Dammed by the state

Some years back, the State of NH built a new dam on the south end of the lake. It’s the smallest damn the state manages. They messed it up. One thing they got right. It has a much larger spillway than the old dam so can better handle flooding. However, they screwed up and built the dam about 6 inches higher than the old one.

Six inches doesn’t sound like much, but the effects on my land have caused me all kinds of grief. In the summer, I used to have a bit of natural sand beach. That’s gone. Now the waves crash right up on the vegetation, putting the shoreline under stress. We turned an old rowboat into a giant sandbox so the little kids would have some sand to play in.

All my white birch trees in the swamp slowly died. That extra six inches made is so the tree roots never got above the water table. Basically, they drowned.

My trail down to the lake used to dry out. The occasional bucket of sand would fill in any wet spots. Now pretty much the whole trail is boggy. We are in the process of putting in a couple hundred feet of bog bridges.

Of course, the state denies that they changed the level of the lake. It doesn’t matter how many property owners have complained. The state can do no wrong. They do have all kinds of laws regulating the land around the lake. An individual better not get caught messing things up the way the state does.

On the bright side, friends and family have helped immensely with labor and materials to improve my property. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.

-Sixbears