The 2019 YCC season has wrapped up again with 12 projects completed on seven Lakes in Acton and Wakefield. We had a smaller crew this year of only four members with a crew leader, but this made for a hardworking and tightly knit team that was able to complete projects effectively. Our crew leader, Isobel Michaud, was instrumental to our success this year, and motivated the crew to do high quality work. Isobel moved back to New Hampshire from the mid-west to get her Masters Degree from UNH, and thankfully committed her summer to the lakes where she grew up. Having someone with experience working with youth, as well as two returning crew members allowed me, as the incoming Executive Director, to focus on transitioning into my new role with only minimal daily oversight of the crew. The majority of our projects took place on Lovell Lake this year, but we were pleased to get out to almost every lake in our region.
We installed many of our common Stormwater BMPs this summer such as waterbars, infiltration paths, and even a rain garden. However, in a more uncommon situation, we fixed a driveway for a house on Balch Lake that had over 4″ of sand piled up in it from the dirt road above. We dug out the entire driveway, then laid six fire hose diverters (full of sand from the driveway) down to channel runoff into a gravel trench to prevent it from happening again. Fire hose is a great option for diverting water runoff off of a paved driveway. They can be driven over and easily removed in the winter.
This season was a learning experience for everyone involved including our project hosts, and is a sign of more successful YCC projects to come. I am currently conducting Technical Assistance site visits through the fall and the 2020 YCC schedule is already starting to fill up, so if you are interest in reducing runoff on your property, don’t hesitate to call and inquire about AWWA’s YCC Program. Thanks for your continued support and enjoy the fall!
