Dear Fellow Forum Members,
If you care about the future of loons on Winnipesaukee, please send an email supporting this petition to the Commissioner of Safety, by way of
safety-hearings@safety.state.nh.us
I would also appreciate it if you could please cc that email to me at
patenter@metrocast.net
Make sure the petition includes your name and address, or it will not be counted. If you have had some link to or history with Black Cove, or to the protection of loons in general, please explain that. If you have witnessed the outrageous activities in Black Cove this summer, please describe those experiences. But try not to be too emotional or wordy.
We in Black Cove and surrounding region support the right of boaters to “raft” and do not aim to take that away. Lake Winnipesaukee is obviously a recreational lake and will always be one. We know that our region’s economy depends on boating. Although we do feel that our rights to use and enjoy the Cove and Lake are being infringed by these rafters, that is our problem to fight and we do not expect outside support over that issue. But the loons need more support than we alone can muster. We will face strong opposition from organized boating associations, most based out of state, and from boating rights activists whose last concern is the threatened common loon. In fact, the lake would be a better place for many of these people if loons were extirpated from the lake altogether. But Winnipesaukee has almost 50,000 acres, with thousands of other quiet coves, hundreds of shallow areas where nobody yet resides, and many popular destinations for partying groups to go. Almost none of those are loon nesting sites, loon brooding sites, or loon sanctuaries, and none are like Black Cove.
Black Cove is less than 7 acres. That’s less than 14 hundred thousandths of the Lake. Yet it is the number one loon producer in the state, by a large margin. It is not only the “rafting” that is threatening these loons, it is also the illegal activities that the rafters bring with them, that are a natural and unavoidable extension of rafting, and that the Marine Patrol has proven unable to stop. They have tried, but the shape and location of the Cove make it nearly impossible to the MP to approach without being seen and to witness the behavior that we see from within the Cove. Behavior that CANNOT continue if the loons are to remain. In fact, it was the Director of the Marine Patrol who suggested that we file this petition, after proving unable to protect the cove through enforcement of existing laws.
Consider that there were only nine successful loon pairs on Winnipesaukee this year, including Black Cove’s. And that the “batting average” of our few territorial pairs is only 0.48 chicks per year over the last decade or so. This means that when two loons have been lucky enough to make it through their first four years and return to mate up on Winni, and are even more lucky enough to secure one of the nineteen possible loon territories on the lake, even then, they still have less than half of a chance to actually lay an egg, hatch it, and raise it to fledge. THE BLACK COVE PAIR PROUCED 18 CHICKS OVER THE LAST DECADE. THAT’S AN ASTOUNDING 1.50 "BATTING AVERAGE" OVER THE SAME PERIOD. This is more than 3 TIMES the average, and is so far above the next that it makes the value of Black Cove to the future of loons on Winnipesaukee just indisputable. Black Cove is far and away the most prolific and most important loon producer and loon sanctuary in the entire state.
And this is typical year after year. While the other territories hope to raise one chick each summer, we get concerned in the years, like 2004, when the Black Cove pair does not raise two. The following link to some data posted by an LPC summer intern
http://www.unity.edu/sarihou/2002/gcolligan/map2.jpg
shows that in 2002, as is usual, there were only 7 successful breedings on Winni. As is also usual, Black Cove produced two chicks again that year. That’s 2 of the Lake's 8 fledglings that year, or ONE QUARTER of Winnipesaukee’s entire loon production!!! Notice that the other six successful nests (yellow dots) exist only in the deepest reaches along the northeastern shore of the Lake. Black Cove is the only successful sanctuary in the entire southeastern ¾ of the Lake. Do you think you should have to go to Lee’s Mill to see a loon chick next year?
The Common Loon is NH’s state bird, yet we typically raise less than ten chicks on the state’s biggest and most suitable lake. This is why it is so solidly planted on the threatened species list. LESS THAN TEN CHICKS ON A 50000 ACRE LAKE! Surely the state can set aside the most productive 7 acres from activities that this bird can simply not tolerate.
We who live in and around Black Cove have grown to limit and time our recreation to avoid adverse impact on these loons. We have sacrificed many of our rights for the benefit and well-being of these loons. We have invested hundreds of hours towards these birds. We claim no special rights over the cove, but just want to see it remain the rare and special place that it has become, to see our investment in these birds protected. We do not want to see all of our hard work and sacrifice wasted so that a few selfish boaters can practice their right to party in a loon sanctuary.
The rafters who have recently begun to frequent Black Cove are going to ruin this cove’s ability to harbor loons in very short order. One more year like this one will surely be the last for loons in Black Cove. The rafters bring with them jet skis and ski boats and water ballons. They bring with them illegal activities that the MP cannot prevent or stop. Litter accidently blows off their boats and sinks to the bottom where the loons feed. They drink and play loud music from early morning until after dark, and surely must be peeing in the tiny shallow cove all day long. If anyone of a truly open mind had witnessed the behavior of this past summer, then they would not have any argument over this petition….even the most staunch supporters of boating rights and rafting.
I think any opposition to this petition that is based on an unwillingness to surrender boating rights even in this tiny loon cove can only serve to show the true and selfish face of those who put their right to party wherever they wish over something so precious as the survival of a loon chick. I rafted for years before we moved to Black Cove. But I would never have even considered rafting in a loon sanctuary, or being so bold as to argue for my right to do so. And in my day, neither would anyone else. Anyone who argues against this petition, and thereby argues in favor of dropping anchor in the middle of a loon sanctuary, the state’s most prolific and important loon sanctuary, should be ashamed.
Please email to the commisioner to support our effort.
Frank Marino.
Black Cove, Meredith