NH-DES beach inspection
 

Thursday, June 12, 2025: http://www.des.nh.gov/water/healthy-...wimming-mapper shows that Ellacoya State Park Beach in Gilford got a fecal bacteria advisory, today.

Check the map.

Could be those Canada geese pooping in the lake, again? The state should send Fish & Game out there in a duck boat with a shot gun and give these here Canada geese a good reason not to visit here. ...... :patriot: ..... and stay in Canada.

....... a clipped green grass garden salad for Canada goose
 

The natural sandy beach at Ellacoya State Park Beach is split into two separate areas by the large Poor Farm Brook which drains down into Lake Winnipesaukee. One side is the rv campground and the other side is the swimming beach.

On Wednesday, June 25, both beaches, the rv beach and the swim beach got red flagged by NH-DES with fecal bacteria warnings. I suspect the numerous Canada goose there will eat the healthy green grass clipped lawn very close to the rv beach and then waddle across the sandy beach back to the lake. I read somewhere, probably in Wikipedia on Canada goose, that a mowed clipped lawn is easier for the geese to eat because the blades of grass are short and thick similar to a garden salad and very yummy for the Canada goose.

Ellacoya State Park Beach and rv campground with its green grass rv lawn close to the water has become a go-to salad area for the local Canada goose.

The state needs to get proactive wih the geese . They are truly an invasive species and are going to permanently damage the lake ecosystem and seriously undermine tourism in the lakes region as result !

Used to have a big problem with them….was going to get a fake coyote but saw the geese surrounding the one at Husky Park in Meredith…..think they were laughing
I bought a package of Roman candles at the store in Laconia….bought the ones with flaming balls but no report(neighbors)
When the geese came around I held the Roman candle out the window with a glove on. The flaming balls scattered them. After a couple of times they never returned

That's it Bob. I called PETA. You can expect a knock at your door!

They'll be wanting some foie gras... that's People Eating Tasty Animals, right?

Corcoran's Pond, Waterville Valley
 

Corcoran's Pond got posted yesterday, July 17 with two orange NH-DES "Not Fit for Wading or Swimming" signs for "Fecal Bacteria Advisory" on 48" wood stakes posted into the sandy beach at the pond water edge.

This happens every year for the last five years, and it's a big mystery why this happens because there are very few ducks, no Canada goose, and just one beaver that are present in this seven acre, dammed up man-made town pond in Snows Brook with water flowing over the dam more than 95% of the time.

The scheduled resample is July 21 with results on July 22 so the pond is closed to swimming and wading till then. When Corcoran's Pond gets posted like this for fecal bacteria the local police will come tell you the pond is unsafe to swim and you must get out of the water. In Laconia at Weirs Beach town $2.50/hr pay beach, the choice to enter the water is left up to the individual but in Waterville Valley the water is off limits. Renting a kayak, canoe, sup, or peddle boat is still happening because you are in a boat.

Oh well, the Corcoran Pond water looks very clean and has no scummy green cyano growing on the surface so fecal bacteria is not something that can be seen. It's just there, somewhere in the water, and it is what it is with two orange warning signs posted into the sandy beach ...... eek ..... :eek2:!

You know the Lake Winnipesaukee water in Meredith Bay close to the town boat launch and Clough Park and Hesky Park does not get tested by the NH-DES because it is not a swim area but you can be sure it must be contaminated with fecal bacteria due to all the Canada geese there, eating the lush green grass in these two town parks.

Ditto that for the RV Beach at Ellacoya State Park/Beach which also got posted for a fecal bacteria advisory by the NH-DES on July 16.

I noticed on the healthy swimming website this year they no longer list Weirs Beach so no way to check if safe to swim. I wonder why?

Maybe the urine count was always too high........

Wouldn't the city, being a city beach, have to request and maybe pay for the service?

So, why even have the warning signs here?
 

Could be a case of 'no news is good news' and not really wanting to have the NH-DES orange-cyano or yellow-fecal warning signs present and posted into the sand at the waters edge. The city has always allowed beach goers to ignore the signs and the water looks very clean plus its summer and beach goers at the Weirs drive there from some distance away and the lake water looks very inviting.

Looking at the NH-DES Healthy Swimmer Mapper with many different locations in N.H. what's missing from the swim map this year is a dot for Weirs Beach, Bartlett Beach-Winnisquam, and the three beaches on Opechee Bay so maybe Laconia chose to go without the NH-DES testing this year-2025 probably because the posted warning signs were not enforced, ignored and maybe not wanted. So, why even have the warning signs here?

Beach Report
 

Check water quality warning by navigating to the Healthy Swimming Mapper at des.nh.gov/water/healthy-swimming/healthy-swimming-mapper.

From the Laconia Sun:

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...daad9e503.html

..... the case of the missing NH-DES warning sign photo?
 

So, where's the photo of the NH-DES "Unsafe for swimming or Wading" sign on a sandy beach area on Opechee Bay that was in yesterday's internet edition of this July 25-Friday Laconia Daily Sun. Yesterday, the internet LDS had a photo. Today, that photo has disappeared? Something tells me this report got updated, edited and the photo with the NH-DES sign was removed due to a phone call from Laconia City Hall to the Laconia Daily Sun or something?

Probably, the photo with the NH-DES warning sign is in the printed newspaper edition but no longer in the internet edition? City Hall probably moaned and groaned about the photo to the LDS, and got it removed ...... after all ..... a photo is worth a thousand words.

geese
 

I have seen zero pushback on the forum on this issue and yet we get-more geese. BS!

Does the Point now have geese?
It was always the Cove in the past.

This story, like several I have seen in the LDS, has a poorly written headline.

At a glance a reader might think there are "No swimming advisories" meaning you should not swim OR "No swimming advisories" meaning there are no advisories recommending against swimming.

Since this is a serious issue with consequences for tourism it would be better for all if the publication had written a better headline.

July 24, 2025: the beach and swim area at Leavitt Park Beach in Meredith is closed by the town due to a NH-DES fecal bacteria advisory.

The town beach in nearby Center Harbor also has a fecal bacteria advisory.
Anyone know if Center Harbor has closed their town beach?

Check the NH-DES Healthy Swimming Mapper ..... working link to it in first post.

Is my guess that its the Canada geese which are attracted to the lush green mowed grass up behind the sandy beach. Geese just love to eat mowed green grass and they stop to poop on the sandy beach as they walk back to the lake water, or something(?).

How to solve this problem? ......... http://www.vnews.com/Enjoy-the-state...apper-62498835

. NH Fish and Game needs to institute a goose control program state wide beginning in the lakes region