The bill, HB625-FN, would require out of state boaters to purchase a $20 annual decal to help fund the state's Lakes Restoration and Preservation Fund. It is co-sponsored by State Representative Suzanne Smith of Grafton and the advocacy group NH Lakes.
A petition signed by 37 town residents seeks to "promote the 'live free or die culture' and possibly spur economic development" by dumping zoning, which has been in place since 2000. The town's Planning Board and most members of the public attending a January 17 hearing on the petition think otherwise.
To learn more about the state's stone walls, DES has launched a crowdsourced initiative to map every wall in the state. Through an interactive interface known as the New Hampshire Stone Wall Mapper, interested parties can map the plethora of walls from the state's aerial imagery platform, including information about where a given structure is located and observations about the wall’s condition.
The class action lawsuit filed by campers against the past and present owners of Westward Shores and the Town of Ossipee tops the list of 2018's lake news stories.
Two years ago, the author hiked the overgrown grounds of West Ossipee's abandoned Mount Whittier Ski Area and wrote about it. But why was the once-prosperous business named for Mount Whittier when it's actually on Mount Nickerson? After some research and a follow-up hike, this year DuBois found the answer.
A long-simmering dispute over zoning enforcement and sales practices at Westward Shores has come to a head with a lawsuit filed in State Superior Court by more than 70 campers against the Town of Ossipee and the current and previous owners of the big lake business. The group has asked the court to 'grandfather' their camping units for zoning purposes, and is seeking monetary damages from current campground owner Northgate Ossipee, and two previous owners, Anthony Aversa and Joan Brassil.
Paving and grading at the entrance to the state-managed site on Route 25 in Ossipee will prevent boaters from launching or removing watercraft on October 18. The site will reopen the next day.
October typically has good weather for boating, and the state has slightly delayed the start of the drawdown process for this year. But keep your eye on the water level. By the end of the month it may be difficult to remove boats and docks in some places.
The September 14 decision found that a Superior Court judge erred last year by ruling in favor of the Town of Effingham after the children's camp sued it for denying its annual application to qualify for a charitable tax exemption. While the ruling focuses on a decision made by the town in 2015, the tax dispute between the camp and the town has deeper roots.
Flickers look different from most of the woodpeckers we commonly see in the New England wilds. It is more of an oddball in the woodpecker clan. It has a speckled, chestnut-brown body with a black crescent on its spotted breast, and a black mustache—when it is a male. We might see yellow under the surfaces of its wings and tail if it flies overhead. A new article by ecologist Dave Eastman.
The state advises swimmers to avoid the blue-green algae scum patches and colored flecks that have been found along the pond's shoreline and coves. Some cyanobacteria produce toxins that can cause human health problems, but the state says the Danforth Pond warning is not based on a toxin evaluation. Instead, it is intended as a precautionary measure.
At an Alliance forum on August 25, Jim Gallagher, the state's chief engineer, detailed plans for a major reconstruction of the Ossipee River dam complex starting in the spring of 2019. The DES official fielded an array of questions during the hour-long meeting, ranging from water levels to historic preservation to fish ladders.
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