As my term with the Lakes Region Conservation Corps begins to come to a close, it has been a great time to reflect on all the great experiences I have gotten out of my term here in New Hampshire. Looking back at the last couple weeks here at Newfound Lake Region Association, we have been cramming to complete a number of different projects before the winter season rolls around. One of the main focuses recently for my steward partner Colleen and I has been winterizing our Grey Rocks Conservation Area in Hebron. We have spent a lot of our service at this location and really became accustomed to the areas that need the most improvement here. We have been working hard to clear brush and prune the various species of plants in our garden beds before the temps begin to dip. Our Grey Rocks property is definitely one of the richest areas to see wildlife in all kinds of forms from ducks to otters and even the occasional bald eagle. We even have a full scale beaver lodge right on the property and they have been hard at work gnawing down the various saplings and trees we have lining the riverbed to build their lodge that much more.
One important task that we have worked to complete at our Grey Rocks property as well was our aquatic plants survey. We completed this survey to get a glimpse at the current aquatic species we have within Newfound Lake as well as note any emerging species that could be deemed invasive or problematic to the fragile aquatic ecosystem we have on the lake. This was one of the more interesting and exciting tasks I had completed during my service cause we were able to get out on the water in our kayaks and really immerse ourselves within the scenery of the Newfound Watershed during the completion of our survey, I even took a great photo right on one of the banks outside our Cockermouth River inlet that you can check out on this article.
One of the skills I feel I was able to develop the most throughout my term for LRCC was adaptability and being resilient to change while also developing a sense of leadership along the way. Working with our Youth Conservation Corps and helping lead and assist them on our various stormwater mitigation projects helped me gain essential skills in conservation and I really felt that I grew as a person through these experiences. This sense of leadership also came through a number of different community outreach and volunteer project days that we completed for our organization. We just recently completed a number of volunteer days at the Circle Camp for girls in Groton. We completed a number of different tasks here including trail maintenance and fall clean up activities as well during our time here and by the end were able to give the camp a clean look that I feel brought a great sense of place to the area. They were of course very grateful for our time there and hopefully we opened some doors with them for possible collaborations on projects in the near future. On top of this, our community outreach extended to a few volunteer days that we had with locals from around the watershed. We recently had a few wonderful members and trustees come to help clean up the garden bed on the corner of the Trinity Church in Bristol. The comparison between the before and after of the bed was pretty eye opening and it was a great experience to connect and lead members of the public through this service as well. We are actually having a volunteer day coming up at our Grey Rocks Conservation Area where we’ll have a number of members of the public come to help us finally complete our winterization of the property though mulching, pruning and basic fall clean-up. This of course will be another great opportunity to lead and connect with our members while also completing some very meaningful work. In the end, I have certainly been very grateful for my time during this service and I have a great amount of positive takeaways from this experience that will aid me greatly in my future endeavors in my career. It’s always great to know that the service we are completing is having a lasting beneficial impact on the Newfound Watershed for years to come.
Ryan is reflecting the summer with the LRCC, as he finishes up his term with Newfound Lakes Region Association. You can read more about Ryan here!