June 2011: Contact Your Local Legislators... Tell them to support the Lake Hopatcong Commission!
Senator Anthony Bucco announced June 23rd that he inserted $600,000 into the state budget to fund the Lake Hopatcong Commission. As you may already be aware, the Lake Hopatcong Commission has struggled to continue its weed harvesting operations due to lack of funding from the state.
Please contact your representatives today and ask them to support the Lake Hopatcong Commission. Please let them know that it is vital that the Lake Hopatcong Commission receive its due funding from the state. A sample message can be found below and a list of representatives can be found here:
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/districtnumbers.asp
The deadline to enact the state budget is Thursday June 30th. Please contact your representatives TODAY!
DRAFT LETTER TO YOUR LEGISLATORS
Dear __________:
I am writing today to respectfully request that you support funding for the Lake Hopatcong Commission in this year’s upcoming state budget.
Lake Hopatcong is a vital part of the environment and economy in New Jersey, and requires maintenance and upkeep to maintain its viability. The Lake Hopatcong Commission is a state commission decreed to oversee and safeguard Lake Hopatcong as a natural, scenic, and recreational resource to ensure that the lake may be enjoyed to the fullest possible measure by citizens of, and visitors to, the State both now and in the future. The Lake Hopatcong Commission does not have any further funds to support its operation and therefore may no longer be capable of maintaining and overseeing the environment of Lake Hopatcong.
I am one of the more than 5,000 users who enjoy Lake Hopatcong each season, and I am a member of the Lake Hopatcong Alliance. I respectfully request that you support funding for the Lake Hopatcong Commission in this year’s state budget.
Sincerely,
Your name
Address
December 2010: Help Protect Lake Hopatcong's most precious resource - water!
The new draft of the Lake Hopatcong Water Level Management Plan is now available for public review and comment. Please click here to read the plan. Water is our lake’s most important resource and the LHA believes we must be here to help protect it.
In response to previous water level management issues, a Citizens’ Advisory Committee was formed last year by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to review and revise Lake Hopatcong’s Water Level Management Plan, and the Lake Hopatcong Alliance was pleased to have representatives on this committee.
We greatly appreciate the Citizen’s Advisory Committee’s time and effort in arriving at what we believe is a great improvement to previous water management plans. However, the LHA has several concerns about the new draft plan, which we believe need to be addressed and remedied in order to safeguard our lake. Click here to read the LHA's concerns about the draft plan, which are detailed on our "Lake Hopatcong Issues" page.
We urge you to take a moment to read the draft plan for yourself, and then contact the NJ DEP with your comments and concerns - a suggested letter can be found below, which you can simply cut, copy and paste into an email and then send to Larry Baier (larry.baier@dep.state.nj.us) of the NJDEP.
In addition, we highly recommend you attend the LHC’s special meeting in January 2011 where your public comments about the draft Lake Hopatcong Water Management Plan are critical to assuring Lake Hopatcong is protected. We will contact you as soon as we learn the date for this important meeting.
NOW is the time to make sure that the water management plan for Lake Hopatcong truly protects our lake’s water quality and environment for the future. NOW is the time to make sure we get this plan right. Please make time to have your voice heard and protect Lake Hopatcong’s future!
DRAFT LETTER to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
December 2010
Mr. Lawrence Baier
Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement
Mail Code 401-04C
P.O. Box 420
Trenton, NJ 08625-0420
via email: larry.baier@dep.state.nj.us
Dear Mr. Baier:
I am writing today to express several concerns with the 2011 Lake Hopatcong Water Management Plan draft.
The draft plan does not lawfully follow the statutory obligations (NJSA 13:12-5) imposed on the NJDEP, which states:
“The waters of Lake Hopatcong may be used as an aquatic public park, for boating, bathing, fishing, and winter sports, and the lake level shall be maintained for such purposes at the normal high water mark as established on March eleven, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two, natural elements permitting.”
The above statute clearly establishes the NJDEP’s responsibility as maintaining Lake Hopatcong waters at a specific level; the draft plan violates this law by adhering to a “minimum passing flow” of 12 cubic feet per second (cfs), which knowingly draws the lake below the legal water level height directed by the state statute.
Water quality, water volume, and the lake’s environmental health are intrinsically related to water level and should therefore be a primary focus of Lake Hopatcong’s water management plan. The draft plan is virtually silent regarding the adverse water quality and environmental impacts to Lake Hopatcong resulting from the “minimum passing flow requirement” of 12 cfs, which burdens our environment by unnaturally depleting Lake Hopatcong’s water levels every year. The continuation of the 12cfs minimum passing flow promotes the degradation of Lake Hopatcong’s environment resulting from lower lake levels.
The LHA believes it would be environmentally irresponsible and potentially in conflict with NJDEP statutory obligations to ignore the environmental impacts of water level to Lake Hopatcong in this draft plan.
I am one of the more than 5,000 users who enjoy Lake Hopatcong each season, and I am a member of the Lake Hopatcong Alliance. I respectfully request that you develop a Water Level Management Plan that considers the binding law and manages the water level in a manner that protects the environmental quality of Lake Hopatcong.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Your name
Address
August 2010: Help Protect Lake Hopatcong from Water Chestnut
Help prevent the spread of Water Chestnut, an extremely aggressive, non-native plant that is rapidly taking over nearby Lake Musconetcong. The first step is to learn how to identify the plant. Second, if you find the plant on Lake Hopatcong, please contact the Lake Hopatcong Commission immediately at (973) 601-1070.
For pictures of Water Chestnut and more information, please click here to visit the Lake Hopatcong Commission's website. To download a .pdf guide to identifying and reporting Water Chestnut, please click here.
