Echo Lake is proud to be the first recipient of the Vermont Gold Lake Wise Award.
Lake Wise is an education and outreach program funded by Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources that rewards lakefront homeowners who manage their land to protect water quality and habitat and assists those who are working towards that goal. The program is free, non-regulatory, and voluntary. Homeowners receive individualized suggestions for adopting Lake Wise practices to prevent the threat to Echo’s water quality caused by heavy rains or snow melt thereby keeping runoff and pollutants from stormwater out of lake waters. Properties that protect the lake and meet Lake Wisestandards earn the coveted Lake Wise Award, consisting of a distinctive sign that can be posted on their property. The sign identifies the homes of good stewards and demonstrates what lake-friendly living looks like.
Property owners not yet meeting the Lake Wise standards receive recommendations for what they can do to reduce erosion and protect their lake. Whether it’s installing a dripline trench around a structure, reducing lawn size and maintenance, adding more plants to a shoreline buffer, using infiltration steps, or meandering pathways, and other best management practices to slow the flow, there is always something landowners can do to reduce their impact on Echo. Here is a link to Best Management Practices:
https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/lakeshores-lake-wise/bmp
Echo Lake is proud to be the first recipient of the Gold Lake Wise Award, presented to lakes that have a minimum of 15% of shoreland owners receiving the Lake Wise Award. Only 3 lakes have obtained this recognition. Echo Lake’s shoreland owners have continued to manage their properties to meet the Lake Wise standard with more than 60% of its frontage classified as Lake Wise, the most of any lake in Vermont.
For more information on Lake Wise visit :
https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/lakeshores-lake-wise/what
Why is it important to have a lake friendly property?
Recent Vermont lake science from the National Lake Assessment conducted by the EPA shows that Vermont ranked lowest in the northeast ecoregion and in the nation for degraded shoreland disturbance. Shoreland disturbance can be directly related to degraded water quality and aquatic habitat.
Most importantly, Echo Lake’s phosphorus levels are rising at an alarming rate. Phosphorus is a naturally occurring element that feeds lake algae, a healthy part of any lake ecosystem. But too much phosphorus can put a lake out of balance, feeding massive algae blooms that smell terrible, turn water green, degrade wildlife habitat, and potentially harm human and pet health.
You can find phosphorus in lots of places – pet waste, fertilizers, household cleaners, motor oil – none of which should ever find their way into a lake. But the biggest source of phosphorus is sand and soil that is washed into a lake after a rain event. Thus, we need everyone to pitch in and help protect the beauty of our lake by maintaining a shoreline that helps prevent pollutants from entering our beautiful lake.
If you would like information about how to the make your property lake friendly, email: echolakewise@gmail.com
Echo Lake’s first recipients, John and Carolyn Simsarian, received the lake Wise Award from Amy Picotte Vt Department of Environmental Conservation.
