Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association

Web­site: www.lmpa.org         Email: lmpa.org@verizon.net

April 16, 2015

TO: Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion Members,

Lake area res­i­dents and all con­cerned residents

I am sure most of you are aware that Lake Maspenock is expe­ri­enc­ing a sig­nif­i­cant prob­lem with exces­sive aquat­ic weed growth.  In response to this prob­lem the Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion (LMPA) has been mov­ing for­ward with an aquat­ic weed man­age­ment plan.  An orga­nized plan to con­trol inva­sive and prob­lem­at­ic weed growth has been on going for over a decade.  The lat­est phase in the LMPA’s efforts to man­age this prob­lem orig­i­nat­ed from a mem­ber­ship vote tak­en in the fall of 2013.  That vote direct­ed the LMPA Exec­u­tive Board to inves­ti­gate how this prob­lem could be con­trolled, and to present a plan to do so.  An aquat­ic growth man­age­ment com­mit­tee was formed to under­take this man­date in the fall of 2014.  The com­mit­tee con­duct­ed exten­sive research into the con­trol meth­ods avail­able.  On Jan­u­ary 8, 2015 a Gen­er­al meet­ing was held by the LMPA Exec­u­tive Board to present the committee’s find­ings and rec­om­men­da­tions to the Asso­ci­a­tion mem­ber­ship.  The com­mit­tee rec­om­mend­ed the selec­tive use of her­bi­cides to bring the exces­sive weed growth under con­trol.  This rec­om­men­da­tion was unan­i­mous­ly sup­port­ed by the LMPA Exec­u­tive Board, and more impor­tant­ly, an over­whelm­ing major­i­ty of the Lake Asso­ci­a­tion members.

It is com­plete­ly under­stand­able that the thought of intro­duc­ing her­bi­cides into the lake we love is cause for seri­ous con­cern.  This course of action was not entered into with­out care­ful con­sid­er­a­tion of what options were avail­able, the effec­tive­ness of those options, the fea­si­bil­i­ty, and the safe­ty both short and long term of any options select­ed.  I urge every­one to review the infor­ma­tion on the LMPA web­site.  You will see the time line of the LMPA’s efforts in regards to this prob­lem, addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion explain­ing the time line and the con­trol meth­ods con­sid­ered, and not cho­sen, as well as what meth­ods were cho­sen, and why.  In addi­tion, there is a brief slide show avail­able which will answer many ques­tions.  Links to an exten­sive amount of sci­en­tif­ic research are also avail­able.  Again the plan being pro­mot­ed was not cho­sen light­ly.  It was expect­ed and under­stand­able that many of you would have seri­ous con­cerns, and would expect and deserve, answers to your ques­tions before being able to sup­port this plan.

If you look at the logo at the top of this let­ter you will see that it is divid­ed into four quad­rants.  Each sec­tion rep­re­sents dif­fer­ent aspects of what we all enjoy about liv­ing near the won­der­ful resource of Lake Maspenock.  Be it swim­ming, fish­ing, boat­ing, ski­ing or sim­ply enjoy­ing the wide vari­ety of wildlife, we should strive to pre­serve what our logo rep­re­sents.  Each aspect should be respect­ed and pro­tect­ed equal­ly and respon­si­bly.  It is rec­og­nized that there are dif­fer­ing views and opin­ions con­cern­ing this issue, and that we are not all going to agree.  Please review the avail­able infor­ma­tion to edu­cate your­self and to help you to eval­u­ate your posi­tion on the pro­posed plan.  Dif­fer­ing opin­ions should be respect­ed and acknowl­edged, as we are all neigh­bors, and it is hoped that we will con­tin­ue to enjoy Lake Maspenock for many years to come.  There are numer­ous ways that we all can work togeth­er to fur­ther the efforts to con­trol exces­sive plant growth, even if we do not agree on how best to accom­plish that goal.

The Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion urges your sup­port for the approved plan, which will help to pre­serve the lake in a safe and respon­si­ble way.

Thank you,

Mal­colm Page

Pres­i­dent

Lake Maspenock Preser­va­tion Association