New Winnisquam Watershed Nework is collaborating to care for Lake Winnisquam

"We love our lake and want to keep it beautiful and clean by working together to keep everyone updated on all that's happening on Lake Winnisquam." This is how the founders of the new Winnisquam Watershed Network – established on Aug. 14, 2016 – describe their organization's reason for being. The Winnisquam Watershed Network (WWN) is a collaborative effort with the New Hampshire Lakes Association and the associations around the Lake Winnisquam to increase communication and information sharing.

Here's the story of how and why this new group came to be...

Lake Winnisquam, the fourth-largest lake in New Hampshire, is located downstream of Lake Winnipesaukee. At approximately 10.5 miles long and 1.5 miles at its widest, the lake is a long, relatively narrow lake, not fully visible from any one road or single vantage point. Generally speaking, the development pattern around the lake is disconnected – each neighborhood separate from the next – and it is spread out over five municipalities: Laconia,

Meredith, Belmont, Tilton and Sanbornton.

Partly as a result of this complexity, there isn't one overarching lake association – no one group of lake stewards working together in a coordinated way to manage it as a connected hydrological system and lake community. There are, however, several road, bay, shore and cove associations with interests in the health of the lake. Several of these groups, and at least one conservation commission, conduct water quality monitoring or aquatic invasive species prevention and management activities in a variety of locations throughout the waterbody.

In July 2016, NH LAKES was contacted by Lisa Eggleston of the Winnisquam Drive Association located along the northwestern shore of Lake Winnisquam. Lisa said that she wanted to get people together around the lake "so we can work better together." She also explained that she had heard through the grapevine that a watershed assessment planning process for the Winnisquam watershed might be getting underway. She described how important she thought it would be for the people living around the lake to get involved in that assessment process and, that by creating a single lake organization, the planners, county representatives and state agencies would be able to connect with and work with people around the lake.

Lisa asked if NH LAKES could help start a conversation between the existing groups around the lake in order to gauge their interest in working together as one large group. As one of the primary strategies of NH LAKES is to ensure that there are viable local organizations to carefully and responsibly manage each lake, we were in! This project was right in our wheelhouse.

We planned an initial meeting of stakeholders in the watershed for early August at Lisa's lakefront home. The NH LAKES staff scoured state, county and municipal websites, searched its database, and reached out to its partners to find the right people to invite. Our initial email communication list included 30 people from more than eight different groups.

And, while we were aware of pre-existing organizational boundaries and missions, we were pleased to find that the idea of forming one umbrella organization seemed to resonate early and clearly with the people we reached out to.

At our first meeting someone said, "Let's make it a watershed organization." Someone else said, "Let's call it a net- work." So, on Aug. 14, 2016, the Winnisquam Watershed Network was born.

Since that initial meeting, NH LAKES has helped to convene two more, with another one in the planning stages for January. Winnisquam Marine, the first business to join the network, has hosted the last two meetings. NH LAKES also developed a website and email listserv for the network and the group now has a Facebook page.

The early focus has been on organizational structure and process. The group has been experimenting with consensus-based decision making along with coordinating water quality monitoring and aquatic invasive species prevention and management activities. The group is coming together and NH LAKES is already beginning to pass the baton on certain responsibilities – we will soon be able to cheer from the sidelines, providing guidance, resources and tools, as needed.

To find out more about The Winnisquam Watershed Network, including a full listing of the individual groups, agencies and businesses involved, visit their website at winnisquamwatershed.wordpress.com.

If you are interested in creating or growing a lake or watershed organization, please contact NH LAKES at 603-226-0299 or info@nhlakes.org. We are here to serve our local organizational partners and all the dedicated indi- viduals who have a stake in the future of our lakes.

– This column originally appeared in the Lakeside, the quarterly newsletter of the NH Lakes Association, and is reprinted at their request.

Lake Winnisquam, the fourth-largest lake in New Hampshire, is a relatively long and narrow lake surrounded by five municipalities and numerous local road, bay, shore, and cove associations with interests in the health of the lake. (Courtesy graphic)