Shortly after our Annual Meeting in July, Demonstration Project 319 sprung into action. Blue postcards, outlining various types of technical assistance, were distributed to the members. (They’d also been enclosed in last Spring’s Newsletters.) Within a short time, returns started arriving and Cynthia Kuhns, Karen Hahnel, Phoebe Hardesty and Kay Nichol began scheduling visits. Cynthia is an associate of Scott Williams’ in LWRMA, Karen is with MDEP, Phoebe and Kay with AVSWCD. About twenty requests were processed and sites visited before Labor Day.

These are just some of the types of problems; the staff is available to assist with other outdoor technical problems as well. Remember…this technical assistance is FREE during the time of this Project, from April 1998 to December 1999. This is voluntary; no one is being forced to participate. But it is for the good of the Lake. So please, keep those requests coming in! If they weren’t acted upon this Fall, you’ll be contacted in the Spring for an appointment. If you’ve misplaced your card, please call or write and I’ll send you one. The visits are followed up with a written report detailing all suggestions.

The following people were visited by Cynthia Kuhns this past summer and fall: Marion Emery, John Laskey, Erland & Esther Tucker, Bob & Jackie Misenheimer, Susan & Royce Stegman, Nancy & Charlie Rodway, Wendall &Gerry Tinkham, A. Barry MacMillan, Kathy Carroll, Richard & Paula Smith and Barbara Shapiro.

Additional sites visited were the Fernald Road (twice), North Raymond Road (below Rt. 11), Megquier Hill Road intersection and the Public Beach on Rt. 11. The Fernald Road Improvement Association maintains its own roads which include Marjorie Lane, Larch Drive and other connectors. Fernald needs to be crowned and shaped, drainage ditches should be cleaned out, seeded and mulched. Plunge pools and vegetation is recommended to stabilize drainage areas. It has been requested by Mr. Marquis that this area become a demonstration project next spring.

The North Raymond Road had been visited in the Spring with recommendations that it be a demonstration site. However, the necessary improvements were made by the Town over the summer. These included lining the ditch with geotextile fabric and rock, creating a rock-lined stilling basin and seeding and mulching all bare soil. TLIA can take credit, along with the town, for identifying and stabilizing this area.

Megquier Hill intersection and the Public Beach have both been recommended as Demo. sites, but MDOT scheduling and plans will affect both areas. We hope to find help from the State for both sites.

From all these visits, at least three and not more than ten sites, will be picked for Demonstration Projects next year. This means that whatever individual improvements are made(in real monies and in in-kind work) will be matched with funds from this Project. In other words, if a private party spends $250 in materials and expends about 21 hours in labor, we’ll match the expenditure with $500= a $1,000 project. This project becomes a Demonstration Site and will be visited during scheduled tours next year. It will also be open to the public for several years following improvements. People should be able to borrow from these suggestions and make similar improvements.