With the help of hundreds of individuals, foundations, and government grants, we have successfully completed the 1,750-acre Ashuelot River Headwaters project, which protects scenic, recreational, water quality, and natural resource values and has led to generous abutting landowners to pledge to donate land or conservation easements on up to an additional 1,250 acres. To all who helped, Thank you!
The Upper Merrimack Oxbow offers miles of scenic, forested shoreline, stunning river bluffs, unusual sand plains, and recreational opportunities for hikers, boaters, and hunters.
Valued by citizens of Canterbury and surrounding communities, these scenic, geological, and recreational assets are irreplaceable in quality and character. The protection of this property will secure a truly unique resource for current and future generations.
Photo: EcoPhotography
All along the Merrimack River from Franklin to Concord, the Forest Society and other conservation organizations have conserved stretches of riverfront land to safeguard water quality, valuable wildlife habitat, and scenic beauty. With more than two miles of shoreline, the Upper Merrimack Oxbow in Canterbury represents another step toward a vision of linking protected lands along the river.
The Upper Merrimack Oxbow is valued for its scenic, unspoiled shoreline, its unusual ecological and geological features, and its dramatic landscape. The residents of Canterbury and neighboring communities have enjoyed hiking, snowshoeing, fishing, and hunting here. Today, we have an opportunity to ensure that these activities continue by conserving this land.
The land's tapestry of young and mature forest, extensive shoreline, and wetlands supply the right mix of habitats for waterfowl, migrating songbirds, turtles, amphibians, and the occasional bald eagle, among other wildlife. It also hosts ecologically rare species – including bank swallows, a species of special concern – and natural communities, including dry river bluff, sand dunes, and silver maple floodplain forest.
Not only is the property known for its natural resources, but also for the near loss of those resources to a proposed regional landfill. Local citizens agree that conserving this special resource is a much better use for the land.
Now we have a chance to permanently conserve this land. The total cost to purchase and protect the property is $820,000. So far we have raised $580,000, including $300,000 committed by the NH Department of Environmental Services Aquatic Resource Mitigation program.
We need to raise the remaining $240,000 by March 30, 2010 to conserve the scenic, recreational, and natural resources of this special riverfront land. Please make your gift today to preserve this truly unique place for current and future generations.
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and the Tamworth Conservation Commission and are partnering to conserve a key 130-acre property. Located next to 895 acres of conserved land, the Gilman Forest is home to moose, bear, otter, mink, and other wildlife.
This property and the lands surrounding it have been identified by the NH Fish and Game Department's Wildlife Action Plan as including one of the highest priority habitats in the state. Located within the Whites-to-Ossipees wildlife corridor, this rich tapestry of fields, forests, rivers, and marshes connects the wild areas of the Sandwich Range with the Ossipee Mountains, giving our native wild creatures the space they need to live and breed.
The land contains trails that are part of a network mapped by the Mill Brook Trail Association. By conserving this area, we can ensure continued opportunities for public recreation on the land, such as hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, fishing, and hunting. We can also ensure that the scenic ridge viewscape remains intact.
The opportunity we have today will not always be available to us. The Gilman Forest includes 3,045 feet along Durrell Road and 2,500 feet along Mill Brook. Even in a depressed economy, this parcel is a tempting site for development – an occurrence that could compromise wildlife habitat, recreational access, water quality, working woodlands, and scenic views.
We must raise $140,000 to conserve this land. We already have pledges of $100,000, but we need your help. A group of anonymous donors have pooled resources to create a challenge grant: Every dollar donated between now and January 31st – up to $12,000 – will be doubled.
Please make your gift today to help conserve the Gilman Forest and save a place for wildlife, protect the water quality of Mill Brook, and keep the woods and their trails open for all to enjoy.
Help the Forest Society Make Its Reservations Ready for Visitors
Please help us make your visit more enjoyable!
The Forest Society's 164 reservations receive thousands of visitors each year. During the field season, the staff and land stewards spend countless hours maintaining trails, signage, and kiosks so that visitors will have a safe and pleasant outdoor experience. This summer we are busy preparing the Washburn Family Forest in Clarksville for the dedication on August 30, cleaning up ice storm damage on Mount Monadnock in Jaffrey and on the Heald Reservation in Wilton, and building bog bridges on the McCabe Forest in Antrim and at the Merrimack River Conservation Area in Concord. Your contribution will help us accomplish these and many smaller projects statewide.
Forest Society volunteers and staff build a bridge on Mount Monadnock.
Help keep us ready to act! Donate to our Land Action Fund today.
It's a familiar story. A key parcel of open space land with important conservation values comes on the market unexpectedly. There's an opportunity to protect it, but time is short. The Forest Society must act quickly and find the money to buy the land or it could be lost forever.
Today, when an important property with outstanding wildlife, forest, agricultural, recreational or scenic attributes is threatened, the Forest Society has an important tool to help secure its future: The Land Action Fund.
Established more than 10 years ago, the Fund was created through generous gifts from dedicated conservationists and Forest Society members. It's a special fund that can only be used to help buy land or conservation easements, and can be put to use quickly on any land protection project approved by our Board of Trustees.
Over the past decade, thanks to the Land Action Fund, the Forest Society has protected dozens of critically important water resources, wildlife habitat, and working forests in all corners of the state. We use the Fund to purchase land that will be protected permanently as a Forest Society Reservation, to acquire land that we later transfer to public ownership, or to fill in a funding gap making it possible for us to complete an important conservation project.
For example, we recently acquired a 50-acre forest abutting the Nash Stream State Forest by borrowing the funds to buy the land from the Land Action Fund, and will repay the Fund once the state is able to appropriate the purchase price in order to add it to the State Forest.
In 2007, the Lamprey River Advisory Committee and Southeast NH Land Trust sought to conserve 73 remarkable acres of river frontage abutting the Forest Society's Lamprey River Forest. The Lamprey is one of New Hampshire's only two nationally designated "Wild and Scenic" Rivers. The Land Action Fund enabled the Forest Society to fill a funding gap, and today this land has become a significant addition to the existing Lamprey River Forest.
In Hebron, the new Town Forest abutting the Forest Society's Cockermouth Forest has been protected, in large part with funds from the Land Action Fund. The town owns the land and the Forest Society purchased a conservation easement on the 450-acre parcel.
We need your help to assure that the Forest Society can continue to respond in time to land conservation emergencies. Please make a donation to the Land Action Fund today. Your gift will go directly to buying land and conservation easements and helping to pay the often substantial transaction costs for these projects.
With your help, the Forest Society will be ready when that call or email arrives that says "Help! A critical parcel of land is on the auction block!"
Forest Society volunteers and staff build a bridge on Mount Monadnock.