The following article appeared in the Conway Daily Sun.

Ossipee—June 24, 2025—It was the first of its kind, an opportunity to come together for the common good and betterment of Ossipee Lake and all those who live there. On Sunday, June 9, the Friends of Ossipee Lake held a gathering of more than 60 people at the Calumet Lutheran Ministries Conference Center.

The Friends of Ossipee Lake are a newly formed group with representatives from some of the larger bays and associations surrounding Ossipee and operate under the non-profit umbrella of Ossipee Lake Alliance.

The purpose of the gathering was to build a greater dialogue and awareness of the need to protect and care for the lake, its loon population, and natural land and water habitat.

Guests included local public officials who were invited from the various departments and Conservation Commissions within the towns of Ossipee, Freedom, and Effingham. Among those who attended were Ossipee Selectman Kyle Copeland, Dawn and Brad Marion of the Ossipee Conservation Commission, Kate Alexander from the Ossipee Planning Board, State Rep. Brian Taylor, Freedom Conservation Commission Chair Jeff Nicoll and members Susan Marks and Susan Hoople, Caroline Hughes from the Loon Preservation Committee, and Nancy Ritger, executive director of the Green Mountain Conservation Group.

Gloria Villari, Friends of Ossipee Lake representative, offered opening remarks. She said, “We gather as like-minded people to conserve and protect the natural habitat on the lake. We need to work together as a whole. We need to be together and talk about issues together.”

During the event, Villari and Copeland honored the memory of George W. Eisener with a plaque for his commitment to the Ossipee Lake community.

“Mr. Eisener was well known for his love of Ossipee and his desire to safeguard the natural resources, and waterfront properties,” Copeland said.

Eisener, who passed away in 2019, bequeathed $2 million to the town of Ossipee Conservation Commission to be used by the town to acquire land for conservation purposes. With those funds in hand, the Ossipee Board of Selectmen purchased Loon Island in Leavitt Bay in October 2024 for $250,000, for conservation purposes.

The land is less than an acre in size and undeveloped except for a loon nesting site. Although Mark Eisener, son of George, was unable to attend the event, George’s nephew Keven Eisener, accepted the plaque on behalf of the family. The land will now be known as the G.W. Eisener Loon Island.

Villari was joined by Dennis Gould, an independent local volunteer who works closely with the Loon Preservation Committee to ensure the safety and well-being of the loon population on the lake.

Gould has volunteered countless hours monitoring the loons on Ossipee Lake and communicating with the Loon Preservation Committee in Moultonborough.

The Loon Preservation Committee monitors 350 lakes across the state. According to Hughes, on average, the lakes have volunteers who want to help and provide everyday information to the committee. “On other lakes it is more formal,” Hughes said. “Some lake associations have designated positions such as a lake liaison.”

Squam Lake has been the most intensively studied lake in New Hampshire in recent years, according to Hughes, with a significant population decline in the early 2000’s that resulted in the loss of half of the loon population. This resulted in greater studies and a Squam biologist from the Loon Preservation Committee that was assigned to the lake.

Most lakes, however, such as Ossipee Lake, Conway Lake and Silver Lake in the area, do not have a single issue. Rather, Hughes said, “They face co-occurring stressors such as lead and people who are unfamiliar with the needs of the loons as they habitat and nest on the lake.

Gould, who is known affectionately as the Ossipee Loon Guy, said there currently are 33 loons living on the lake with three active nests already located. Gould goes out regularly to check on them as they arrive, follows them through their nesting period, putting up signs until they hatch, and monitoring them throughout the summer.

As part of the event, Gould hoped to educate the local town officials about the loon management and even hosted a pontoon boat ride out to several of the nesting sites to witness their progress after the event.

Caroline Hughes, a biologist for the Loon Preservation Committee, cited several current challenges for nesting loons that threaten their survival rates.

“Loons build their nests close to the water’s edge. This can be precarious due to water level fluctuations, either by floods or droughts. There is also human disturbance, when people, including boaters get too close,” she said.

Hughes reminded the audience that humans are expected to stay 150 feet away from the nests by boat or on land. Shoreline development is also a threat. In this case, loons are forced out from their natural sites.

“We are grateful to the Eisener family for Loon Island and the protected land for the long-term nesting it provides,” she said.

In addition to predators such as eagles and mammals (including humans), water and land contaminants are a tremendous threat to loon eggs and are widespread. The single largest threat, however, is lead fishing tackle. According to Hughes, between 1989-2024, the No. 1 cause of loon deaths was the result of ingesting lead tackles.

Among the Loon Preservation Committee’s activities on the lakes is to provide float signs warning boaters of the loon sanctuaries, live loon-cams via loon.org/looncam, and conducting public education and outreach across the state.

In a phone interview prior to the event, Villari said that the loons are indicative of how the lake is doing.

“We are facing some crisis points with lake management,” Villari said. “We want to spread information about what is good for the lake and what is not,” she added.

Villari cited the governance of the lake by the three towns, Ossipee, Freedom and Effingham, and the need to come together with a common vision and education to the residents and visitors who use the lake.

“So, now it is up to us. The lake is critically important to the health of the region,” she said.

Among the issues, in addition to loon protection, is the safety and management of the lake through enforcement of rules and regulations for boating, and land protections. Ossipee Selectman Kyle Copeland also extended his vision for bringing together all the different boards and those organizations under the Ossipee Lake Alliance together.

In a phone interview, Copeland said, “What is important to all the organizations and has taken off is that we share similar things amongst the memberships. We have a lot in common with what we want to see,” he said. “People are getting involved from local officials and the state, and we have a bigger voice,” he added.

Copeland, a resident of Leavitt Bay and president of the Broad-Leavitt Bay Association, said that the lake has changed in the past decade.

“The weekend people will tell you they don’t want to go out anymore on the weekends,” he said. Last summer, he counted over 1000 boats going by, largely because there are many private locations to access the lake in addition to the two public boat ramps.

“It’s almost at a tipping point with the quality of aquatic invasive species and the lack of civility,” he said.

Copeland identified several major areas of concern including the number of public boat docks, campground expansions, and the need for law enforcement. According to Copeland, the Department of Environmental Safety put together an Ossipee Lake standing committee that tried for years to enforce rules.

“All of these rules are broken all day long every day,” he said. “It’s a problem everywhere and this is a byproduct. I’m just a realist that this is getting worse year by year. It is breaking my heart. We can’t seem to get any help.”

In 2024, the Ossipee Lake Alliance published an article about natural area enforcement. In the article, it states: “For reasons that have become obvious to the stakeholders, New Hampshire Forest and Lands alone cannot address the issue of boaters who openly defy the ‘No Trespassing’ signs and recreate on sections of the remote shoreline that have been set aside for conservation.

“That’s because the agency’s law enforcement officials are forest rangers, who are in short supply, and whose primary responsibility is fighting fires.”

The article also noted that the lake’s other enforcement agency, Marine Patrol, is prohibited by state rules from assisting the Rangers in enforcing the Natural Area’s site regulations.

Loon Island is among the areas where enforcement is a concern. “The Ossipee police have jurisdiction, but they don’t even have a boat,” Copeland said. “We’ve just got yellow ‘no trespassing signs’. We’re working with the Friends of Ossipee Lake to get the word out about the loon nesting sites.”

As a selectman, Copeland is advocating for the health and safety of the lake from all perspectives. “There are so many businesses that depend on the summer and visitors,” he said, noting that more and more people are making the Ossipee region their full-time residences.

Susan Marks, co-executive director of the Ossipee Lake Alliance along with David Smith, echoed Villari’s advocacy for more education to help the public understand the individual impact on the lake.

“It is important to get people to work together, to know what other groups and organizations are doing, and in that way, giving us a bigger voice,” she said. “The focus on loon preservation is near and dear to the hearts of everyone on the lake and is the main mission of our group. ”

Marks and Villari were joined at the event by Roberta McCarthy, President of the Berry Bay Association on Ossipee Lake, who also attended the event and shared Villari’s goal of maintaining and preserving the natural lake area.

“We need each other to make changes, and so we are coordinating with different lake organizations to do this. We gain more power by coming together and networking,” she said.

McCarthy believes that it is important to understand that this is not just an issue for those with property on the lake, but an issue for all people. “The watershed, tourism, and the health of the New Hampshire economy – we must work together to save these things,” she added.

There are two no-fee accessible public boat ramps located in Ossipee. One is managed by the New Hampshire Fish and game Department and is located off Route 25E in Center Ossipee, and there is a town-owned boat ramp on Pequawket Road. In addition, there are several large camping areas that put hundreds of boats on the lake daily. Some of these campgrounds have recently added more campsites and docks.

According to a brochure published by the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the Ossipee Lake Nature Area is located at the south end of Ossipee Lake and totals about 400 acres on both sides of the Pine River. The area contains rare native plant species, natural communities, and prehistoric artifacts.

“The OLNA shoreline is one of the of the few remaining underdeveloped public areas on Ossipee Lake. Water level management and unmanaged recreation have contributed to the decline of rare plants and natural communities, so that it is imperative that the public recreate in only designated areas.

Like the loons, who return each year to Ossipee Lake, and who seek a safe and nurturing environment to raise their young and recreate, the Friends of Ossipee Lake, and the individual associations under its umbrella, are seeking to find peaceful co-existence with those whom they share this remarkable space.

As Hughes said in her presentation, “We don’t know how they know where to go, but they have great instincts and find their way.” So, too, is that same direction followed by those individuals committed to the future of the lakes region.