Public Lakes Abound in New Hampshire--but Access Is a Big Problem

Thirty years ago, a friend gave Dr. Henry Crane a lakeside boat ramp so he would have easy access to his home on an island in Squam Lake, one of New Hampshire’s largest and prettiest.

Crane opened the ramp to all comers, making it the only free public access to Big and Little Squam Lakes, scene of the 1981 movie “On Golden Pond.”

Few know about Crane’s ramp. It isn’t on maps, and locals don’t go out of their way to advertise it. Public access for a price is almost as bad; the few facilities open to the public handle only small boats or have limited parking.

Shows Lack of Stewarship

Squam is one of 1,021 lakes New Hampshire owns for the public benefit. It illustrates how the state, while touting outdoor recreation as part of its high quality of life, has relinquished much of its stewardship to lakefront owners.

About 500 lakes, including Squam, have no state-owned access, virtually excluding those unable to afford property selling for an average $2,000 a foot of shorefront. On New Hampshire’s largest lake, Winnipesaukee, the state owns one park and one public boat ramp along 240 miles of shoreline.

Rather than buy access, the state traditionally has relied on the good will of people like Crane and lake associations that open areas to the public.

“I think that lake belongs to the public,” said Crane, 70. “I guess I’m old-fashioned.”

Such hospitality is disappearing. And even when there is access, said state Sen. Roger Heath, lake associations and many residents have a “slightly conspiratorial attitude . . . not to post access points.”

And the silence by townspeople has proved an effective way to restrict usage since the state has no published map or list of ways to get to the water.

Gov. Judd Gregg has called improving lake access a priority, but critics find little encouraging in the state’s recent record.

Although land has been added to some parks, the last new state park with water access was built more than 20 years ago. New Hampshire has no park on Squam Lake, its second largest, or on another large lake, Winnisquam, though it owns undeveloped land there. A new state program to preserve open space has bought a dozen properties with access mostly to rivers. Its most notable purchase is a wilderness area far from population and tourism centers.

From 1940 to 1979, the state, using mostly federal funds, built or bought 250 shallow-draft boat ramps for fishermen, but only 110 are functional.

The program contained no money for maintenance, bathrooms, trash disposal or parking. Some of the narrow roads to ramps are overgrown; others have been taken over by land owners. Towns complain that neglect makes them garbage dumps and teen-age hangouts; some want ownership so they can close them to outsiders.

The state’s 2-year-old attempt to regulate boat moorings, the poor man’s dock, on five large lakes also has failed to increase public access. When it regulated moorings, the state gave shorefront owners the power to veto permits letting strangers moor in front of their property, even though the moorings are on state waters over state land. The trade-off was the creation of two types of mooring fields, one for use by anyone, the other for groups like sailing clubs.

Dozens of applications have been filed and approved for restricted fields, but only one has been approved for the public.

The lone public operator is Merrill Fay, owner of Fay’s Boat Yard on Lake Winnipesaukee, who says requirements for a public field are so stringent that few could afford to put one in. Aside from bathrooms and similar amenities, the state requires a boat taxi service, dinghy docking, access to highways and liability insurance. The state also controls rental fees.

The state restricted moorings “assuming towns would use some of their property around the lake for public fields,” said Robert Danos, until recently the supervisor of the state Marine Patrol. “It’s not being done.”

Some say there is much the state could be doing, and at little cost.

“Every time a condominium development has been given 50 docks, they should’ve said, ‘you dedicate 10 of them to public use,”’ said Fay. “Everybody ought to be helping out.”

Until recently, the state routinely granted requests for major dock developments, like marinas, in perpetuity. Dock developers now get renewable leases but older marinas are taking advantage of the old policy to sell slips for thousands of dollars. The state has not challenged such sales as a change in use subject to state review.

As the demand for lake access has grown, it has spread to smaller, uncrowded lakes, prompting residents to pressure lawmakers for controls. An effort to ban jet skis is but one example. The conflict has even led to talk of limiting the number of outsiders allowed on public waters on a given day.

Heath would rather see more public access. “The state has walked away from it. We make so much of our lakes, and rightfully so, we ought to let some of our citizens get on them and enjoy them.”