Strategic Plan Investment Opportunities

LSPA’s strategic plan provides a roadmap for our work through 2030. The opportunities below identify specific investments that will help put that plan into action between 2027 and 2030. Some build on successful programs already underway; others are new opportunities to expand LSPA’s impact and prepare for emerging challenges.

Donors may choose to fund a specific project, provide flexible support within a strategic priority, or make a multi-year commitment. Interested in investing in one of the opportunities below? Contact Executive Director Elizabeth Harper.

Water Stewardship

LSPA Demonstration Landscape
Transform LSPA property into a highly visible demonstration of watershed-friendly landscaping and stormwater practices that can inform homeowners, municipalities, professionals, and students.

Watershed Management Implementation Fund
Provide flexible funding for priority on-the-ground projects and cost-sharing with municipalities, lake associations, HOAs, and other partners—allowing LSPA to act when opportunities arise rather than wait for grant cycles.

Land Protection Project Fund
Establish flexible funding to help LSPA respond when important land-protection opportunities arise, protecting forests, wetlands, shoreland, and other lands that contribute to watershed protection.

Municipal Innovation & Partnership Grants
Provide small grants to watershed communities to test innovative approaches, implement best practices, and move promising ideas from concept to action.

Watershed Wise for Builders
Develop a new program for builders, contractors, landscape professionals, and others involved in development. Fund research, practical guidance, hands-on workshops, and technical expertise to help professionals incorporate water-quality protection into their work.

Watershed Wise for Property Managers
Create training and resources for property managers and homeowners focused on landscaping, fertilizer use, stormwater, shoreline maintenance, and other routine practices that affect water quality.

Watershed Wise Implementation
Fund trained seasonal staff and interns to help homeowners and watershed partners turn recommendations into projects—including rain gardens, infiltration practices, shoreline plantings, and erosion-control measures.

Policy Internship
Support a dedicated policy intern to research emerging watershed issues, track legislation and regulations, assist with municipal and regional policy work, and translate research into useful information for decision-makers and the public.

Water Quality Monitoring

Expand the Colby-Sawyer Water Quality Laboratory
Invest in additional laboratory capacity, equipment, and analytical capabilities so LSPA can meet growing regional monitoring needs and provide high-quality data for lakes throughout the region.

Water Quality Data & Science Communication
Build the capacity to turn LSPA’s growing body of water-quality data into clear, useful information for residents, decision-makers, educators, and researchers.

Expanded Cyanobacteria Monitoring & Early Detection
Support continued monitoring and analysis needed to understand cyanobacteria trends, identify changes in lake conditions, and improve early recognition of potential risks.

Electric Water Quality Monitoring Boat
Purchase an electric pontoon boat dedicated to water-quality monitoring and research on Lake Sunapee.

Monitoring Internships & Training
Support field and laboratory internships and professional development that expand LSPA’s capacity to collect, analyze, and interpret water-quality data.

Education & Community Engagement

LSPA Outdoor Learning Area
Create a welcoming outdoor learning environment at the Center for school groups, families, and community members, with interpretive features, outdoor teaching spaces, signage, and hands-on learning opportunities.

Strategic Land Acquisition
Provide flexible capacity to acquire strategically important adjacent property when opportunities arise, expanding LSPA’s ability to provide outdoor education and demonstrate watershed stewardship.

Curriculum Kits for Schools
Develop ready-to-use lake and watershed science kits with equipment, activities, and teacher resources for classroom and field-based learning.

School Access Fund
Help schools participate in LSPA programs by supporting transportation, field-trip costs, and other barriers to participation.

Community & Watershed Education
Develop educational and interpretive signage at watershed project sites and throughout the community to help people understand local environmental challenges and practical solutions.

Education Internships & Professional Development
Support education interns and staff training in curriculum development, teaching methods, and emerging approaches to environmental education.

LSPA Lending Library
Create a lending library of books, field guides, educational materials, and equipment related to lake and watershed science and stewardship. Resources could include water-quality testing tools, microscopes, binoculars, and sampling equipment for residents, educators, students, and community groups.

Electric Education Pontoon Boat
Purchase an electric pontoon boat to support hands-on lake education programs for students, residents, and visitors. The boat would provide a quiet, low-impact platform for exploring Lake Sunapee and learning about its ecology, water quality, and watershed.

Invasive Species Management & Prevention

Boat Washing & Prevention Infrastructure
Support the development of boat-washing and other prevention infrastructure in the Harbor.

Regional Invasive Species Response Fund
Create flexible funding for rapid response when invasive species are discovered, including professional diver surveys, mapping, treatment, monitoring, and other immediate needs.

Lake Association Partnership Fund
Provide cost-sharing support to neighboring lake associations when invasive species threats emerge, strengthening prevention and early response across the watershed.