• About Us
• About the LRAC
• LRAC Committee
  • Wild and Scenic River Members
  • Expanded NH RMPP Members
  • Sub-Committees
  • Bylaws
  • Meetings
• LRAC Annual Reports
  • 2011 Annual Report
  • 2010 Annual Report
  • 2009 Annual Report
  • 2008 Annual Report
  • 2007 Annual Report
  • 2005 Annual Report
• 2007 Mgmt Plan Revision
  • Introductory Material
  • Background
  • Water Quality
  • Instream Flow
  • Wildlife and Ecology
  • Land Protection
  • History and Archaeology
  • Recreation
  • Project Review & Comment
  • Outreach & Public Education
  • Definitions, Programs & Abbreviations
  • Bibliography & Reviewers
• Resource Assessment
• 1990 NH RMPP Legislation
• 2011 NH RMPP Legislation
• Wild & Scenic Enabling Legislation
• State & Federal Designations
  • State: NH Rivers Mgmt & Protection Program
  • Federal: Wild and Scenic Rivers Program
  • NH Rivers FAQs
  • Wild and Scenic River FAQs
• meeting agendas and minutes
  • Meeting Notes 2012-02-23
  • Meeting Notes 2012-01-26
  • Meeting Notes 2011-12-15
  • Meeting Notes 2011-11-17
• RMMP slides by Jacquie Colburn
• Project Review packets
  • Raymond United Vets' Club appl'n
  • Raymond United Vets' Club maps

Background

In 2000, this ribbon-cutting marked the addition of the Epping segment of the Lamprey River to the Wild and Scenic River designation. Photo by Richard H. Lord.

The Lamprey River Advisory Committee

The Lamprey River Advisory Committee, or LRAC, is the group mandated by both the New Hampshire Rivers Management and Protection Program and the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Program to participate in the management of the designated sections of the Lamprey River. There is at least one Committee member from each of the four towns within the Wild and Scenic River designation (Epping, Lee, Durham, and Newmarket). Those members are nominated by the governments of those towns and then are appointed by the Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services for a three year term. There are a minimum of seven members on the Committee, all serving as volunteers, representing the interests of local government, business, agriculture, conservation interests, recreation, and riparian landowners. LRAC is distinct from the Lamprey River Watershed Association (LRWA), a nonprofit membership group operating throughout the watershed. The two organizations often collaborate in efforts to enhance protection of the Lamprey.

The first responsibility of the LRAC was to write and then implement a Management Plan for the river, in cooperation with the member towns.

Designations

Portions of the Lamprey River were designated for special protection by both the State of New Hampshire and the U.S. Congress, through the NH Rivers Management and Protection Program and the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, respectively.

Thanks to the efforts of local citizens devoted to the Lamprey River who documented its outstanding natural and cultural resources and brought it forward to the state, in 1990, the river in Durham and Lee was protected under the New Hampshire Rivers Management and Protection Program. Then, in 1996, the river through Lee, Durham, and Newmarket (to the confluence with the Piscassic River) was federally designated as a Wild and Scenic River. In 2000, the river segment in Epping, from the West Epping Dam to Lee, was added. In 2003, a nomination was submitted to NHDES to approve adding the Lamprey in Candia and Raymond into the state program, and there is also interest in extending Wild and Scenic designation to upstream towns. With sufficient public support, and with the assistance of LRWA and LRAC, these initiatives may move forward.

1. New Hampshire Rivers Management and Protection Program

The New Hampshire Rivers Management and Protection Program (RMPP) was enacted in 1988 to protect the state’s most significant rivers or river segments. In 1990, the section of the Lamprey River which runs through Lee and Durham was among the first rivers nominated into the RMPP. The Lamprey was designated as a “Rural River.” The RMPP provides for the establishment of a local advisory committee on each designated river to implement river management and protection policies at the local level.

The Lamprey River Advisory Committee serves as the local advisory committee on the Lamprey. LRAC’s responsibilities are to:

• Develop and implement a Management Plan for the river, approved by the member towns.
• Advise the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and municipalities on matters pertaining to the river; including review and comment on any development projects or state, federal, or local permits affecting the river.

The state assumes responsibility for assisting the local advisory committee and provides the following protections for the Lamprey:

• a prohibition against the construction of new dams, the use of flashboards on existing dams, and interbasin transfer of water from the Lamprey River
• protection of water quality and maintenance of adequate year-round flows in the river to support a full range of natural resource needs and also human uses
• mandatory setbacks for new solid and hazardous waste facilities.Otherwise, the state program does not regulate local zoning or confer special regulatory powers to state agencies relative to Protected Rivers.

2. Designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

The broad purposes of national designation of a river as a Wild and Scenic River are to:

• Establish federal policies for the watercourse which ensure that federal actions are consistent with protecting the resources for which the river was designated.
• Provide for financial and technical assistance from the National Park Service in implementing the River Management Plan.

In contrast to most of the 160 rivers in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System which flow through federally-owned land, and are managed by the federal agency that manages the land, many of the designated rivers in the East flow through private lands. These rivers, including the Lamprey, are called “Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers”, because their management occurs through a partnership of the National Park Service and a local river management advisory committee. According to Jamie Fosburgh of the National Park Service, Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers share the following characteristics:

• No lands are federally owned.
• Administration is accomplished through a broadly participatory committee.
• Management and use of lands adjacent to the river continue to be the responsibility of landowners subject only to existing state and local regulations.
• The River Management Plan is written and implemented through a broadly participatory process.
• The National Park Service reviews federally funded, sponsored, or licensed projects to ensure federal consistency with the Plan’s river protection goals.
• The costs and responsibilities for managing and protecting the river’s resources are shared among all of the partners—local, state, federal, and non-governmental.

The 1995 Lamprey River Management Plan was developed as a part of the National Wild and Scenic River Study of the Lamprey. The Plan included specific provisions related to Wild and Scenic designation, all of which are carried forward in this Update. These provisions, together with the National Park Service’s June 1995 Draft Report to Congress, and the text of federal legislation in 1999 and 2001 designating the portions of the Lamprey into the federal system, provide the full background and context for the National Wild and Scenic River designation of the Lamprey.

Twenty-three and a half miles of the Lamprey River are designated as a Wild and Scenic River, from the West Epping Dam in Epping to the confluence with the Piscassic River in Newmarket. The area of oversight is approximately ¼ mile each side of the river.

Immediately following this section, the reader will find two maps. The “Locus Map” shows the entire Lamprey River watershed from its headwaters to its discharge into Great Bay. The “Base Map” focuses on the designated Wild and Scenic River segment in the towns of Epping, Lee, Durham and Newmarket.

The following eight sections comprise the details of the Plan, including accomplishments, goals, and key future actions. The Plan is deliberately ambitious, representing a full menu of initiatives seen as desirable, rather than a commitment to accomplishing all in the next decade. In many instances, successful collaboration will be essential to the accomplishment of the Plan’s identified actions and goals. LRAC often will play a supporting role to others who possess the necessary expertise, staff, authority, or resources to get a particular job done.