EVERY ACRE COUNTS

The Newfound Watershed Management Plan

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We can’t change nature’s ways, but we can adapt in ways that create positive environmental results.  In the case of the Newfound Lake watershed, we are working to prevent runoff pollution. In 2007, the NLRA and our partner organizations began working on a comprehensive Watershed Master Plan (WMP), with the last of three project phases completed in December 2014. The WMP project engaged the watershed towns of Alexandria, Bridgewater, Bristol, Groton and Hebron in planning to protect their water quality in practical, effective and efficient ways. The work included detailed, innovative and professional field research and analysis by the Newfound Lake Region Association, Plymouth State University, the University of New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services, the NH Fish and Game Dept., the Newfound Regional School District, the Society for Protection of NH Forests, and the NH Timberland Owners Association.

Key takeaways:

• An indigenous vegetative buffer zone is the most effective, and cost-effective, way to protect the watershed from runoff pollution.
• Not all pollution is “man-made,” but it is often “human-caused” in the form of sedimentation resulting from run-off because of soil disturbance.