Lake Hopatcong wins grant in BoatUS contest

It took about 40,000 votes but after a friendly battle with a rival lake 200 miles north, Lake Hopatcong secured a coveted grant that will allow for the publication of a users guide and map.

The Lake Hopatcong Foundation officially won a $7,500 BoatUS Grassroots grant thanks to fevered voting from area residents over the course of two weeks.

During the last hours of voting, the website where votes were made and tallied began to slow due to increased traffic that included tens of thousands of votes in a single day. Voting went down to the very end, and Lake Hopatcong and Lake George were separated by just a few hundred votes in the final hours.

Once voting ended, the totals were kept secret and BoatUS announced it was handing out four grants.

BoatUS waited more than a week to reveal that the Lake Hopatcong-based nonprofit won, along with the Lake George Association in New York, the Chesapeake Conservancy in Maryland, and Kandiyohi County in Minnesota.

All four groups had similar goals for the grant. Lake George will put the money toward an Invasive Species Education and Outreach program, Chesapeake Conservancy will create a Boaters Guide for their lake, and Kandiyohi will create an aquatic invasive species education and prevention app, similar to the LH Guide app.

Prior to voting Lake George and Lake Hopatcong were significantly ahead of the rest of the group.

Lake Hopatcong Foundation president Jessica Murphy expressed her gratitude to the community for their support for the vote.

"We were absolutely blown away by how much enthusiasm and passion emerged through this voting process," Murphy said. "Although we knew people loved this lake, we were amazed by how much support we received throughout the four towns around the lake—Roxbury, Jefferson, Hopatcong, and Mount Arlington—as well as both counties and throughout the state, and beyond. It was absolutely inspiring, and gives us so much hope as we move forward on projects to support this amazing natural and recreational resource."

The Lake Hopatcong Foundation will use the funds to create 10,000 copies of a Lake Hopatcong Guide Map on durable, synthetic paper that will show depth contours, landmarks, municipal borders, lakefront businesses and public launch sites on the lake.

It would also show information about pump-out stations and high-risk invasive species and distribute the maps to access points around the lake's 45 miles of shoreline.

"We are hopeful that with the wide distribution of this map, locals will know how to spot these invasive species," said Murphy said, "And visitors will know how to properly prepare and clean their boat when entering, using, and leaving Lake Hopatcong."

The map guide will be created from the Morris County Park Commission Sportsman's Map of Lake Hopatcong.

The project will cost $7,500 and would include additional information and updates to the Lake Hopatcong Foundation's free app, LH Guide.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@dailyrecord.com