Maps of Wake Sports Areas based on Proposed Draft Rule Conditions

The Proposed Use of Public Waters Rule to regulate wakeboats while engaging in wakesports on public waters includes on the following three conditions:

1. Wake boats shall only be operated in wake sports mode on lakes, ponds, and reservoirs with a minimum of 50 contiguous acres that are 500 feet from shore on all sides and 20 feet deep (eligibility rule)

2. Wakeboats must be 500 feet from shore at all times while engaging in wakesports (operating rule)

3. A wakeboat must stay in one lake per calendar year unless boat is decontaminated by a DEC-approved entity (home lake rule)

***Definitions and Rule Text will be included in Formal Rulemaking Submission

The concept of this proposed rule  would allow wakeboats to engage in wakesports on 31 lakes and ponds in Vermont that are regulated under the Use of Public Waters Rules. The Use of Public Waters Rules do not apply to  Lake Champlain, Wallace Pond, Lake Memphremagog, and Connecticut  River Reservoirs.

Under this proposed Rule, wakesports would be prohibited on all other lakes, ponds and reservoirs under jurisdiction of Use of Public Waters Rules Rules.

Following is a list of 31 Wake Sport Eligible Lakes and Ponds in Vermont. Please note: these maps are a work in progress and may require some updates. The data  used to create these maps is based on spatial analysis and will require additional ground-truthing to verify a more precise wake sport area. Please use these maps as a visual guide to provide conceptual information. 

There are several lakes that have areas more than 500 feet from shore and are at least 20 feet deep, but because these areas do not comprise a minimum of 50 contiguous acres, they cannot be eligible for wake sports under the proposed rule. See some examples below of lakes that  are ineligible for wake sports under the proposed rule, due to the lack of 50 contiguous acres: