Wanted: Public Input
The Town of Exeter to Hold Meeting April 29 on Great Dam

Exeter, NH –The Town of Exeter will hold a public meeting on April 29th to obtain input on a study exploring the removal or renovation of Great Dam. The meeting’s focus will be to establish a public dialogue on information that could be relevant to the study.  The public’s feedback will be used to shape the request for proposals that the Town will release to prospective consultants in the spring.

The meeting will be held on April 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Exeter Town Hall.  Representatives from the Exeter River Study Committee, the Exeter River Study Committee’s Dam Removal Working group, the Exeter Department of Public Works, and the NH Department of Environmental Services will begin the meeting with a review of work completed to date regarding the Great Dam, why the new study is needed, and the objectives of the request for proposals.

The most important part of the meeting will be small working groups during which the public’s questions and concerns regarding Great Dam, and  ideas on the collection of specific information – cultural, historic, environmental, recreational—will be sought and recorded.  Project partners are interested in finding out what the public knows about the Great Dam and what they care about.  Stafffrom the Rockingham Planning Commission will be on hand to facilitate the discussion and document comments, questions, and concerns from meeting participants.

The Exeter Town Hall is located at 9 Front Street, across from the Exeter Town Office.  For more information on the meeting, please contact Theresa Walker of the Rockingham Planning Commission at 603-778-0885, or twalker@rpc-nh.org.

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Discover the Wonder of Vernal Pools!
A Workshop for Kids and Adults

Saturday, May 1, 2010 (rain or shine!) 10am – Noon
Swasey Central Elementary School
335 Middle Road (Rt. 111A), Brentwood, NH

Dress for the weather and join us!

Vernal pools are temporary bodies of water created after the snow melts in the spring.  Vernal pools provide crucial habitat for salamanders, wood frogs, fairy shrimp, and other creatures. We will meet in the gymnasium at the school for a presentation on vernal pools, followed by a walk into the woods to inspect a pool for critters.

This FREE workshop is presented by the Exeter River Local Advisory Committee (ERLAC) and the Brentwood Conservation Commission.  For more information please call the Exeter River Local Advisory Committee at 778-0885.

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Please join us to learn more about a nomination of the Exeter and Squamscott River
to the NH Rivers Management and Protection Program.

There will be three public meetings held in the watershed to explain the river nomination:
• Wednesday, April 28th, 7pm – Stratham Public Library, 10 Bunker Hill Avenue, Stratham
• Tuesday, May 4th, 7pm – Exeter Public Library, 4 Chestnut Street, Exeter
• Thursday, May 6th, 7pm – Newfields Town Hall, 65 Main Street, Newfields

The towns of Chester, Sandown, Danville, Raymond, Fremont, Kingston, East Kingston, Kensington, Brentwood, Exeter, Stratham, Newfields, and Newmarket all have one thing in common – the Exeter and Squamscott River watershed. The Exeter and Squamscott are actually one river, blessed by history with two names. From Great Bridge in the heart of downtown Exeter it is hard to imagine this waterway starts in Chester from a spring over thirty miles upstream. Looking downstream, the freshwater of the Exeter River crashes over the dam and becomes the tidal Squamscott River. This river is an important part of our past – and our future.

The quality and quantity of the surface and ground water in our watershed is now experiencing pressure. Increased run-off from hard surfaces such as roads, driveways and rooftops send polluted water into the river. Flooding has become nearly an annual event. We know that keeping our water clean and abundant needs a way of working together.

The New Hampshire Rivers Management and Protection Program (RMPP) offers towns an opportunity to work together on common goals for our shared water. Enrolling a river in the RMPP provides our towns with access to technical and financial resources, and establishes a local committee comprised of watershed residents. A fact sheet on the nomination is available for download (in PDF format), and additional information may be found at the RMPP website.

The Exeter River Local Advisory Committee (ERLAC) is drafting a nomination for the lower portion of the Exeter River, from Great Brook to Great Dam, and the Squamscott River from Great Dam to where the river flows into Great Bay. ERLAC was established in 1996, after the Exeter River from Chester to Great Brook was enrolled in the RMPP. It has been a long-held goal of ERLAC to enroll all of the Exeter and Squamscott River into the RMPP. In 2009, the NH Legislature amended the state statute governing the RMPP to allow tidal rivers to be enrolled in the program, enabling ERLAC to nominate the entire length of the river, fresh and salt.

The Exeter and Squamscott River are very special and deserving of our stewardship. We hope you will attend one of the public meetings to learn more about the nomination. For more information, please call Theresa Walker of the Rockingham Planning Commission at 778-0885, twalker@rpc-nh.org.