{"id":1339,"date":"2024-05-02T08:09:09","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T12:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2024-05-02T08:30:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T12:30:59","slug":"anrs-first-in-the-nation-state-wide-wake-boat-rule-effective-april-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/?p=1339","title":{"rendered":"ANR\u2019s First-in-the-Nation State-wide Wake Boat Rule Effective April 15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With little fanfare, the ANR\u2019s new rule for managing wake boats on Vermont\u2019s inland lakes and ponds quietly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dec.vermont.gov\/watershed\/lakes-ponds\/maps-wake-sports-areas-based-proposed-rule-conditions#:~:text=Starting%20April%2015%2C%202024%2C%20wakesports,Use%20of%20Public%20Waters%20Rules.\">went into effect on April 15, 2024<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;This followed a 7 to 1 vote in favor by the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) at their February 14 meeting.<sup>\u2020<\/sup>&nbsp;The new rule includes three important changes described below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It defines a wake boat as a&nbsp;<em>\u201cmotorboat that has one or more ballast tanks, ballast bags or other devices or design features used to increase the size of the motorboat&#8217;s wake.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It includes a \u201cHome Lake Rule\u201d provision, which states that during the summer boating season, wake boats must remain in the same lake (the designated home lake) unless decontaminated by an ANR-certified service provider.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It restricts wake sport activities on Vermont\u2019s inland lakes and ponds to areas where: <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">            \u2022 The water depth is at least 20&nbsp;feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">            \u2022 The wake boat\u2019s distance from shore is at least&nbsp;500&nbsp;feet; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">            \u2022 The wake sport zone (determined by 1 and 2 above) is more than 50&nbsp;acres.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:85% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"530\" src=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tom-Wards-Fairlee-Photo-of-lake-activite-1024x530.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1343 size-full\" srcset=\"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tom-Wards-Fairlee-Photo-of-lake-activite-1024x530.png 1024w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tom-Wards-Fairlee-Photo-of-lake-activite-300x155.png 300w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tom-Wards-Fairlee-Photo-of-lake-activite-768x397.png 768w, http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Tom-Wards-Fairlee-Photo-of-lake-activite.png 1286w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is important to note that the implementation of the&nbsp;new rule in no way impacts normal, traditional motorized boat usage, including fishing, waterskiing, tubing, pontoon boating, etc.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that the&nbsp;Responsible&nbsp;Wakes for Vermont Lakes (RWVL) petition has been acted on, the RWVL&nbsp;team has been working with interested&nbsp;lake associations in developing petitions to strengthen wake boat&nbsp;management rules on individual&nbsp;lakes (<a href=\"https:\/\/dec.vermont.gov\/document\/vermont-use-public-waters-rules\">as allowed by DEC rulemaking<\/a>).&nbsp;To date, five petitions representing six Vermont inland lakes have been filed. These may be found online at:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dec.vermont.gov\/watershed\/lakes-ponds\/lakes-and-ponds-rulemaking\">https:\/\/dec.vermont.gov\/watershed\/lakes-ponds\/lakes-and-ponds-rulemaking<\/a>.&nbsp;Several additional petitions are being prepared. All the aforementioned petitions have been submitted by lakes where wake sports are permitted (a total of&nbsp;30 lakes permit wake sports).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For those wishing to review the documents leading up to the adoption of the new DEC rule, the RWVL\u2019s original March 2022 petition and the ANR responses from the formal\/final review process have been&nbsp;posted on&nbsp;the \u201c<em>Use of Public Waters Decisions listed by Year<\/em>\u201d<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>website<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>at:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dec.vermont.gov\/watershed\/laws\/upw-decisions\">https:\/\/dec.vermont.gov\/watershed\/laws\/upw-decisions<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Click on 2024 for the most important documents related this year\u2019s new rule.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><sup>\u2020<\/sup><\/strong>Click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hKninyM6Zkg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>&nbsp;to see the video of LCAR\u2019s ~20-minute discussion and final 7:1 vote approving ANR\u2019s wake boating rule, i.e., from video start time 8:30 to end time 29:00).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For questions, comments, or help with your individual lake petition, contact RWVL at&nbsp;<a href=\"about:blank\">responsiblewakesvt@gmail.com<\/a>. We are eager to provide this information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With little fanfare, the ANR\u2019s new rule for managing wake boats on Vermont\u2019s inland lakes and ponds quietly&nbsp;went into effect on April 15, 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;This followed a 7 to 1 vote in favor by the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) at their February 14 meeting.\u2020&nbsp;The new rule includes three important changes described below: \u2022 The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1345,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/1345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/responsiblewakes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}