The Restoration of Moeckel Pond team kicked into high gear in 2016 starting with the Wetland Permit approval in February. Meeting this mark was a waypoint for the project because the data, reports, and engineering needed to get this approval began in 2013.

In March, the Windham Endowment Environmental Committee met with Kevin Cyr of Cyr Lumber to plan the Cyr Lumber “Give a Dam Raffle”. Kevin and Brian offered an incredible Weber grill and other businesses stepped up, creating a prize value of over $2,000. The raffle raised $8,000 for the pond and produced amazing local media coverage for the fundraiser and the project.

In May, we completed a project started in the summer of 2014. The Troup, lead by John Connors and artfully created by Mike Harnois, took sixs hours of interviews filmed by Kelly Yucupicio of Windham Cable and created two incredible videos. In June, the committee previewed the video at a Windham Economic Development Committee meeting. It proved an effective communication tool which led to WEDC support in our grant writing efforts. We used it again in September, presenting to the Windham Garden Club, and you can see the video on our local cable station, You Tube, or at your group meeting (upon request).

Moeckel Pond was featured this fall in the Windham Magazine thanks to the outstanding advocacy of Peter Griffin. Peter then again combined his love of community and art to help the Windham Artist Association hold the first, and we hope annual, Pop-Up Art Gallery at Searles School and Chapel in November. Over 20 local artists participated and booth fees were donated to Pond restoration. It was a perfect merger of art, history, and nature.

As we approach the end of the year, we are excited to announce that the final dam design has been submitted to the State of NH Dam Bureau for approval. With this permit in hand, our last major hurdle is capital. We are pursuing funding sources that we hope will make 2017 an exciting year.