I'm writing to you in opposition to the proposed establishment of eco zones on Tippecanoe Lake and James Lake (Little Tippecanoe) petition by the Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. LTPO's petition claims the eco zones will allow the native emergent and floating vegetative communities that have been lost due to recreational activities to become re-established near the Ball Wetlands. LTPO has yet to conduct a study to determine if recreational, high-speed boating is the cause of any vegetative loss anywhere on Tippecanoe Lake, James Lake or Oswego Lake. LTPO states only opinion and conjecture. At 47 years of age, I have been a permanent Tippecanoe Lake resident since 1991 and a Tippecanoe Lake visitor and user since 1960. My reasons for opposition are as follows:
1.) LTPO has not accounted for the vast number of variables affecting the lakes ecosystem including: surrounding fertilized farmland, lake homeowner lawn fertilizer, zebra mussel affect, the construction of the Tippecanoe Lake/River dam, development of Wildwood Isle, water temperature and water level, water fowl defecation and muted swans massive appetite of native vegetation (8 pounds a day per swan according to IDNR Mute Swan pamphlet - 2006), harsh cold winters and ice impact, hot summers, spring and summer storms and wind impact, the Barbee Chain, Webster Lake, North Webster Waste/Water Treatment Plant, trailer parks at Shoshoni, DuCuNee and Neibert, dredging in the proposed eco zone area in the 1990s, etc.
2.) The entire Ball Wetlands area (approximately 250-300 acres) has basically remained unchanged for the past 20 years. Yes, Tippecanoe Lake and James Lake are different than 50-100 years ago, but so is every Indiana lake, river, town, etc. There is considerable deep growth along the east and west shoreline of the Ball Wetlands with lily pads, cattails, bulrush etc., and the Wetlands is a vibrant, sustaining ecosystem. New growth on both sides of the Wetlands is evident this summer without eco zones. LTPO has attempted to stir up support for the eco zones with emotion, opinion, theory and environmental alarmism.
3.) There has not been one shred of factual evidence submitted by Williams Consulting or LTPO that the Ball Wetlands is receding or in jeopardy. There have been no measurements of the Wetlands shoreline only questionable aerial pictures, not to scale, without stated times of year, without stated water and atmospheric conditions and not conducted using scientific procedures and protocol.
4.) There is not one shred of objective, factual data that so called "high-speed impact boating" has been detrimental to the Wetlands. In fact, high-speed boating hours in the proposed eco zone areas account for less than 5 percent of the total hours in a year. LTPO has presented only rudimentary data collection, subjective theory and conjecture. Hardly appropriate for such an extreme measure.
We cannot return these lakes or any other lake to the 1930s or 1970s but we can monitor them as they are now with judicious foresight and common sense and make a sensible decisions after the thorough collection and analysis of unbiased scientific data. The lack of objective, real scientific data should convince anyone to come to the sensible conclusion that establishing eco zones on Tippecanoe Lake and James Lake is unnecessary and unwarranted until irrefutably proven otherwise.
