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

Finland has too many geese
 

Today's July 29 NY Times has an instructive article titled 'Finland's Short Precious Summers Are Plagued by Goose Poop' which is available to see without a paid subscription when you Google 'Finland's Short Precious Summers Are Plagued by Goose Poop.'

Finland just like New Hampshire does not allow culling, and it shows how Finland is dealing with too many geese.

Today, July 29, and since July 24, both the Leavitt Town Beach, Meredith and the Center Harbor Town Beach is posted with orange highway cones and bright yellow signs advising swimmers and waders the water is not safe due to high levels of fecal bacteria.

Apparently, Weirs Beach, Bartlett Beach, and Opechee Bay, all in Laconia no longer have the NH-DES perform any tests and Laconia says that it does the beach and water testing itself, once per month.

They can test to see what species the fecal bacteria came from.
But I don't think that matters to them for the extra expense.

geese
 

"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(?)."

Nonsense. What is NOT nonsense is that geese are probably the primary culprits and we need a voice to our politicians about their culling before the lake suffers irreversible damage. It is INSANE that for the good of geese the lake and therefore the population suffer.

one more thing...
 

This is NH not freakin CA!

On Patrol-NH: saving a tangled gosling
 

Click on 'Depredation Permit' under Who Needs It ...... http://www.fws.gov/service/3-200-67-...l-canada-goose ..... and then click on 'Start Application Online'

Probably, it would be the NH Fish and Game acting on a request from a NH town that could pursue a federal application for killing Canada goose in and around Lake Winnipesaukee.

Hey, check this out .... the first five minutes of the latest 'On Patrol, New Hampshire' ..... www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0TJzyTffxY ..... shows a NH Fish and Game officer safely removing a Canada goose gosling that got wrapped up in a tangle of monofilament fishing line which threatened its life located in Prescott Park, Portsmouth NH.

Good for her for saving the gosling from the monofilament fishing line! These Canada goose can live for twenty years and maintain a monogamous relationship with their mate.

Did you know that Canada goose will weigh up to 14-lbs, are very capable to fight off a bald eagle.

"The Canada goose eats a variety of grasses when on land. It feeds by grasping a blade of grass with the bill, then tearing it with with a jerk of the head."

"The Canada goose is considered part of the Canadian national identity."

The geese eat and defecate on the lawns, but they don't nest there.

Not just Winnipesaukee
 

From the Boston Herald:

Over half of all Massachusetts beaches had an unsafe level of fecal bacteria last year, and 47 beaches reached the danger zone at least a quarter of the time they were tested, according to an Environment Massachusetts Research and Policy Center report released Wednesday.

“Our researchers looked at tests for bacteria that indicate the likely presence of fecal matter in the water,” said Devon Bell, associate with Environment Massachusetts, standing in front of a cloudy Constitution Beach in East Boston. “And they found that Constitution Beach had enough fecal matter indicator bacteria to put swimmers’ health at risk on 24% of days tested last year. And this was a widespread issue across the state.”

The report analyzed how many days over 3,000 beaches across the U.S. hit a dangerous threshold of fecal indicator bacteria. Nationwide, 61% of tested beaches tested positive for contamination at least once in 2024.

The threshold, the EPA’s “Beach Action Value,” is associated with an estimated illness rate of 32 out of every 1,000 swimmers. Swimmers in polluted water may develop gastrointestinal illness, respiratory disease, ear and eye infection, and skin rash, the report states.

The 47 beaches in Massachusetts with the higher numbers of dangerous pollution days spread across the state’s coast, researchers said, including North Shore, South Shore, Boston, Cape Cod, Buzzards Bay and the Islands.

Yes, so what is the common denominator. Why is this happening? Did it always happen and we just didn't know it because of less testing?

It seems that we might soon see this news story as part of a swimming pool advertisement.