About
Historic Ossipee Lake Natural Area
Rare and endangered plants bloom on its shoreline where mysterious streams of colored water seep from the earth and create pockets of what feels like quicksand. Four of its five natural communities are rare in New Hampshire, and one of them is found nowhere else. In the interior, bears, foxes and eagles can be found where archeologists say the area’s first humans settled.
The N.H. Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) says 400-acre Ossipee Lake Natural Area is “one of the State’s most valuable assets in terms of its natural and cultural resources.” Yet, after almost 40 years of ownership, DRED still does not have a permanent management plan for the property, which has three times been targeted for development as a public beach and has been seriously damaged by boaters. (Click on the Facts tab).
In August 2006 DRED’s Director of Forests and Lands recommended that the shoreline be closed to prevent additional damage. In 2007 the agency finally did so, and in 2008 it wrote a draft management plan. But that’s not the end of the story.
Your Help is Needed
Until there is a permanent management plan that balances preservation and low-impact recreation, Ossipee Lake Natural Area will be vulnerable to future damage and development as elected officials and state agency personnel change over time. You can help by posting a comment on this website. Tell DRED this unique property deserves permanent protection, and send a copy of your comment to your local legislators.
About Us
The Friends of Historic Ossipee Lake Natural Area is a group sponsored by Ossipee Lake Alliance and supported by residents of Ossipee Lake, the conservation commissions of Ossipee and Effingham and other groups and individuals, including many boaters.
Help support this effort by sending a tax-deductible contribution in any amount payable to Ossipee Lake Alliance-Historic Natural Area, P.O. Box 173, Freedom NH 03836. Businesses and non-profit organizations should contact us at olna@ossipeelake.org.
Ossipee Lake Alliance is a 501(c)(3) New Hampshire corporation with a website at www.ossipeelake.org.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:56 am
This website presents a well thought out case for preserving this property. It shouldn’t be necessary to ask the state to take action, but since it apparently is, let me add my voice to the effort.
August 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Are you sending these comments to the state or the governor? Someone needs to do something.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I was at Cody in the 1970s and remember trips to Long Sands. There were never many people there and I don’t think people knew who owned it or that it had rare plants. I live in Texas and have not been back to Lake Ossipee but what is happening there makes me sad. Evan P. Brock, Austin Texas
August 9th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Although I have not been able to get to Ossipee in several years, in the past I have enjoyed the beauty of the lake and surrounding area. But as the saying goes, it is possible to love something to death. Can it be asking too much to preserve this one small piece of shoreside for the continued health and beauty of the lake and ultimately for the benefit of all of us who use it? E.C.H. Maine
August 13th, 2007 at 7:36 am
You will never be able to satisfy those who feel the environment is ours to destroy for our own amusement. We argue now over public access to the last bits of shoreline because we long ago wasted the rest of it in a grab for profits from land sales. On most of the shoreline of most of the major lakes and ponds, you can only get access by paying the exorbitant price to own it or by making friends with someone who did.
August 14th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Thank you so much for putting together this blog. Your work at Ossipee Lake is very important. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while for people to respond to the blog with comments. Also, from my experience, not everyone wants to comment, but many people will read the blog.
August 15th, 2007 at 2:52 am
I live on Broad Bay and…gasp…don’t use a motor boat, so haven’t been down toward Long Sands since I went as a child to hunt for arrowheads. I am shocked by the photos and cannot believe the State has not done something. It is completely irresponsible.
August 19th, 2007 at 6:30 am
I have spent my life on Ossipee Lake and have spent countless hours on Long Sands (aka Lone Pine). There was a time when you could stop for a swim in the warm, shallow water and feel the soft, rippled sand between your toes. Now you can’t even see the shore! I understand that there is little public access to the lake but that lack of planning is no reason to allow the destruction of such a beautiful and unique place! I’ll leave you with this yummy thought, those of us who live down stream from Long Sands look at the water, which used to be so crystal clear, and wonder whose urine we are swimming in!
August 20th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I have many fond memories of the lake and it’s georgous beaches. For the Sate of New hampshire to allow the deterioration of the natural beauty of the Long Sands area Of Ossippee is a disgrace. The effort required to rescue the area cannot be beyond the ability of the State of New Hampshire and DRED. New Hampshire depends on tourism dollars. Time to wake up New Hamsphire!
August 26th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I am a retired science teacher in Nashua. I’ve read about the Ossipee Mountains ring dyke formation and how it is studied by people from all around the world. Pretty fascinating, but I’ve never read about the natural area before. If I were still teaching I would want to take my kids on field trips there. Just my thoughts. JS
August 28th, 2007 at 8:51 am
I would like to see guided nature walks like the Pine Barrens. KP in Effingham
August 30th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I go every weekend and still see crystal clear water.
I always take my trash back home. I never walk into the woods but do use the beach. Closing the shoreline doesn’t accomplish anything. If this association succeeds there will be no guided walks as there will be NO access to either the lake or the property behind it.
September 6th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
It is a wonderful first step to see that DRED is finally taking a stand to promote the restoration and conservation of the Ossipee Lake Natural Area. In closing down the “beach” areas of the OLNA by posting signs “no public access, ” DRED is taking that first step to promote education about the unique and rare pondshore communities found there. This land is a New Hampshire treasure for many reasons. For too long it has been left “unattended” and has been used perhaps beyond its own carrying capacity. Hopefully DRED can work with others to create a sustainable management plan which will allow for the restoration of the plant communities and provide for appropriate public access.
September 10th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Lies Lies Lies…Here is the truth. The locker found in the wooded area was washed on the shore by floodwaters that return most every year. The latrines supposedly built by boaters were actually ice houses again washed on shore. Propane tanks left again washed on shore. Driftwood used by children to build teepees again is not a result of erosion but that of lake flooding. Boaters leave the beach cleaner than they find it. Trash washed on shore is again a result of litter blown and washed off the lake. Water testing has never resulted in a closing due to e-coli. Rakes used on beach were for cleaning glass found not to remove vegetation as reported. People who own homes lakeside are only trying to protect what they have already robbed themselves.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:10 am
I have been coming to this lake my whole life. I would like someone to prove to me that any plant knows were to grow and were not to grow because if we are shutting down this area because of saving rear plants why woundn’t we shut the whole area down because as far as I know plants can’t just pick were they are going to grow. I also find it funny that just after the group that wanted to put a town beach got turn down because of these plants this area got shut down but not the whole area. I think what this group is trying to do is say ok this part is shut down because of the plants from the state but this other area is ok so we can put our town beach there.
September 13th, 2007 at 7:55 am
WOW another anti group trying to stop people from living and enjoying themselves. I know when people get together there is going to be stuff laying around but 99% take everything back with them. I don’t disagree that there are people that liter and do not follow the rules but it is a very small percent of them out there. Don’t ruin it for everyone!!! Get there and educate the people and if so police them. You will find that 99% of us are willing to keep what is there the way it is.
September 14th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Ken, you must be kidding! In the 40 years we have lived on the lake, I have never seen ice houses wash up on shore! A dock or two but whole sheds? Be serious! The abuse is pervasive. I don’t want to see the area closed to all boaters but those who have used and abused the property have failed at self-policing and so those who truly care about the lake are forced to take greater action. And we property owners are robbing nothing! Take a look at our tax bills - you know the ones that put money into the community? We have earned and paid for the right to protect the lake.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:41 am
It’s a shame they closed down such a large area. If you speed on the highway you get a ticket, they don’t shut down the highway. I don’t agree with damaging the area but don’t make everybody suffer for the actions of the few. What’s next with their management plan and whose agenda is the state really considering ? These pictues seem to be taken while on the beach or in a boat, seems questionable to me what they show. Were those cans left there or picked up before the group left ?
October 16th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Does it seem strange to you that OLA would compliment a webcam and discuss the extreme beauty of Ossipee Lake while at the same time being successful in closing almost all of the shore line at Long Sands which was enjoyed by so many ? I tried taking some pictures recently of the foliage and had to work hard so as not to get the signs in the pictures. The signs themselves make the area look horrible. I’m hoping this whole thing gets worked out.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:46 am
We are very dissapointed that it came to this (closing). We have been boating and kayaking on this lake for 10 years. We have the utmost respect for the area. We use the shore only to stretch while kayaking. We leave no trash, light no fires and do not trample the vegetation. We carry a portable toilet on our boat. Please do not paint us all with the same brush. Now we lose ? Here’s hoping for a compromise with the upcoming management plan. We do not feel that protection mandates closing.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I completely agree with Mike and Kim because we used to go to Long Sands to let the kids swim and we stayed in the water. We stopped going last year because of the loud music and all day drinking. The state did the right thing by trying to get control of the situation.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
I have been on Ossipee Lake for 41 years…and even though I don’t own property I still contribute more then my fair share to the community…Some of the picturesare VERY deceiving…If not for us, Long Sands beachfront would look like a junk yard. You take pictures of some cans on the ground, but neglect to say that at the end of the day there is NO trash left on the beach. It’s the few with more money then brains that are making it look much worse then what it acutally is…
November 15th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Long Sands isn’t a beach. It’s a natural area and the people using it as a beach are killing it. What difference does it make that they take their trash home after sunbathing all day at the “beach”? The state is looking for ideas on how to protect this area, yet most of the letters from boaters don’t offer ideas, they just complain. They don’t seem to get what the issue is.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I have been frequenting Longs Sands for quite a few years. 95% of the people I see using the area are having a good time and not damaging anything or bothering anyone. The 5% blasting music and trashing the area are obnoxious slobs but I am at a loss as to how to deal with them. Is there really any “need” for people to go onto the land? Would establishing a 50ft buffer allow for better enforcement?
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 am
Gary,
I too believe that the “issues” at Long Sands are caused by less than 5 % of the people that frequent the area. I also believe that increased presence of the Marine Patrol can help. As far as the need of going ashore, please remeber those that kayak the area. For us about the last 11 years. We need an occasional stretch. In the process nothing is disturbed or damaged. We carry out anything left over. Why should we lose this ability and who are we hurting ?
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:40 am
My daughter is the 5th generation of my family to enjoy Long Sands, I married into a family that is 4th generation on the lake. Those that own property on the lake, those that cherish what Ossipee Lake is, seem to agree with the (limited) beach closing, all support and encourage stepped up Marine Patrol to weed out the few that are ruining it for the many.
I saw a few comments about tax payers and that is a ligitimate angle. The people that pay the rediculous taxes to have a place on the lake, surely aren’t the same ones that arrive at 9:00AM and leave at 9:00PM!
Why doesn’t the state look at doing something with the boat ramps, impose a rediculous fee to launch your boat, better yet close the ramps, the 25 ramp was the worse thing done to this lake in my life time. This would help fund both invasive weed control and increased Marine Patrol presence of the area….
August 27th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I live in Rochester New Hampshire and belong to a group of women who kayak the lakes of New Hampshire and Maine at least once a week during the summer. Many of these women have kayaked Ossippee Lake for over ten years and have always enjoyed a short rest on shore taking in the beauty of the area. We are all very concerned and respect the enviroment along with the rules of all conservancies. Seeing the signs on the shores of Ossippee Lake last week was very dissappointing to us. Why are we punished for the mistakes of a few? There must be a better solution than to close the shore to everyone. Perhaps a small portion of the shore could be reserved for non-motorized water craft. Thank you.