For Love of Lakes

Limnos V—Mirror Lake, New Hampshire

· · 207 · · Limnos V—Mirror Lake, New Hampshire Carefulanddetailedstudiesofindividualaquaticecosystems areimportantandnecessary,butresearchersneedtotaketheir blindersoff!Tounderstandalake-ecosystem,theviewmustbeas largeasthewatershed,theairshed,thelandscapeandeventually aslargeasthebiomeorplanet. GENE LIKENS and F. HERBERT BORMANN, 1985 Dusk settles in by the time Geri and I finally extract ourselves from the rush hour traffic of Montreal and catch up with southbound Interstate 89. We cross the international border into northern Vermont in full darkness. Headlights reveal windrows of plowed snow along the road’s shoulder. How fitting, I think, given our destination, a tiny lake in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Capricious weather gods choose to welcome us to northern New England with panache. We stop at a motel in a small Vermont town, and I go in to inquire about a room. “Only one left,” the woman says. “Midweek in late October? What gives?” I reply. “The snow—over a foot fell yesterday. Lots of people are still without electricity. Many came to stay here until the power’s back.” Our car, with canoe on top, seems strangely out of place the next morning in the crowded motel parking lot surrounded by snow banks. I feel embarrassed. Onlookers might question the soundness of mind of these Minnesotans. Snow thins as we resume travel south and completely disappears long futurescapes· · 208 · · before we reach the town of Woodstock in north-central New Hampshire. We find a small public park beside a tiny lake, nestled in the Hubbard Brook Valley, and drive in. No one is here. We spread our lunch on a picnic table two feet from our destination, Mirror Lake. Neither the lake’s diminutive size, a mere thirty-seven acres, nor any of its other features give a clue why two lake-lovers would travel halfway across the continent to visit. But those aware of the significant chapter in the life of this lake and its watershed that began over forty years ago would understand. In 1963 Gene Likens and F. Herbert Bormann from Dartmouth College began a study of the lake and its environs that would broaden and deepen our perceptual understanding of lakes. The two men did seminal research on the role of the atmosphere as a significant part of lake system relationships. I have brought along a book, EcosystemApproachtoAquaticEcology:Mirror LakeandItsEnvironment,edited by Gene Likens.An aerial photograph adorns the cover, a picture worth 500 pages. Your eyes are drawn instinctively to the intense, almost blackish-blue lake that sits right of center in the picture. Glass-smooth water on one edge of the lake reflects silhouettes of shore. A patch of ruffled water runs down the middle. Two boats, mere dots, sit motionless in this footprint of a gentle breeze. Several buildings nest in small clearings near the water’s edge. A mix of autumn tans and reds, oranges and yellows dapple a foreground that slopes sharply to the lake. Rusty colors from the same palette sweep off mountain ridges near the top of the photo and flow downslope to the lake. A patchwork of dark splotches overlays the rich colors, the footprints of clouds. Pastel blue sky borders the upper margin of the picture, and a tiny edge of white cloud peeks over a mountain ridge in the distance. The cut line of a freeway breaks out of trees to exit lower left. The lake sits center stage, cradled by mountains, forest, and sky. • • • A strong wind blows off the lake and flips one end of our tablecloth back on itself. We anchor it with a water jug and eat our peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, then launch our canoe, eager to experience the lake. We work our way against a vigorous wind. The water is clear and tinted yellow-brown. While Geri holds the bow into the wind I manage to get a · · 209 · · Secchi depth reading. The disc disappears eleven feet down. My reading matches that taken by researchers in October fifteen years ago, though is substantially less clear than the fourteen-year October average. According to a realtor back up the Pemigewasset River Valley, recent days have brought much rain mixed with snow. With such precipitation, much particulate material has likely washed into the lake, reducing its clarity. Yellow leaves lie scattered across the bottom, blown into the lake by the wind. Few plants grow in the cobble and gravel shallows, though we see a few lilies, and Geri fishes out a tangle of bladderwort, a plant that eats tiny creatures like waterfleas. We tie...