FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFreedom — May 27, 2003 — At a meeting at Freedom’s Calumet Conference Center last week, Ossipee Lake Alliance, representatives of state agencies and the directors of six children’s summer camps completed plans to launch the Ossipee Lake Protection Program on June 21st.

The program, announced in April, is a multi-year monitoring, research and education initiative funded by the state Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) and managed by the Alliance in association with Green Mountain Conservation Group. A majority of the program will be implemented by volunteer campers and counselors from Camps Robin Hood, Huckins, Calumet, Tohkomeupog, Cody and Marist.

Water quality monitoring is a significant part of the program and will take place all summer, starting June 21st, and includes twice-monthly sampling of the lake’s 14 tributaries and monthly deep water sampling of the lake system’s five main bodies of water.

Bob Craycraft of the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Service discussed the importance of the program and detailed the 18 parameters that will be monitored. He then led a boat tour of the tributaries and used a Global Positioning System device to record the satellite-derived map coordinates that the program’s staff and volunteers will use to locate the sampling locations during the summer.

Sherry Godlewski of NHDES detailed the importance of protecting the lake area’s drinking water and Harry Merrow, a State Representative and Ossipee Selectman, underscored the importance of inter-town cooperation in the creation of a long-term plan for preserving the lake.

The Ossipee Lake Protection Program is the most comprehensive environmental initiative ever undertaken on the lake and marks the first time the children’s summer camps have worked together on an environmental program. Details of the program may be found on the Ossipee Lake Alliance website at www.ossipeelake.org.