Late one afternoon while making my rounds to the islands, I had a camper ask me a question. “That howling sound, is that a bird?” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing a bit at the Loon’s call being called a ‘howl’. I explained to him that while the sound can be pretty unnerving when you don’t know what it is, it’s a very welcome sound to us, as we try to do everything we can to help the loon population on Squam.

I think I was in New Hampshire for all of two days before hearing that this is the home of the worst weather in the world. The worst. In the whole world. No hurricanes, typhoons, or tornadoes define New Hampshire’s seasons, yet of everywhere in the world, I’m supposed to believe that this little New England state, found in a temperate climate zone, has the worst weather??? Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical. Since then, I’ve heard it countless other times. Even a quick google search of the worst weather in the world reveals Mount Washington as the reigning champion—“The lowest temperature ever recorded at Mount Washington’s summit is -46 °C. Only the South Pole is colder.”

“Don’t forget to hold on tight,” said Shane Brandt, water quality researcher at UNH, at the exact moment that I forgot to hold on tight. The spool of string I was grasping whipped out of my hand with incredible force as Hollyn chucked the collection device out across the lake with all of her might. The group stared into the water in absolute silence for about twenty seconds, the spool and net floating gently on the surface. As the net dipped beneath the water, the laughter started.

The hottest times of the year are truly upon us, and the mosquitos are out in full force.
The amount of water I’ve had to bring for a workday has slowly increased from 1L to 3L, and I
can’t start a day without basically taking a shower in DEET spray. Still, nothing feels better than
walking along a trail for an hour and stumbling on a massive patch of blueberries, so the whole
experience is worth it in the end. The Lakes Region Conservation Corps program has helped us develop a myriad of
skills, but I feel the most important of these is being able to identify edible berries; wildberries,
blueberries, bunchberries, strawberries, bearberries, and raspberries are a few of the fruits that
are in season this time of the year, and provide ample reason to stop and take a prolonged water
break.

This month I’ve been reading a book about coincidences. I mean, the book’s about quite a bit more than that, but the occurrence of coincidences is one of its major themes. The general idea is that our lives are constantly shaped by miniscule, chance events. We usually don’t pay them much mind, yet when one of these events happens to coincide in time with another, seemingly related event, it’s easy to interpret a greater meaning. In some extraordinary cases, coincidences can make one feel like an occurrence was fated to be.

Although I grew up in NH, I surprisingly did not spend much time up in the Lakes Region. One of my first summer internships allowed me to do field work sampling fresh and coastal waters all over the state, but having sampled so many sites, all the beautiful places I saw that summer became faint memories. When I joined the LRCC, I was excited to explore a piece of NH that I thought was foreign to me however, my memories of the region’s remote beaches and vast lakes held better than expected and now find myself with constant lingerings of déjà vu, sampling some of the same waters as that summer internship.

What an incredible first half of my summer so far. I have been serving for the past 5 weeks at Camp Hale in Center Sandwich and so far I have felt many feelings while I’m here but regretful has not been one. I could have never imagined a more perfect place for me to be this summer. It all started with a couple of training weeks. In those first couple weeks there were no kids and no counselors on camp yet so I had the place all to myself and a couple administrators at the camp. I took this time to explore the camp and busy myself with activities during the day to prepare the camp for the children who came up about 2 weeks later. To make the camp easily accessible for many (especially young children) me and my partner have been clearing trails of much of the large debris that fell over the winter months. While doing this trail work there have been many discoveries that get us talking with the children and each other.

Wow. I can’t believe it’s been a little over a month and a half since I have arrived in New Hampshire and started with the Lake Winnipesaukee Association (LWA). The time has flown by and I have learned so much since I began in June. The mission of LWA is to protect the water quality and natural resources of Lake Winnipesaukee and its watershed now and for future generations. Gloria and I have been immersed in this mission throughout the various projects and activities we have been doing. From performing a watershed survey to identify potential “hotspots” of stormwater runoff and pollution loading into the lake to assessing homeowners properties and suggesting “do-it-yourself” remedies to help reduce their stormwater runoff, all our efforts are to help protect the water quality of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Scuba (scu. · ba): An apparatus utilizing a portable supply of compressed gas (as air) supplied at a regulated pressure and used for breathing while swimming underwater.

This is an accurate although dull definition of a device that allows you to explore a mysterious realm that would otherwise be inaccessible. This is good for multiple reasons. One is that it allows you to spend ample time underwater removing and surveying for variable milfoil, an aquatic invasive species here in the Squam Lakes region. A good deal of our AmeriCorps service during the summer months is devoted towards eradicating this plant for both ecological and recreational benefits. The second is that it allows you bask in that peculiar underwater world without the sense of urgency to return to the surface; a unique experience for us humans who are not adapted to such an environment.

This past weekend, I served as the SLA’s caretaker on Moon and Bowman Islands. The islands are situated in the center of Squam Lake and lie about 200 yards apart from one another. Both have been conserved through conservation easements, and are owned by the Squam Lakes Association (purchased Moon in 1978, Bowman in 1994), so they will remain as they are today into the future. Both have at least a mile or so of hiking trails laced over them, and save for a few docks, tent platforms, privies(bathrooms) and one cabin each, they look very much the same as they did many years ago.