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Date: 8/30/2022
BELCHERTOWN – The Tri-Lakes Watershed Association, also known as Friends of the Tri-Lakes is a nonprofit organization that formed in 1988 to help maintain the health of the three lakes in Belchertown: Lake Metacomet, Lake Arcadia and Lake Holland which are all part of a bigger watershed area in town. They are a group of volunteers that work closely with the Town Lake Committee, the Conservation Commission and various lake managements planning and executing water quality management, water testing and keeping a handle on invasive weeds they’re continuously battling in the lakes, as well as trying to get ahold of water quality data.
Treasurer Jen Gallagher stated, “Lake Metacomet has a public boat launch that’s open for boaters. Lake Arcadia has the town beach on it which is run by the town of Belchertown and Lake Holland is more of a private very small lake that has residences around it with limited public access.”
In the past, Friends of the Tri-Lakes have hosted an ice fishing derby, but they haven’t been able to have one in five years. They’ve tried to turn their annual chicken BBQ into one of their major fundraisers for the group, which they have in August of each year. All the proceeds directly fund preservation of their local watershed, water quality monitoring and improvements and recreational maintenance.
This year’s chicken BBQ took place at the Belchertown VFW on 41 Pelham Rd. Gallagher recalled a lot of people enjoying the lakes kayaking, paddleboarding and boating. The group raffled off an inflatable paddle board and a one-hour private lesson from SUP413 that offers paddleboard lessons, yoga and excursions in Western Mass. “It was very well attended, and everyone had a really good time, so we were really happy with it,” Gallagher mentioned.
Right now, Friends of the Tri-Lakes are the beginning stages of planning a costume paddleboarding event they are hoping to have at the town beach on Oct. 22 with a rain date of Oct. 23. Their goal is to continue working with the town and the lake committee to have a very long-term plan for treating all the lakes for invasive weeds and maintaining the very best water quality that they can.
“We have a great group of volunteers,” Gallagher said. “Everyone pulls together when we have events and when we need work done; raising money with everyone to help everyone enjoy the lake is great and I really love working with all of our members.”
If anyone is interested in joining the Tri-Lakes Watershed Association, call 336-4998 or send a message to btowntrilakes@gmail.com or on their Facebook page.