...plus upcoming programs and volunteer opportunities.

Team AmeriCorps, hard at work already. | Debra Marnich

Dear friends, 

June, June, full of bloom.

We've had some warm days and people are swimming. Never take for granted the good fortune we share in this region of having abundant clean water to dip in.

You might already have been lucky enough to meet our kind, skilled AmeriCorps members Olivia Jakabosky and Harper Walker-West, who arrived in mid-May. Learn more about them below and come learn with and from them this summer. Or make your own luck, and come meet them later this month at a bittersweet pull!

Call for nominations: It's that time of year. If you have ideas for people who would make good CLC Board or committee candidates, please read more HERE and let us know by July 1. Then join us for our Annual Meeting & Cookout on August 1. (If you haven't seen our 2025 Annual Report yet, you can view a digital copy HERE.)

Scroll down for upcoming programs and volunteer opportunities, volunteer appreciations, and to see a recording of the world premiere of the Pollinators & Plants crankie, brought to you by a beautiful partnership...a pollination...of several organizations and several dozen local artists and writers.

And...please take a moment to review how to help turtles stay safe in this season when they must "leave the safety of the water to find mates, lay eggs, and journey to seasonal habitat." Thank you to the Harris Center for Conservation Education for their ongoing, important work protecting amphibians, reptiles, and more.

Olivia Jakabosky and Harper Walker-West. | Anna Paddock

Meet our AmeriCorps members

Olivia joins us from California with stops along the way to research and study in other parts of the US, Latin America, East Africa, and the UK. It's her first time in New England! Harper joins us from Western MA, fresh from graduating with a degree in Forestry with a specialization in forest hydrology. He arrived with a sourdough starter of ancestral lineage, kefir grains, and an impressive carful of tools. We posed a few questions: read their answers and get to know them better HERE.

Learn, visit, and volunteer with us

Our educational programs are by donation (suggested $5–$30), kids are free, and all donations count toward your annual giving. Zoom and collaborative programs are free. If you appreciate these programs, please donate to our partner organizations, too.

Upcoming events:

Muscle-building Bittersweet Pull, Tues. June 16, 9–11 AM. Charlotte C. Browne Woods. More info and sign up HERE.

CLC at Sandwich Farmers' Market, Wed. June 24, 3–6 PM. Come learn about CLC and pick up a baseball cap, t-shirt, poster, or fun water bottle sticker.

Muscle-building Bittersweet Pull, Fri. June 26, 9–11 AM. Meet at the Island, Chocorua Lake. More info and sign up HERE.

Next Gen for Conservation Get-together, June TBD, 5:30 PM. Meet AmeriCorps members from around the region and visit with other young people interested in conservation. To be added to our Next Gen email list, email volunteer@chocorualake.org.

CLC at Tamworth Farmers' Market, Sat. July 4, 9 AM–12 PM. Come learn about CLC and pick up a baseball cap, t-shirt, poster, or fun water bottle sticker.

Summer Highway Cleanup, Sun. July 5, 8:45–10:30 AM. Meet at the Grove, Chocorua Lake. More info and sign up HERE.

Loon Preservation Committee Paddle, Fri. July 10, 10 AM–12 PM. Chocorua Lake, meeting location will be sent. More info and sign up HERE.

Geology & Climate Hike, Sat. July 11, 9 AM–12 PM. With geologist Rick Allmendinger, CLC Clark Reserve. This is a true hike, not a walk. Rain date, Sunday, July 12. More info and sign up HERE.

Muscle-building Bittersweet Pull, Tues. July 28, 9–11 AM. Meet at the Island, Chocorua Lake. More info and sign up HERE.

CLC at Mount Washington Valley Farmers' Market, Tues. July 29, 3:30–6:30 PM. Come learn about CLC and pick up a baseball cap, t-shirt, poster, or fun water bottle sticker.

Hooray to this all-ages crew who gathered at the end of April to get our public access areas ready for the summer season. Thank you all. | Alex Moot

Up to something on the Hammond Trail... | Deanna Eastman

Trail Day volunteers, you knocked it out of the park!

We had a total of 42 participants at CMC Trail clearing on Saturday: 38 volunteers and four US Forest Service members. The crew included about a dozen first-time participants, 15 next-gen members (under 35), and helpers from five states (NH, MA, ME, CT, and NY). The day started off sunny and in the 50s, perfect hiking weather. As forecast, a light rain began around noon. Participants spent almost 200 hours on the trails clearing blowdowns, raking waterbars, and clipping vegetation.  

Participants cleared seven trails on Mount Chocorua and Mount Paugus, including the Brook Trail, Hammond Trail, Bee Line Trail, Weetamoo Trail, Old Paugus Trail, and Whitin Brook Trail, and trails on CLC-managed conservation lands at the Bolles Nature Reserve, Mary P. Scott Reserve, Charlotte C. Browne Woods, and Clark Reserve.

After drying off and changing, 28 participants and family members reassembled at Runnells Hall in the evening to celebrate their hard work and share trail reports over drinks, pizza, chili, salads, sides, and delicious desserts. Humongous thanks to all our intrepid trail volunteers! Want to get involved in trail clearing? Sign up HERE.

Taking care of business on the Bee Line Trail. | Alex Moot

Committee Spotlight: Water Quality Monitoring

This is the time of year where our water quality monitors get busy testing diverse parameters on the lake every couple of weeks, for a total of 10 times a season. Read about what they do on pp. 10–11 of our 2025 Fall Newsletter, and if you'd like to explore joining them, contact the committee chair HERE.

Water quality monitoring on Chocorua Lake. | Nancy Roosa

The Pollinators & Plants crankie

...brought to you by Appalachian Mountain Club, Chocorua Lake Conservancy, Cook Memorial Library, Green Mountain Conservation Group, Mountains to the Sea writers group, and the Yeoman's Fund for the Arts, with art by close to 30 local artists of every age, words by a dozen local poets and naturalists, music by Dexter Harding, with readers Peggy Johnson and Lucy Gatchell, and cranker extraordinaire Norm Sizemore. Enormous thanks to everyone for their care and concern for this earth and all who make their homes here.

Tara Schroeder from Green Mountain Conservation Group. | Juno Lamb

Thank you also to Tara Schroeder from Green Mountain Conservation Group, Georgia Murray from Appalachian Mountain Club, and Haley Andreozzi from UNH Cooperative Extension for an absolutely stellar presentation on ways to use iNaturalist. Other program partners included Cook Memorial Library and Tamworth Conservation Commission. You can find the slides from the presentation and a recording of a similar program with Haley HERE. Learn about AMC and GMCG's Pollinator Week (June 22–28) programs and BioBlitz and how to get involved HERE. Citizen science—you can too!

p.s. If you missed the wonderful Bird Language program with Kyle Ball and Hillary Behr, you can catch a replay HERE.

Save the date:

Already know you can come? Go ahead and sign up HERE. We look forward to seeing you.

It's almost summer!

CLC STAFF

Alex Moot, Executive Director
Debra Marnich, Stewardship Director
Anna Paddock, Outreach Director

Olivia Jakabosky, AmeriCorps Member, Land Steward

Harper Walker-West, AmeriCorps Member, Outreach & Access Steward

Troy Emerson, Seasonal Lake Patrol

Sherry Birth, Bookkeeper