This link came to me this morning from Henretta Splain (Clubhouse Circle). Henretta is Kelli Merrell's mother, and this is Kelli's address at Lake Fairlee's recent lake association meeting.
Click Here.

We know Joe's Pond has changed radically over the past twenty years. There are now numerous year-around residences on our lake. We like to think each one of these has adequate septic systems, but we also know that many of the older cottages on the lake have "older" septic systems. There are probably still some people who insist on fertilizing their lawns to have them "golf-club perfect" and almost nobody has a "natural" shoreline. Plus we have runoff from roads. Not many working farms anymore, but still a lot can probably be done to mitigate the effects of human intrusion. 

If you want to find out more about this, I'm sure Kelli would be happy to talk with you. Kelli samples the water at the beach to be sure it is safe for the public to use. You can reach her at kellie.merrell@vermont.gov

I had this message from Helen Morrison (West Shore Road):
 

There is a cat hanging around my house...domestic short hair, all grey (I think), maybe one to two years old.  Couldn't tell gender.  It is a bit skittish.  If anyone knows anything about this cat or owns it, let me know, so I don't have to worry about it.

And we are also getting word from some barns that think that folks who vacation in the area, get kittens or cats for the summer for fun, and then release them when they go home...at a barn or just out on roads, near houses.  Of course, this isn't fair to the animals...they may be rejected and driven off from the barn by the resident cats...and have to fend off predators when they may be totally ill-equipped for that.

I have three strays that showed up at the end of summer several years ago...and I suspect these may have come to me in the same manner...just being dumped.  They are happily part of the family...but I certainly don't have room for any more.

 

As many of you know, Helen volunteers with the Kingdom Animal Shelter. Cats so like to wander, and that's ok as long as you understand that there are more predators than there used to be - coyotes, foxes, fisher cats, bobcats, eagles, hawks and bears, to name a few. Then there is the traffic that seems to know no speed limit on our back roads. So, perhaps instead of thinking of Joe's Pond as a great place to let pets enjoy roaming free, you may want to devise a method of keeping them safely inside an enclosure while you are here.