Dennis Carlson is fundraising
Help Us Preserve Alta Lake!
We need your help to preserve Alta Lake as a beautiful natural resource and a popular source of recreation! The devastating Carlton Complex fires of 2014 ravaged the state park and a number of homes along the lake shore. However, the lake faces a greater long-term threat.
Alta Lake is located in the mountains of north central Washington in Okanogan County, a few miles from the town of Pateros. Many thousands of campers and day use visitors to Alta Lake State Park enjoy fishing, swimming, boating, and a variety of water sports each year. Many do this as family traditions that go back generations. Lifelong memories are made here. A few dozen homeowners also have lakefront property on about one-third of the lake’s shoreline.
Alta Lake depends on the annual runoff from the snowpack on adjacent Billy Goat Mountain to offset the effects of evaporation and maintain its water level. Since the 1960’s, that snowpack has in most years been insufficient to maintain the lake level, threatening Alta’s continued use for recreation. Washington State Parks installed a system to pump water from the Wells Dam reservoir in the early 1970's to maintain the lake level, but discontinued it in the mid-80’s after two years of unusually large snowpack. The next 20 years were marked by steadily declining lake levels, sometimes as much as two feet per year.
Local homeowners began to partner with State Parks in 2006 to resume pumping and without that effort, we believe the lake would be twelve feet lower today, with current boat access points and the park swimming area no longer viable. In recent years, State Parks, due to budget constraints, has reduced their financial support to the point that we cannot continue the pumping effort with donations from local homeowners and businesses alone.
For that reason, we are asking all those who care about preserving this jewel of a lake to join us as “Friends of Alta Lake (FOAL)” and to donate to help provide the funds needed to pay electricity bills and maintenance and repair costs for the next two years. Our $50,000 goal will do that. FOAL is a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charity, and you will receive a donation receipt. Thank you for helping us preserve this great natural resource!
Alta Lake is located in the mountains of north central Washington in Okanogan County, a few miles from the town of Pateros. Many thousands of campers and day use visitors to Alta Lake State Park enjoy fishing, swimming, boating, and a variety of water sports each year. Many do this as family traditions that go back generations. Lifelong memories are made here. A few dozen homeowners also have lakefront property on about one-third of the lake’s shoreline.
Alta Lake depends on the annual runoff from the snowpack on adjacent Billy Goat Mountain to offset the effects of evaporation and maintain its water level. Since the 1960’s, that snowpack has in most years been insufficient to maintain the lake level, threatening Alta’s continued use for recreation. Washington State Parks installed a system to pump water from the Wells Dam reservoir in the early 1970's to maintain the lake level, but discontinued it in the mid-80’s after two years of unusually large snowpack. The next 20 years were marked by steadily declining lake levels, sometimes as much as two feet per year.
Local homeowners began to partner with State Parks in 2006 to resume pumping and without that effort, we believe the lake would be twelve feet lower today, with current boat access points and the park swimming area no longer viable. In recent years, State Parks, due to budget constraints, has reduced their financial support to the point that we cannot continue the pumping effort with donations from local homeowners and businesses alone.
For that reason, we are asking all those who care about preserving this jewel of a lake to join us as “Friends of Alta Lake (FOAL)” and to donate to help provide the funds needed to pay electricity bills and maintenance and repair costs for the next two years. Our $50,000 goal will do that. FOAL is a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible charity, and you will receive a donation receipt. Thank you for helping us preserve this great natural resource!
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