[ApS]

Originally Posted by John Mercier

While the trees do move massive amounts of soil moisture into the atmosphere... they don't actually stop run off.
There existence protected the lake in the format of forcing building and other hardscape further back from the water's edge. That meant that some ground level planting could filter and absorb the run off.

1) Trees do a good job of breaking up heavy raindrops. You get just as wet walking beneath them, but the velocity of rainfall is kept in check. The sloping roofs of waterfront homes accelerate the velocity of rainfall. (As does the slope of our driveways). The existence of "flash-flood" isn't limited to our desert states.

2) Then there's the million-years struggle of conifers. Leafy (deciduous) trees will eventually overwhelm conifers, resulting in what forestry scientists call, "The Climax Forest". This condition will be increasingly detrimental to lakewater quality; especially when White Pines are cut down because droppings of sap ("pine pitch") are inconvenient for the citified people who move here. Because humans are so good lately at fire-suppression, conifers--who would normally rapidly restore the natural forest--are being selectively replaced by leafy trees.

3) Leaf litter contains phosphorus and should be removed.

The timely removal of leaf litter can reduce harmful phosphorus concentrations in stormwater by over 80 percent in Madistan, Wisconsin. (USGS).
https://www.usgs.gov/news/state-news...-water-quality

4) Three huge (8-10 feet in circumference) conifers on my shoreline have fallen into the lake. Not much I can do, as the soil on my two lots is being eroded from underneath.This phenomenon can be demonstrated to be the result of boat wakes. This isn't helped by "full pond" plus boat wakes. NHMP hauls them away as "A Nuisance to Navigation".

A mixed-species cluster of mature trees is being forced downslope on my [late] neighbor's property. I've kept a photographic record of that cluster for several years. Half of those original trees have since fallen into the lake or have broken in half, when they can't support their upper trunks. Their root clusters are below the level of "full pond"! Cut down to stumps ln Autumn, even the stumps would be under water by next spring!