A plan is in the works to protect Newfound Lake.
It’s one of the state’s largest lakes and also one of its cleanest. Now, nine communities, several organizations and universities have teamed up to try to keep it clean. They’re creating the largest and first of its kind master plan in the state.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports.
Newfound Lake stretches from Hebron to its southernmost point in Bristol. (Courtesy Newfound Lake Region Association)
(Boat sputter…)
The middle of Newfound Lake is the best place to get a panoramic view of its watershed.
More than 63,000 acres in nine towns drain into this lake.
Boyd Smith says despite that Newfound remains relatively undeveloped - at least so far.
He’s the Executive Director of the Newfound Lake Region Association.
"Development will come in time and if we’re not proactive in managing the natural resources of land and forest and water and provide for the folks who live here, this place will change and it will change in a way that most people will not want to see."
Hillsides and mountains surround much of the lake - so when it rains, stormwater runoff is intense.
"Basically you get an inch of rain in the basin and within 24 to 36 hours the lake, unless they’re letting it out at the dam at the other end, it will come up roughly a foot, so its very fast and moves a lot of material very quickly."
Contaminants such as fertilizers from lawns, oils and grease from parking lots, can flow into tributaries and directly into the lake.
Erosion is also a greater threat on steep hillsides – there’s more granite bedrock, and not a lot of soil to slow down the runoff.
Bob Craycraft with UNH’s Center for Freshwater Biology joined us on the tour.
Thunderheads over Newfound Lake. Stormwater runoff is a challenge in managing Newfound because of the hills and mountains that surround it. (Courtesy Newfound Lake Region Association)
"I’m going to lower this off the side of the boat..I’m going to continue to lower it down until it disappears."
He lowers an eight inch diameter disc into the water to determine the lake’s clarity.
He and teams of volunteers have been monitoring water quality in tributaries and the lake as part of the watershed plan.
Craycraft says the lake is almost as clean as it was 5000 years ago.
That’s partly because it’s 182 feet deep.
On this day, the water is clear down to about 20 feet.
"During the late summer months generally speaking we can see about 10 meters there, so about 33 feet, so we are down from that, so it’s a good likelihood that a lot of its associated with the rainfall we’re having right now."
Craycraft says even with the recent rains, Newfound remains one of the cleanest and clearest lakes in New Hampshire.
He says he’s pulled water samples from heavily developed lakes in the southern part of the state and the water was a bright florescent green from algae growth.
The greener the water, the more damage to the lake.
But Craycraft says there are signs that Newfound Lake is changing.
"As you head south of Mayhew Island that’s the more developed area of Newfound Lake and in terms of water quality, we do see less transparent water down there and greener water."
Craycraft and Smith are worried about that.
They’re two of the partners working on the Newfound Lake watershed plan
It’s goal is not to stop growth but guide towns and residents on how they can manage it without damaging the lake.
Brian Eisenhower is with the Center for the Environment at Plymouth State University.
He’s also involved in the planning.
"As you can imagine here in New Hampshire in particular there’s always a concern about increased regulations but one of the things that’s been essential to this project is we’re not using a top down approach, we’re trying to work with communities throughout and say what do you need and how can we help."
To get the project off the ground, Eisenhauer and researchers mailed out a survey to residents in the nine towns around the lake.
They wanted to find out how much the locals cared about the lake and its water quality.
Steve Whitman also joined the tour on Newfound Lake.
He’s an environmental planner with Jeffrey Taylor and Associates.
"There was a need to get an understanding as to whether people felt a connection to Newfound Lake and to the watershed and whether they would support different rules and regulations that could help guide things more appropriately."
Brian Eisenhauer says he was surprised that 41% of those residents who received the extensive survey responded.
"One of the most important findings is that people truly recognize the water quality and environmental health of this region for economic well being."
The development of the master plan costs 300,000 dollars.
But New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services is paying 60 percent of that with Federal Clean Water Act funds.
Watershed Management Supervisor Steve Landry says the state has never done planning on this scale.
Most watershed plans in the state involve only one or two towns.
And those towns often already have regulations in place to protect the lake.
But Newfound’s plan includes towns that have no zoning, or very little.
And Landry says this project is unique.
Bear Mountain by Newfound Lake. Planners say their efforts are aimed at maintaining Newfound's cleanliness. (Courtesy Newfound Lake Region Association)
"A lot of the other watershed projects we work on you’re either already behind the eight ball because the lake is impaired or you’re doing watershed protection at a point in time where it’s really going to be hard to truly protect it, Newfound is a fairly clean slate."
But Landry and others collaborating on the project say working on a lake that’s already clean can also be a barrier to success.
"There’s usually a lot more support for doing a restoration project, the public has seen the water body decline rapidly over the years and there’s this outcry and crisis that people can rally around, it’s a lot harder to get people to rally around watershed protection when there’s no perceived problem."
In the past three decades, development in the watershed has increased 132 percent.
And 70 percent of the land in the watershed is still available for development.
Planners say if towns don’t take action to protect it, the lake will lose what draws people in the first place: its cleanliness.
And once that’s gone, the economy of the nine towns in the watershed could suffer.
The final master plan is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
That’s when the work to implement it will begin.
For NHPR News, I’m Amy Quinton.
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