Simulus Funds Create Jobs to Protect New Hampshire's Lakes

246 (nat sound)
At the Winnisquam Lake boat ramp in Laconia, Laconia High School student Caleb Robertson watches as boats are hitched or unhitched from their trailers.
246 :10 Robertson “we have to check the boat and the trailer for any milfoil or any other invasive plants to prevent them from spreading to other lakes.”
He holds a clipboard and looks under the boat.
246 :28 Robertson2 “sometimes you find real little pieces so you have to feel the trailer with your hands and stuff so you can’t always see it all.”
It’s a hot and humid August afternoon…. a time when most teenagers would be swimming in the state’s lakes, not inspecting boats for milfoil.
But Robertson, and other teens from financially-strapped families in Laconia, Lebanon, Meredith and Pittsburg, is getting a much-needed paycheck and a lesson in ecology.
The New Hampshire Lakes Association is providing these green jobs through a 74-thousand dollar Workforce Investment Act grant distributed by the Workforce Opportunity Council.
Lakes Association President Jared Teutsch says the teenagers check boats for invasive plants, pick up trash at public boat launches, and work on projects to prevent stormwater runoff in the state’s lakes.
228 1:40 Jared “its really been a unique opportunity for us as an organization, we’re the only conservation organization that received some of the stimulus funding to work with at risk and low income youth and it’s been wonderful to see their growth and development.”
The kids work 15 hour weeks and get five hours of academic instruction about lake ecology, management, and protection.
Deb Williams supervises the Lake Host Program in Laconia.
233 4:48 Deb1 “a lot of them have grown up here, but never knew about the milfoil, never knew really about the lake ecology, they now understand how important lake water quality is to tourists and the tourists trade.”
17-year-old Ulyssys Martinez from Laconia now speaks like a milfoil expert.
237 1:42 Ulyssys1 “once it gets into the water , if it gets a very strong foothold in a lake, it can ruin the lake’s ecosystem and actually kill the lake which is ruin the freshwater, the vegetation, the fish, everything that’s living in the lake.”
Organizers say jobs would be scarce for these kids without the program.
In Laconia, like in other New Hampshire towns, the recession has forced many adults into seasonal jobs typically held by students.
Other students in the program have never been able to hold a job because they have no transportation.
But this program provides transportation, education and a paycheck.
For Ulysses Martinez, it means a lot.
240 :05 Ulysses “in 2005 after my mother died, my family fell on hard economic times, she left us with a bunch of medical debt, it’s wasn’t really her fault but she still left us with it and ever since then we’ve been trying to recover.”
The program provides only minimum wage.
But Martinez says the job has given him much more than just a paycheck.
240 :19 “This job helped me out a lot, not just money-wise, but responsibility wise, immediately after I got my first paycheck I went right to the bank and opened up a bank account and started saving and putting my money away for college.”
Other teenagers finally had money to buy new school supplies and clothes.
Martinez says the experience has also made him look at the environment and the lakes around him a little differently.
241 1:29 “this job has really just inspired me to take more of a dramatic approach to how we treat our environment how we treat the very thing that sustains us and gives us life.”
The New Hampshire Lakes Association received enough funding to continue the summer program for the next two years.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.