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Selectmen agree to convene stakeholders on Smith River flow after lake-level order; Wolfeboro Waters to organize initial discussions
Summary
After a presentation from Wolfeboro Waters, the Board of Selectmen authorized town staff to convene DES, Fish and Game and other stakeholders to explore whether the town can maintain a minimum flow in the Smith River while remaining within the 1991–1993 lake-level order governing Crescent Lake and Lake Wentworth.
The Wolfeboro Board of Selectmen voted March 5 to move forward with a town-led effort to convene state agencies and local stakeholders to examine how dam operations at Crescent Lake could be managed to preserve continuous flow in the Smith River.
Rich Massey, a member of the volunteer Wolfeboro Waters group, told the board the Smith River — the short channel connecting Crescent Lake and Lake Wentworth to Back Bay — periodically dries when dam operations fully close the outlet. He said that practice kills aquatic life in the river and can change downstream water conditions, including lake flushing and nutrient transport to Wolfeboro Bay. The current lake-level order issued by New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) in 1991 and reaffirmed in 1993 governs lake elevations but does not explicitly require minimum downstream flow, Massey and other speakers said.
Julie Brown of the…
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