Freedom—April 10, 2025—As boating season approaches, two state agencies are considering how many boats should be allowed at Ossipee Lake’s Wabanaki Campground.
Property owner Mark Salvati has submitted applications to the Department of Environmental Services (DES) and the Department of Safety Services (DOS) seeking approval for 47 boats divided between docks and moorings.
Salvati is seeking to convert the RV campground to a cooperative and sell shareholders the exclusive right to occupy one of 77 campsite “units” in perpetuity. The cooperative sales pitch is posted on Wabanaki’s website and includes a message to boaters.
“For those who love boating, there’s a dock and moorings available for use, making it easy to explore the beautiful Lake Ossipee.”
At present, however, Wabanaki is not approved by the state to have either docks or moorings.
The campground lost its congregate mooring field permit when permit holder Wabanaki Campground LLP sold the property to Wabanaki Campground Conversion LLC, the entity Salvati created to sell campsites to the public. Permits are not transferrable.
This month, Salvati applied to DOS for a new permit, asking for 31 moorings, the same number as before. He said he plans to rent the moorings to campers for $500 per season.
By state statute, however, the use of a congregate mooring field is for situations where “no viable alternative” exists, a stipulation that appears to conflict with Salvati’s application to DES for four docks and 15 boat slips, which will also be rented to campers.
Pontoon boats docked on Wabanaki Campground’s shoreline in 2023. The number of boats spiked from 31 to 59 after the owner announced he planned to sell lots to the public.
If both applications are approved, the 47 boats to be berthed along the 780-foot shoreline would be a 50% increase in the number of boats approved by the state in 2008 when it last renewed the mooring permit.
Neighbors say the number of boats at the Freedom campground started to become an issue in 2023 after Salvati announced plans to sell campsites to the public.
Neighbor Richard Hiller complained to DES that the owner had been gradually increasing the capacity of the state-approved mooring field by installing docks on the shoreline and renting the slips to campers.
Hiller said that the docks nearly doubled the number of powerboats and jet skis at the site from 31 to 60. After contacting DES, Hiller found that neither the docks nor the installation work were approved.
“By any reasonable measure, the concentration of motorized watercraft on the Wabanaki Campground waterfront is grossly excessive and unjustifiable,” Hiller said in his complaint.
Hiller was not alone. Neighbors Dr. Anthony Raynes and his wife Maureen complained to DES that the heavy equipment used to install the docks chewed up the shoreline, destroyed native vegetation and increased runoff into the lake.
Called upon to explain, Salvati told DES he had nine docks, not 11, and they were grandfathered because there was a “multitude” of docks present when his in-laws purchased the former Camp Winnemont for Girls in 1964.
No so, said neighbor Hiller, whose family was also on the lake at the time. He submitted historical pictures to DES to dispute the grandfathering claim. A DOS official later said Salvati’s 2008 mooring permit renewal application stated the business had only two docks.
Saying it was too difficult to prove the grandfathering claim, Salvati said last year he would apply for “whatever number of docks” DES would allow. But neighbors say the applications that are pending with DES and DOS don’t tell the whole story.
In his March 8 application to DES, for example, Salvati said the campground has been operating for 60 years and “always had docks.” Neighbors say four docks with 15 boat slips is a far cry from what was historically at the site.
The DES application also states that the 15 requested boat slips would “minimize [environmental] impact” because they are a “reduction in past years of up to 22” slips. Neighbors said that since no boat slips have ever been authorized, 15 boat slips is a 15 slip increase from zero, not a reduction from 22.
A t-shaped dock and extension accommodated swimmers and sailboats during the Camp Winnemont era. The property’s current owner is seeking approval to accommodate 47 powerboats and jet skis.
They also note that Salvati told DES he has 70 campers who have had boats on the lake “for many years” while telling DOS that 46 campers “have (or will have) boats” this season.
Critics were especially critical of the owner’s explanation to DOS about why “no viable alternative” exists to boat moorings, which is an application requirement.
“While we understand the argument to regulate the number of boats on the lake for safety and natural resource protection,” Salvati wrote to DOS, “we also feel that we offer to many an affordable way for the average family to be able to enjoy the lake and hope the State will consider this factor in weighing the decision.”
Neighbors said the goal may be laudable but the situation is simply a case of having more demand than supply, something other campgrounds, marinas and condominium developments address all the time by managing public expectations.
Asked to comment on his applications, Salvati said his position on the moorings is that he is asking for “approval of boats we already have,” meaning the 31 moorings that were previously approved by DOS.
“We have had about 30 moorings for about 30 years,” he said, and “I have followed the rules for the permitted moorings since inception, always providing the State with the registrations and the fee.”
As for submitting an application for docks in addition to moorings, he said “It is a balance decision about trying to prove the grandfather aspect versus starting anew.”
“I decided to file as if new,” he said.
It appesrs that
Mr. Salvati is once again trying to circumvent the state redulations and requirements.
As the property was recently transferred, the requirement to apply for both new slip space and new moorings, (meeting the states capacity requirements), become another shoal to be navigated.
The logical alternative is to simply have the campground boaters utilize the available boat ramps, to accomodate their daily boating activity.
As we have witnessed with boaters at both Westward Shores and at Totem Pole, “residents” rarely use their boats daily, and therefore the need for docks and moorings at the scale proposed at the Salvati site may be excessive. Perhaps permiiting a single dock for daily pick up and drop off of desired amenities for daily boating may be a more acceptable alternative, Perhaps a dock accommodating
6 – 8 boats temporarily as families load and unload their gear for their daily on the water activities, is a more appropriate solution.
Logical for who? Do you own a boat? You people already cry your eyes out about the pine river boat ramp. Do you want more congestion on the roads, gas stations, ramps, and parking areas?
I look at that picture of the old days at Camp Winnemont and am saddened at how much the lake has changed. State and local officials have stood by for years and just watched. Newcomers have no idea what has been lost.
“State and local officials have stood by for years and just watched.” They have done more than “watch”, they have facilitated the overuse, pollution and invasive species growth of the lake. There is more of an effort to make the waterways accessible than to protect.