Welcome to LakeWanda.org.  Our purpose is to inform about the dire current status of the lake, to share some of its colorful history and also to discuss the possibilities and promise of its future. 

Lake Wanda is located at the three-way intersection of Canistear, Breakneck and Wawayanda roads in Highland Lakes, NJ.  It is an approximately 27 acre lake with an earthen dam desperately in need of repair due to damage from the record breaking rainfalls of Hurricane Ida. A washout of the spillway during Ida has left the lake approximately 2 feet lower than its normal historical pool level.  

 Docks are no longer floating.  The shoreline has retreated.  Come Spring and Summer invasive weeds and mosquitos will propagate in the space between the old shoreline and the new one.  Property values both on the lake and in the surrounding community will plummet.  Fish, turtles, frogs and other species will have a diminished ecosystem to sustain them.  New and old lakefront property owners already find their “lakefront” unusable.

The community is searching for a solution to the problem of fixing the dam and has begun to conduct meetings to discuss the alternatives.

The state of New Jersey has recently made $45 million in loans available in loans for dam projects like this.  Unfortunately the application deadline of December 30, 2021 means that only lake communities with “shovel ready” projects can act quickly enough to apply for these funds.  We are not shovel ready.

We ask that anyone interested in contributing toward a positive resolution to the problem of fixing the dam and/or joining in the effort to maintain the lake and its adjoining properties for fishing, swimming and recreational purposes sign up on this site to receive notification from us about the situation as it develops.

Fed by a stream which flows directly from the dam on the “big lake”, Lake Wanda is not one of the five lakes which comprise the Highland Lakes Country Club and Club Association.  The HLCC&CA is a true homeowners association where every resident is required by their deed to pay dues to maintain the lakes.  While we share the zip code 07422, one of 8 zip codes in Vernon Township,  the Lake Wanda community is not a part of the HLCC.

Most in the Lake Wanda section of Highland Lakes do not have a stipulation in their deed requiring the payment of dues of any kind.

Until August of 2000, all was well.  A 1,000 year rainfall event caused 2,700 homes and businesses in Sussex, Morris, Warren and Hunterdon counties to be flooded and 2,600 people to be evacuated.  The NJ DEP took a hard look at the dams on all private lakes in the state.  Officials mandated that all dams on private lakes deemed to be substandard be improved or the lakes drained.  At that time communities with true homeowners associations, HOA’s, began to assess their members for the funds to do the work.  

The HLCC has done repairs to all of their dams.  Some in the Lake Wanda community have made an effort to maintain its dam but given the lack of funding and general lack of community support these efforts have proven insufficient to withstand the increasing magnitude of recent weather events.

We have begun to come together as a community to seek a solution.

A second meeting will be held on Sunday 12/12 at 4PM at the Highland Lakes Ambulance Squad hall.  Ideas open for discussion will include but not be limited to the following:

Forming of an association of the willing to contribute time and resources to the maintenance of the lake.

Working with Vernon Township toward a viable solution that would spread the onerous financial burden of fixing the dam to a manageable level.

Rehabilitating the beach property to give people in the wider community access.

Inquiries with township officials regarding the situation have been made.

They are waiting to see the level of  involvement from the Lake Wanda community.

Now is the moment to express your desire to make it a positive upward spiral for the community.