First of all we would like to continue to thank everyone who has donated to support the WMP, the town of Moultonborough and its voters for funding a large portion of the plan development, and all our partners and stakeholders for their support and interest in protecting Lake Kanasatka. We know many of you are anxiously awaiting an update regarding the progress on the development of Lake Kanasatka’s WMP. We are pleased to report that significant progress has been made to date and that we continue to march towards completing our milestones with the assistance of our environmental consultants – FB Environmental Associates (FBE).  We remain on schedule and expect to complete the Plan within the original summer of 2022 time frame.

After many months of work, in November, the development of the Watershed Management Plan reached its first important milestone – the completion of the fieldwork and preliminary research portion of the process. This entailed reviewing historical and current water quality data, collecting additional detailed data from the lake and surrounding streams, collecting and analyzing sediment core samples from the lake bottom, updating a new bathymetric map, collecting publicly available septic information, and performing detailed on-the-ground surveys of the shoreline as well as the complete watershed. All of this activity examined conditions that impact Lake Kanasatka’s water quality. The initial research phase is an essential component of the WMP. In order to build a good plan, we need good data to provide a strong and reliable foundation of data and information upon which to build the plan. 

During the course of the watershed survey, 22 stormwater runoff sites were identified in the watershed, as well as 9 additional points of interest that require further assessment and information. Of these, several specific sites were identified as current opportunities for impactful improvement. In order to qualify and apply for Federal and State grants specific to watershed improvement, our WMP needs to be substantially complete. However, while we continue to work on our WMP, we have the opportunity to access funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant through the town of Moultonborough.  This grant provides monies from the Federal government which we can apply towards improvements in the watershed. We would like to get started on some of these current opportunities as soon as possible, to this end members of the WMP Steering Committee along with Forrest Bell, the owner and CEO of FB Environmental, will be presenting our request for ARPA funds to the Moultonborough Board of Selectmen on December 16th at 4 pm. 

The recently completed shoreline survey assessed each waterfront parcel (approximately 185 properties) as to their extent of shoreline erosion, exposed soil, waterfront vegetated buffer, steepness of slope, and distance of buildings from the shoreline. The results of the shoreline survey will be shared along with suggested mitigation steps to lessen the waterfront impact on the lake.  We anticipate this to occur in the spring of 2022.  

Now that the required base data has been obtained, we have moved into the modeling phase. This includes a full build-out analysis of the watershed which will estimate future development in the watershed. We are working in conjunction with officials in both Moultonborough and Center Harbor to obtain the most accurate buildout plan data. Modeling will provide us with an anticipated result of each of the 5 categories for nutrient loading: watershed, internal, atmospheric, septic, and waterfowl. The modeling work is scheduled be substantially complete in January at which time the Technical Advisory Committee will meet to review the results and begin setting water quality goals for the future. We will be working to identify interventions and their calculated impact on water quality improvement and to develop a project plan to fund and implement the suggested improvements. The winter and early spring of 2022 will be focused on working to draft the actual WMP plan for review. In May/June, the plan is scheduled to be finalized, and a community forum will be planned to obtain input and feedback to the plan and begin work towards the implementation of an action plan. 

As we move towards developing and implementing the WMP, we ask everyone to take a look at their own property today to identify things that you can do to help reduce storm water run-off and adding unwanted nutrients to the lake.  We plan to provide monthly project updates going forward as we work towards a June completion date of the plan.  The members of the LKWA Advisory Board and the WMP Steering Team continue to be committed to developing a successful WMP that will result in improving and protecting our lake for generations to come. 

WMP STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS: LKWA ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS:

Kirk Meloney

Tim Baker

Jane Nash

Rosemarie Rung

Lisa Hutchinson

Rob Baker

Wendy Booker Downing