On Tuesday, August 12, 2025 a team of volunteers arrived at the beach area along Rte 153 in New Hampshire. There were 18 volunteers including 5 team members of our PLA partners the Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance. The task at hand on the day was to plant 120 plants (a combination of sweet fern, huckleberry and juniper), and spread 40 yards of erosion control mulch along 300 feet of the guardrail at the beach. It was a warm day, but that didn’t stop the team of volunteers. We got going at about 8:15 and we finished up at about 12:30. We did have some equipment help with a power auger to dig some of the holes and two tractors to bucket the mulch from across Rte 153 to the guard rail and then dump it for folks to spread it manually around the plants. We now have the task to keep them watered, which is not that bad of a task as there is lots of water in the lake.

This is phase one and we will be doing the exact same amount of planting and spreading next year as we complete the project that was funded by a grant from the NH DES cyanobacteria mitigation fund. Keep your eyes open for volunteer opportunities next year.

A big thank you to all the volunteers, including the AWWA Youth Conservation Corps, and of course NH DES for approving the funding of the project.

Here are some pictures from the day.