The recipients of the Wanderer’s 30th Annual Keel Award for the Town of Rochester are Michelle Kirby and Andres Hammerman, the main drivers behind the effort to preserve the health and water quality of Snows Pond.
Kirby, who is president of the Snows Pond Association, and her husband Andy were nominated in a letter from association Vice President Erin Lawrence for “devoting countless hours toward the protection, stewardship, and enjoyment of one of our community’s most cherished natural resources.” The organization has been active since 2018, with volunteer work that has included monitoring and testing the pond’s water quality and employing the consulting services of a part-time “Lake Manager.”
Kirby has lived in Rochester her entire life and has frequented Snows Pond since childhood. She and Andy were married on a raft on the pond that floated to shore as part of the ceremony. Another spark that got her and her husband involved in protecting Snows’ water resources came from Andy’s mother, who was very involved where she lived on a New Hampshire pond that benefits from a strong lake-protection organization supported by the state.
When she and her husband started noticing diminishing water quality and the growth of water-choking invasive weeds where they lived at Snows Pond, she reached out to the then Rochester Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon, who suggested Kirby should start a group to advocate for the pond.
“‘You need a united front,’ she told me, so I reached out to Town Hall for the list of Snows Pond’s residents,” Kirby recalled of advice from Farinon, who would be recognized following her retirement with the 2021 Keel Award for Rochester.
The result was the formation of the Snows Pond Association in 2018, with 11 members out of the 15 property owners around the pond. “It’s been wonderful,” Kirby said. “It’s gotten everybody closer. We watch out for each other. If we see a stray boat or strange plants in the pond, we can ask each other. We protect each other and the pond.”
To reach its more concrete goals, members test the water quality on a weekly basis, looking at oxygen levels and temperature through the water column and water clarity. Once a month they send samples to the University of Rhode Island for nutrient testing. With funds collected from annual dues and donations, they’ve hired a part-time lake manager to consult on matters such as invasive species growth. That consultant, Hillary Kenyon from Applied Watershed Sciences, LLC, recently joined them at the pond to do an aquatic weed survey. They’ve also been trained by the URI Watershed Watch Program on how to monitor and take water samples.
The association’s overall goal, Kirby said, is to preserve and protect the pond “for generations to come.”
What does it have to be protected from? The answers are: invasive weeds, chemical pollutants, and especially nutrient overload from human sources (septic systems, lawn fertilizer, household cleaning products, pet waste and stormwater runoff).
That’s why the testing is important, Andy Hammerman said. “Without data, we can’t know why the changes are happening,” he said. Harmful algal blooms in the water are his biggest fear. If they occur in Snows Pond, they are toxic to swimmers and pets. The pond would have to be closed down.
So, what do they feel they’ve accomplished? Since the association started, Kirby said, the community around the pond has been united, strengthening the protection of the pond. In concrete terms, they’ve hosted community outreach to advance community awareness, including a “Library Loves Lakes” summer youth program and workshop trainings on how to identify aquatic weeds that grow in freshwater ponds. They’ve also distributed signs educating people about best practices on the pond. The signs are reminders to residents and visitors about what they should and should not do on the pond. Because Snows Pond is a glacial kettle pond with no stream going in or out, they created a motto, “What Goes in the Pond, Stays in the Pond.”
And now the association has over five years of monitoring data that will help it protect the pond’s future, Hammerman said. “We’re not in this for any other reason than our love of the pond,” Kirby added. Her future goal? “I’m hoping more pond communities can get involved and join forces,” she said. “We’re not the only pond in town that needs help.”
By Michael J. DeCicco
