Public asked to weigh in on changing wakesports rules for 10 Vermont lakes, including the Waterbury Reservoir

December 10, 2024  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

UPDATE: The state meetings to gather public input regarding requests to change rules for wakesports on multiple Vermont lakes were recorded with videos posted on the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Watershed Management YouTube page. The discussion of the Waterbury Reservoir petition begins just after the 2-hour mark on the first of two videos from the Dec. 12 meeting.

Kayakers paddle on the Waterbury Reservoir. Photo by Gordon Miller

At meetings this week, state officials will collect public input regarding requests to ban wakesports on 10 Vermont lakes including the Waterbury Reservoir. 

The Lakes and Ponds Program of the Department of Environmental Conservation has nine petitions from various groups around the state requesting reconsideration of new rules that went into effect this year regarding the use of wake boats for recreation. 

Nine lake associations, representing 10 lakes that are eligible for wakesports, have submitted requests to the department under the Use of Public Waters Rules. In addition to the Waterbury Reservoir, other lakes included in the requests are Lake Willoughby, Joe’s Pond, Caspian Lake and Lake Fairlee. 

On April 15, a new rule under the Use of Public Waters Rules went into effect regulating wakeboats and wakesports on Vermont’s inland lakes. The rule restricts wakesports with a wakeboat to designated zones on 30 inland lakes. 

Since the rule went into effect, multiple groups have now filed formal requests with the state to reconsider these zones and permissions on 10 lakes. 

Two meetings this week will gather public input on the subject and people may file written comments through Dec. 23 as well. 

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Batchelder explained that under the Use of Public Waters Rules, a lake association or municipality can petition the state to create a rule to address a conflict related to recreation. “The overarching goal for the state is to avoid and resolve conflicts while protecting the uses and natural resource values of all public waters,” Batchelder said. 

Waterbury Reservoir petition

The nonprofit environmental organization Friends of Waterbury Reservoir filed a 44-page petition with the state making its case to support a ban on wakesports on the reservoir. Under the new rule, people would be allowed to recreate with wakeboats in a designated 56-acre zone in the section of the reservoir referred to as the “dam arm” near the Waterbury Dam. 

Friends President Eric Chittenden said the activity presents a variety of threats: “threats to human safety, threats to the wilderness-like camping opportunities, and threats to the hard-won, carefully balanced variety of recreational activities. These threats are by far the most serious faced in the 61 years of recreational use on the reservoir,” he writes in the petition. 

“The conduct of wakesports and the use of wake boats on the Reservoir — with their enhanced, ocean-sized wakes — has a profoundly negative impact on paddlers, anglers, remote campers, and other long-standing users engaged in normal recreational activities,” the document states. 

Wake boats with their ability to move large quantities of water pose dangers to people in non-motorized and smaller water craft. Other dangers involve wildlife such as birds. The petition cites noise pollution and risks of greater introduction of invasive species from the increased boating activity. 

The document includes letters of support from local officials including select boards in Waterbury, Duxbury and Stowe; other letters are from individuals who frequent the reservoir for recreation such as fishing, paddling, camping and swimming. Others represent businesses and organizations that operate on the reservoir including Umiak Outfitters which provides canoe and kayak rentals, Green Mountain Adaptive Sports, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies which has a keen interest in loon research and preservation.    

Meeting and commenting details

The public may join the meetings online or attend in person. The first meeting is Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 4 p.m. in Newport at the Gateway Center. That will hear comments regarding petitions to ban wakesports on Great and Little Averill Lakes, Echo Lake (Charleston), Lake Parker (Glover), Shadow Lake (Glover), and Lake Willoughby. The link for that meeting is here. 

The petition regarding the Waterbury Reservoir will be heard at the second meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 12, 4:30 p.m. in Montpelier in the Dewey Conference Room at National Life. That meeting will also hear comments on petitions regarding Lake Fairlee, Caspian Lake and Joe's Pond.

The Dec. 12 meeting agenda is online here. It has links to join online as well as an online form to sign up to comment at that meeting. The agenda lists a schedule with the order of the petitions to be heard. The Waterbury Reservoir petition is scheduled to be presented at 6:15 p.m. after Caspian Lake and Lake Fairlee petitions. 

Alternatively, the public may submit written comments by email to ANR.WSMDLakes@Vermont.gov by 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 23. State officials ask that commenters include the word “wakesports” in the email subject line with the specific lake name their comments refer to.

Department of Environmental Conservation staff will consider feedback from the public meetings and public comment period and then make recommendations to the DEC Commissioner on whether any of the petitions will move forward into a formal rulemaking process.

Learn more about the nine petitions here and related information about the rulemaking process. The Waterbury Reservoir petition can be found online here. 

See a VTDigger report on the petitions to change wakesports rules here.