Public Water Rules regarding wake boats. This is also a question many of you — our supporters — have been asking us for nearly a month. We don’t have insight into where ANR is…

The weak regulation of wakesports proposed by the Agency of Natural Resources — 500-feet from shore instead of RWVL’s 1,000-feet from shore — would allow wakesports on some of Vermont’s small, crowded, and vulnerable lakes. Lakes where wakesports do not belong. We describe in this newsletter some of the 16 lakes that would suffer under…

How far does it take for a wake surfer’s wake to dissipate to a safe height? This is a question we should have been asking all along. An interesting source of information that may help us answer this important question comes from the industry-sponsored experimental study conducted by Clifford Goudey and his associates on a…

…in Vermont Lakes. By Phil Logsdon of Sunset Lake. As a University Physics professor, I am pleased when science is applied to decision-making. Those studying appropriate distance from shorelines for wakesports have heard strong biology and ecology science arguments for a 1,000-foot restriction. That science is extremely compelling.  Because physics predicts significant adverse consequences of any…

We, the people of Vermont, many years ago entrusted you, the Agency of Natural Resources, through our elected representatives in the General Assembly, to preserve and protect those traditional enjoyments of our lakes and ponds, including swimming, boating, fishing, and the enjoyment of nature, for the benefit of current and future generations. You, the Agency,…