Research snapshot · Environmental · 31 August 2026

Watershed protection overlay in New Hampshire: 57 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Border case — could go STORMWATER or SHORELAND.Our definition of the class, 29 August 2026.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 126 dated municipal records flagged as watershed protection overlay in New Hampshire, spanning 57 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in Plymouth, 17 January 2019. Since then 57 New Hampshire towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Warner on 21 July 2026.

The last 90 days put 8 meetings on the record, well down from 50 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Conservation Commission, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202553
Dec 2025 to Feb 20263720
Mar 2026 to May 20265533
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)86

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Mar 2026 to May 2026, with 55 meetings.

The towns on the record57, earliest first

Every New Hampshire town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Plymouthearliest 2019-01-17 · 2 meetings · latest 2024-06-03 · the document Planning Board — 6-3-24 Community Meeting Minutes
Nashuaearliest 2022-01-01 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-05-12 · the meeting packet Zoning Board of Adjustment 2026-05-12 — agenda packet
Portsmouthearliest 2022-01-01 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-03-09 · the document Tiverton Resolution 2026 0004 in Support of H7292 H7293 and H7372
Hooksettearliest 2024-01-18 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-01-18 · the minutes Budget Committee — 01.18.2024bcm
Strathamearliest 2024-11-20 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-01-01 · the minutes Conservation Commission — 2026.07.01 CC Minutes Approved
Candiaearliest 2024-11-21 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-11-21 · the minutes Minutes — HOP Steering Committee
Ossipeeearliest 2025-01-08 · 5 meetings · latest 2025-10-21 · the agenda Planning Board Regular Meeting Agenda (PDF)
Rindgeearliest 2025-01-08 · 4 meetings · latest 2026-06-08 · the minutes Conservation Commission — RCC Agenda 060826
Barringtonearliest 2025-02-04 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-02-04 · the agenda Planning Board Meeting Agenda
Bartlettearliest 2025-02-11 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-02-17 · the agenda Planning Board
Newtonearliest 2025-03-12 · 3 meetings · latest 2026-05-13 · the minutes Minutes — Conservation Commission
Leeearliest 2025-03-18 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-03-18 · the minutes Minutes — Lamprey River Advisory Committee
Newburyearliest 2025-06-10 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-04-21 · the minutes Minutes — Planning Board Meeting
East Kingstonearliest 2025-06-19 · 4 meetings · latest 2025-10-16 · the minutes Minutes — Planning Board
Merrimackearliest 2025-08-25 · 3 meetings · latest 2025-10-09 · the minutes Minutes — Town Council

And 42 more towns on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

21 July 2026 · Warner Unknown

the minutes, on the town's own site 07/21/2026

16 July 2026 · Canterbury

a report, on the town's own site 2025 Canterbury Master Plan – Plan For Tomorrow

29 June 2026 · Strafford

the document, on the town's own site PB20260702Agenda

9 June 2026 · Hampton Falls Conservation Commission

the agenda, on the town's own site Conservation Commission Meeting

Companies on this record350 companies, 118 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
NHDESAlton, Andover, Bristol and 10 more
NHACCBow, Chesterfield, Farmington and 2 more
Altus EngineeringDurham, Greenland
EversourceBelmont, Danville, Marlborough and 1 more
SELTHampton Falls, Kensington, Stratham
MMRGMilton, Ossipee
ScoutsDurham, Gilmanton
David and Karen Della PentaDurham
JennyAndover
JesseAndover
MirandaAndover
SoozeAndover
Véronique LudingtonDurham
Army Corps of EngineersBristol, Winchester
Berry Surveying & EngineeringBarrington, Farmington
Rockingham County Conservation DistrictHampton Falls, North Hampton
AARPDurham
AguirreBristol
Capstone studentsDurham
DCATDurham
Farmington Ridge Limited PartnershipFarmington
LSPANewbury
Mascoma Community Health CenterCanaan
Monomonac Lake Property Owners AssociationRindge
PREPAStratham
RemacleCanaan
Resilience Planning and DesignBristol
StorylandBartlett
ZaniCanaan
3M CompanyWolfeboro

And 320 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 85 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Watershed protection overlay across the country. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Watershed protection overlay, New Hampshire

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

New Hampshire

every topic this state carries

Area

Environmental

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

57

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

17 January 2019

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

8 against 50 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours