Georges Mills boat launch to close for underwater inspection Thursday

Boaters heading for the Georges Mills boat launch on Thursday will hit a two-hour closure while trained divers inspect the ramp area underwater, a precautionary step tied to Lake Sunapee’s long-running fight against curly-leaf pondweed.

The Town of Sunapee said the launch will be closed June 4 from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the dive window. The town said the closure is limited to the ramp itself and is meant to let divers work safely while they conduct an additional inspection after a recent visual check near the launch did not observe curly-leaf pondweed.

That short window can still disrupt a busy early-summer launch schedule at Georges Mills, especially for boaters timing trips around weather, trailering, and daylight. The town’s notice does not call for a wider boating shutdown on Lake Sunapee, only a temporary halt at the ramp while the inspection is underway.

The reason for the dive is prevention as much as detection. Curly-leaf pondweed is an invasive aquatic plant that can crowd out native growth, complicate lake use, and interfere with boating and swimming once it takes hold. By sending divers back after the visual inspection, the town and the Lake Sunapee Protective Association are trying to catch any growth early, before it spreads farther from the launch area.

Georges Mills has been a known concern before. LSPA says curly-leaf pondweed was first spotted near the boat ramp in 2024. On June 9, 2025, the association brought in two divers to remove about 12 plants in three small clusters near a submerged log. LSPA later said the plant reappeared in a small area of Georges Mills in 2025 but was removed quickly before it could spread further in Lake Sunapee.

NH LAKES has described a separate response effort in which Lake Host Rena Connor spotted a piece of weed draped over a trailer at the Georges Mills boat ramp and alerted others. Susie Burbidge and Dave Beardsley then inspected the area by kayak and later brought in divers, who removed 15 curly-leaf pondweed plants by hand. Those episodes have turned Georges Mills into a small but watched hotspot, where rapid detection has mattered more than large-scale cleanup.

Anyone with questions about Thursday’s closure can contact the Town of Sunapee Buildings and Grounds Department at (603) 763-5060.