Members Making a Difference: Lake-Minded Visits in Action

“During the summer of 2023, we invited Julie Brown and volunteers from the Wentworth Watershed Association for a lake-minded visit to our home to assess stormwater runoff issues and to make recommendations. Before we could institute them, a July storm brought 5 1/2 inches of rain in 6 hours, and we suffered a landslide, damaging storm water runoff and erosion resulting in foundation impacts and tree loss.  Soon after, Rich Baldwin regraded our totally gutted driveway to guide stormwater away from our house and to replace our old water bars. 

Resuming our efforts to mitigate future stormwater damage and erosion in April 2024, family members laid eight tree trunks to encourage water to crisscross our naturalized forest which previously had been wiped out by the tornado of 2008.  The tree trunks zigzag down the hill to slow water and to create natural berms for planting deep-rooted, native shrubbery.  We have done this work by hand and hoe and will seek a shoreline permit if we do anything more invasive.

Along our shore, several neighbors and I met with Danna Truslow, a hydrogeologist with Truslow Resource Consulting, who works to restore and protect land and water resources in New England.  She walked our properties with us, noted issues, and created a report using state maps and hydrogeological findings to determine the water flow heading down our properties from Deering Ridge and into Lake Wentworth.

From that report, we were able to reach a consensus with our road neighbors, many of whom continue to work with Ms. Truslow and her colleague Dan Coons, to make adjustments in the management of our road through changes in stormwater runoff patterns and practices.

On our property specifically, Truslow later flagged areas where water flow could be slowed safely with swales, check-dams, and turns to make our brook meander more as it flows downhill toward the lake.  Further, she identified areas where rain gardens could be created to help slow and capture rain and stormwater.  She recommended the use of native plantings that we ordered from New Hampshire State Forestry https://buynhseedlings.com as small seedlings that, in our naturally fertile, nitrogen and phosphorus-rich soil, blossomed into small shrubs in three months time. No need for fertilizers here.

We are so grateful to members of the WWA and to Truslow for providing relevant recommendations and resources that guided our family to create over 14 small rain gardens to capture and direct the flow of water deep into the ground which will draw nutrients into the soil and out of the water before it reaches the lake.  In the course of the summer, we planted over one hundred thirsty blueberry bushes, Buttonbush, Nannyberry, silky, yellow, and red Osier Dogwoods, etc. into our spongy rain gardens.  These native shrubs were selected for their tolerance of Wolfeboro’s arid and wet conditions and for their ability to soak up a great deal of groundwater while creating deep and strong root systems. The Buttonbush were particularly helpful along the edges of our newly winding brook to help guide the water and soak up much of it on its way to the lake.

Wentworth Watershed Association has provided critical support as we seek to enhance nature’s regenerative processes on our property and to protect the health of our homestead and clarity of our beloved Lake Wentworth.”

– Susan Cole Ross