The Upper Merrimack River Local Advisory Committee (UMRLAC) voted to form the Upper Merrimack Watershed Association as a New Hampshire nonprofit to serve as the owner and fiscal manager of its non-statutory (RSA 483, Rivers Management and Protection Program) initiatives including the Upper Merrimack Monitoring Program (including the well-known “Bug Nights”), the Upper Merrimack Winter Community Program and St. Paul’s School Birckhead Science Lectures partnership, and other discretionary activities as recommended in the Upper Merrimack Monitoring Program Fundraising Strategy, July 1997. The UMWA board of directors will maintain its close connection to the UMRLAC, which, since 1990 has been the area’s local river management advisory committee.The UMWA will work with UMRLAC to help implement its Upper Merrimack Management and Implementation Plan and provide resources for its review of state permits, including state land disposals.