Breathing underwater was something I used to think was reserved for only my dreams. Serving at the Squam Lakes Association has completely debased that. There were many aspects of serving here that were alluring to me–I get to work out in nature every day, do important work on trails beloved by the community, and live with some really cool like-minded people–but getting to scuba dive was by far the biggest selling point.
I’d never dived before I came here, but I certainly fantasized about it. Throughout my childhood I’d doggy paddle into the depths of whatever local lake I was swimming in and blow bubbles until I sank to the silty bottom, where I could gaze at the heavenly sun rays reaching for me through the surface above. Only when I couldn’t bear to hold my breath any longer would I resurface, cursing my tiny kid lungs for their limitations. While scuba diving definitely has its own limitations, it can make you feel limitless. Now I can look up at the distorted sky from the depths for as long as I want (given I have enough air in my tank). I can bear witness to the mysterious lives of fish–how big bass effortlessly glide through pond weed forests, the way dozens of white perch move as one entity, and how catfish really don’t seem to be afraid of anything.
Fish encounters are what people usually want to talk about when they find out I’ve been diving in Squam, but I’d be lying if I ever said it wasn’t the plants that enchanted me most. Flora often gets delegated to strictly being the scenery for the more charismatic fauna. I don’t really blame people for seeing it that way, especially when it comes to submerged aquatic plants. For many boaters and swimmers, their only interactions with those kinds of plants are when they look at their blurry impressions from the surface. Diving has allowed me to have a deeper experience (both literally and figuratively) to these organisms. I’ve seen firsthand that plants aren’t just a backdrop for animals; they can be homes, hide-outs, food, and more. They’re an inextricable cog in the big machine of our ecosystem.
This is a huge motivation for me when it comes to the main purpose of these dives, which is to pull variable milfoil. What started out as an aquarium plant decades ago has made its way to Squam and other New Hampshire lakes (where it has no natural predators) and spread like wildfire. This invasive plant reproduces so prolifically that it can completely smother existing native plants in a short period of time, threatening the biodiversity of the habitats they invade. So me and the rest of the SLA crew have set out to weed out as much of it as we can in our time here, as many crews have done before us. Sometimes we get a couple gallons worth, and other times we pull more than we can comfortably put on the boat. Either way, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of the satisfying release of pulling a big root ball from the sediment, freeing underwater gardens from milfoil’s trailing green grip one thicket at a time.
Macie is a recent grad of Keene State College, where she studied Biology. Learn more about Macie here!