Lovell Lake
Lovell Lake is defined as a "Tier 1" water body and is designated as "fully supporting" according to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. The Lovell Lake watershed covers 3,076 acres (1,244.8 ha). Its watershed is currently 64% forested, 14% developed, and contains 37% buildable area. The Lovell Lake shoreline is composed of primarily low density residential houses and camps (87%). The majority of these structures (68%) are within 50 feet (15 m) of the shoreline. Although the lake is designated as a high quality water lake, shoreline development and proximity of structures have led to increased polluted runoff that threatens the lake's water quality.
Lovell Lake water quality has been measured since 1979 at station 1 and 1989 at station 2. This includes 19 years of secchi disk data (transparency), 19 years of phosphorus data, 16 years of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) data, and 3 years of dissolved oxygen (DO) data. From this data, the median total phosphorus (TP) concentration in 2008 was 7.5 parts per billion (ppb) and mean secchi disk transparency was 6.3 m (20.7 ft).
Several organizations are currently in place that aim to protect and improve the water quality of Lovell Lake. The Lovell Lake Association is dedicated to preserving the lake. Lovell Lake also has a courtesy boat inspection program run by the NH Lake Host Program that inspects over 500 boats annually. There is also a weed watchers program that searches the shores for invasive aquatic plants.
The lake is classified as a warmwater fishery and contains rainbow trout, smallmouth and largemouth bass, chain pickerel, horned pout, white perch, and walleye.
See also
References
- ^ New Hampshire GRANIT state geographic information system Archived 2013-08-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Lovell Lake, Wakefield" (PDF). NH Fish & Game. Retrieved September 2, 2014.