This commentary is by Chip Stone of East Montpelier, a former state legislator, former commissioner of economic development, and a retired banker.
Do you paddle a canoe, kayak or paddleboard? Do you row or sail a small boat? Are you an angler or do you enjoy open water swimming? If your answer to any of these is yes, you will be interested in the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s proposal for rules governing the use of wake boats on Vermont’s lakes and ponds.
What is a wake boat? It is a large motorboat with substantial ballast tanks that sink it low in the water. With a 400- to 600-horsepower motor, it slowly plows a huge wake — 3 to 6 feet high — with a following wave chain. The waves are large enough to surf on, and also large enough to capsize or swamp small boats anywhere close by.
And every year these machines get larger and more powerful.
As these boats become more common, they will necessarily preclude the safe use of Vermont’s open waters by paddlers, anglers and small sailing craft that have traditionally used our lakes and ponds.
In response, a group of Vermonters organized as Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes asked the state for a set of rules regulating wake boats. Using detailed scientific and economic analysis, they proposed to the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation rules that would limit wake boats to waters that were more than 1,000 feet from shorelines and more than 20 feet deep.
Such a rule would limit wake boat use to 15 lakes (plus Champlain, Memphremagog and the Connecticut River reservoirs) . It would reduce phosphorus churning and pollution from downward-facing props. It would reduce shoreline erosion and dock damage. And it would create a beltway around permitted lakes and ponds for safe use by paddlers, sailors and swimmers.
This proposal began the discussion. The Department of Environmental Conservation countered by proposing a weaker rule that would require a 500-foot setback and would allow wake boats on twice as many lakes. This will necessarily prevent traditional users — paddlers, anglers, sailors, swimmers — from safely using the open waters near operating wake boats.
Forget about swimming across your favorite lake or sending your child out on your Sunfish sailboat. The state’s proposal will limit safe traditional uses to a narrow corridor around the wake boat zones. And it will result in disruption and damage to nearby docks and shoreline ecosystems.
Compared to the Responsible Wakes for Vermont Lakes proposal, it is a sizable plus for a small group of wake boat users and a sizable minus for all other traditional users.
There is a third option that has been suggested by many to the Department of Environmental Conservation, but would require legislation. It would call for allowing wake boats on the open waters of Lake Champlain, Lake Memphremagog and the Connecticut River lakes and would prohibit them from all other inland lakes and ponds.
Such a rule would allow the continued use of all of Vermont’s lakes and ponds by traditional paddle, sail and angling craft without restriction or risk of wake boat-related accidents. It would also assure the best protection of our shorelines and minimize phosphorus pollution. And it could be easily enforced. (Both of the prior options will be difficult if not impossible to enforce).
Of the three proposals, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s option would be the most limiting and least safe to traditional users and would result in the most shoreline damage, including docks.
The limitation of wake boats to Champlain, Memphremagog and the Connecticut River reservoirs would best assure the continued safe enjoyment of our lakes and ponds by the thousands of us who paddle, sail, angle and swim.
Vermont has a long history of innovative laws to protect the environment and civil rights. We kept billboards from our highways; we created the bottle bill; we enacted Act 250; and we were the first step to recognize civil unions. We should be strong enough to protect our lakes and ponds for traditional use.
If this issue is of interest to you, exploring the ResponsibleWakes.org website will be useful. At the bottom of the site’s home page, you can sign up for a free email to keep informed about the issue.
And if you have an opinion about the best solution for those of us who use Vermont’s lakes and ponds, please convey it to your state representative and senators.
