Working Together in 2018 to Preserve What We Love
The NLRA Staff and Trustees want to thank all of our generous members and partners who helped make 2017 such a successful year! Your contributions to the year-end Annual Fund and Jonas challenge ensure we can continue doing even more to protect the area we all love.
As we enter 2018 — the final year of our innovative Three-year Plan — we will continue to:
- Bring Newfound Youth Conservation Corps to homeowners seeking solutions to stormwater problems
- Monitor thousands of boats to prevent invasive species from entering the Lake
- Introduce visitors and residents to the watershed’s natural beauty through EcoTours
- Test the Lake and its streams for clarity and cleanliness
- Work with towns to preserve their land and property values
- Protect land in perpetuity with our conservation partners.
We appreciate your contributions towards our shared purpose of protecting Newfound Lake and its watershed, and look forward to an exciting and beneficial New Year for all!
See you around the watershed!
Images from NLRA’s First Day in 2018 Hike
Trail sign shows the way for First Day Hikers; NLRA Program Manager Andrew Veilleux welcoming hardy souls to First Day Hike
Choose Your Future: Conservation Matters
The Newfound watershed is roughly 65,000 acres (100 square miles) of New Hampshire’s finest landscape, with Newfound Lake as its crown jewel. Newfound’s famously clear and clean water comes from over 125 miles of streams that start high on forested ridges and hills and flow unimpeded to the Lake. Land elevations from below 600 feet at the Lake to above 3,000 feet on Mt. Cardigan create diverse habitats where rare plants and animals thrive. Generations of visitors and residents have cherished Newfound for its peace and beauty.
The watershed also contains abundant, clean drinking water beneath the Fowler and Cockermouth River valleys, has some of the state’s most productive farm soils, and generates roughly $500 per acre per year in forest products and recreation. The Lake and its land are the region’s “economic engine”, as well as food for the soul.
In spite of our natural bounty, fewer people are connecting to the outside world. Work and family pressures and an abundance of electronic devices distract us from the benefits of a walk, a paddle, or simply sitting quietly. It is easy to forget how nature provides for us. As fewer children experience the outdoors, more grow to adulthood without a sense of its role in our wellbeing. It seems many have forgotten what our grandparents knew: how to care for each other and our land with a committed and active community.
NLRA’s message of hope, and call to action, is that a little time spent outdoors will reward you with sounds, sights, and smells often buried in memory. Whether gazing at the stars from your deck on a cold night, or hiking the Elwell Trail from Newfound to Cardigan, being open to nature is always an awakening. To preserve what we love – Newfound’s beauty and value – the solution is simple: care for your own land, shape town policies that balance low-impact development with preservation, and help conserve wildlands. Please join NLRA and your friends and neighbors as a steward of the Lake and its land – wherever your watershed may be.