SAVE Reservoir Pond

The Friends of Reservoir Pond (FoRP) is reaching out to you to partner and participate in the SAVE Reservoir Pond project.

The Required Project

The dam at Reservoir Pond has been condemned.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Dam Bureau has mandated the dam on Reservoir Pond be repaired or removed by the end of September 2022. If we do nothing, the state will breach the dam. The pond will be lost. The land will turn to a marsh with a small puddle in the middle.

A beautiful resource is at stake, used by many and full of memories.

The History/Context

First constructed by the Shakers in the late 1800s, the dam at Reservoir Pond creates a water sanctuary for wildlife and recreators alike. The pond is home to loons, beavers, bald eagles, moose, and a myriad of migrating fowl. Fed by runoff water from Smarts Mountain and springs, the pond is relatively shallow, being 40 feet deep at its deepest point. There are 13 houses on the pond, 50% of the shoreline is undeveloped. It is roughly divided evenly between Lyme and Dorchester, NH. But the truth of the matter is that “you can’t get there” from Dorchester. It is a Lyme recreation resource and only a tax source for Dorchester. Thanks to innovative Shakers downstream, the pond exists and has been a boon to Lyme for decades.

Lyme’s Public Access to Reservoir Pond

Reservoir Pond is a friendly place for all who come to enjoy it. Lyme manages a public boat launch on the pond. There is space for 3-4 cars to park and a cleared boat launching area. Locals on the pond enjoy hearing the banter of visitors who gather at the public landing to gaze at the view of Smarts Mountain and unload their kayaks and canoes or adjust their swimming goggles. Often, visiting boaters paddle by the docks along the shore and chat with the neighbors, asking questions about animals they hear howl at night or loon calls they listen to across the water. Hikers stop by in all seasons as the landing is a short distance from the Smarts trail access. In the winter, visitors tend to be ice fishermen and skaters, sometimes needing a phone to guide a friend to the spot or a shovel if they forgot to bring one in their car.

In addition to the public landing, Hinman Cabin, a Dartmouth Outing Club Cabin, provides access to overnight camping and boating by reservation. Members of the public, the Dartmouth community, and many Dartmouth Alumni enjoy time on the pond at Hinman Cabin.

Financial Details

Currently, the dam is in private ownership. One owner is in charge of dam upkeep. The owner has conducted a costly engineering review, including topographic surveying, wetland delineation and permitting to understand further what needs to be done to remedy the dam deficiencies. The engineering/contractor estimated the costs to save the dam at $250,000-$300,00. The owner could choose to simply breach the dam instead of investing in this project.

To avert the loss of the pond, the Friends of Reservoir Pond (FoRP), a 501(c)3 non-profit (application pending, confirmation expected 3/22), was established to raise community funds to contribute to the dam restructuring and to establish communal ownership of the dam after the project is completed. FoRP would assume all continued maintenance and upkeep of the dam. The Friends’ mission includes safeguarding water quality on the pond and wildlife preservation.

The Request

The FoRP organization is in an all-out effort to raise funds to save the construction project. We have gathered pledges from pond residents and the Lyme Foundation. We have made a request to Dartmouth College, which owns the Hinman Cabin on the pond.

We are turning to you, too, to be a participant in our efforts. We need to have total funds in escrow BEFORE work can begin to save the pond. We are still short of our goal of $150,000. We need to raise another $30,000 by May 2022. Could you help us save the pond?

This is a once-in-100 years request. The dam has survived for over 100 years without repair. We do not anticipate another significant need for decades to come. Our window to complete this project is narrow – late summer this year.

We hope that you will give serious consideration to this one-time request. As we stated earlier here, there is a beautiful resource at stake.

Thank you for your consideration. We hope this interest will lead you to come up and enjoy more time on the pond – IF it is still there!