Mark A. Ishkanian: Protecting Camp Menotomy protects Lake Winnipesaukee

New Hampshire faces an important choice about the future of one of the last large undeveloped properties on Lake Winnipesaukee. The former Camp Menotomy, used by Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and other campers for more than half a century, encompasses more than 95 acres and approximately 4,500 feet of largely natural shoreline. There is now the possibility that this remarkable property could be sold and developed as a luxury residential subdivision. The Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance strongly believes that should not happen.

Our concern is not primarily about the legal questions surrounding the charitable trust, deed restrictions or proposed sale. Those issues are properly being considered by the courts and others. Our concern is more fundamental: What happens to Lake Winnipesaukee if we continue developing the few remaining stretches of natural shoreline while spending millions of dollars trying to restore the Lake's declining water quality?

Lake Winnipesaukee is one of New Hampshire's defining natural resources. It supports thousands of jobs, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors and serves as the economic engine of the Lakes Region. Generations of families have come here because of the lake's extraordinary beauty and clean, clear water. Protecting those qualities is not simply an environmental responsibility. It is an economic imperative for New Hampshire.

The science is telling us something we can no longer afford to ignore: Lake Winnipesaukee is slowly losing some of the qualities that have made it extraordinary. The Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance's soon-to-be-released State of the Lake assessment documents a measurable decline in water quality. Water clarity has diminished over the past four decades at a conservative rate of approximately two inches annually — a cumulative loss of roughly 6.6 feet. Nutrient concentrations, especially phosphorus, are increasing. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms have become more frequent, threatening public health, aquatic ecosystems, recreation and the local economy. Together they tell a consistent story: the lake is gradually deteriorating.

There is no single culprit. The challenge is the cumulative effect of thousands of decisions made over decades. Every new road, driveway, rooftop, lawn and septic system can contribute incrementally to stormwater runoff and nutrient pollution. One development may seem insignificant. Added together across a large watershed, their impact is not. That is why Camp Menotomy matters. Approximately 90% of Lake Winnipesaukee's shoreline is privately owned and already developed. The remaining large tracts of forested waterfront have become extraordinarily valuable — not because of their real estate value, but because of what they do for the lake.

Forested land absorbs and filters stormwater, stabilizes soils, reduces erosion and limits phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment from reaching the water. These natural systems do this quietly and continuously, without treatment plants, pumps or public expenditures.

Once they are gone, they are difficult to replace. This creates an obvious contradiction in our approach to protecting Lake Winnipesaukee. In order to protect this irreplaceable resource, the State of New Hampshire, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, lake associations and private property owners will need to invest in watershed restoration, stormwater treatment, septic improvements, shoreline restoration, road salt reduction and other measures to improve water quality.

Allowing one of the lake's last major undeveloped shoreline properties to become a residential subdivision would move us in precisely the opposite direction. We cannot expect to restore Lake Winnipesaukee by fixing yesterday's environmental problems while continuing to create tomorrow's.

Camp Menotomy raises a larger question for New Hampshire: How much natural shoreline are we prepared to lose? There will always be economic pressure to develop waterfront property. Lake Winnipesaukee is an enormously desirable place to live. But there must also be places where the long-term public interest in protecting an irreplaceable natural resource carries greater weight. Camp Menotomy should be one of those places.

Because this property is in New Hampshire, its future should be shaped through meaningful engagement with New Hampshire's public officials, regulatory authorities, conservation organizations and citizens — not just through the Massachusetts court system.

Whatever happens at Menotomy, the environmental, economic and community consequences will be borne here in New Hampshire. Every reasonable alternative to residential development should be explored — including conservation ownership, restoration as a children's camp and other approaches that could preserve this extraordinary property while addressing the legitimate interests surrounding its future.

Once 4,500 feet of natural shoreline is divided into house lots, roads, driveways and lawns, it will never again function as it does today. The forests that naturally protect the lake cannot simply be recreated. That opportunity will be gone.

New Hampshire still has a choice. We can watch the undeveloped shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee disappear parcel by parcel while spending ever more money trying to repair the consequences. Or we can recognize that protecting the lake also means protecting the natural systems that have protected it for centuries. Camp Menotomy gives us an opportunity to make that choice. We should preserve it.

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Mark A. Ishkanian lives in Moultonborough and serves on the board of the Lake Winnipesaukee Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the protection of Lake Winnipesaukee’s water quality.