The Forest Society has an opportunity to permanently conserve 2,100 acres on the upper reaches of the Connecticut River in Clarksville featuring five miles of pristine river frontage and extensive views from U.S. Route 3.
The Connecticut River Forest would continue to be managed as working forest under Forest Society ownership, and it would remain open to the public for activities including fishing, hunting, hiking and snowmobiling—all key to the economy of New Hampshire’s north country.
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The 2,100 acres of forestland is identified in the NH Wildlife Action Plan as a high priority for conservation, as it contains extensive Tier 1 wildlife habitat. It also includes nearly the entire eastern shoreline of the Connecticut River from Clarksville to Pittsburg. This stretch of river contains the highest percentage of documented high-quality intact wild brook trout habitat in the state.
To complete the project, the Forest Society must raise $2.75 million by June 2008. For more information contact Susanne Kibler-Hacker, vice-president of development, at 224-9945 or  . 
The ‘wise use’ of New Hampshire’s natural resources has been a key tenet of the Forest Society’s mission for more than a century. Through our educational programs, we seek to demonstrate how we wisely use the forest resources that are entrusted to us—and this includes the sweet New Hampshire tradition of sugaring the maples.
The Forest Society’s annual maple programs at The Rocks in Bethlehem—site of our 1,400-acre North Country Conservation and Education Center—have grown each March, drawing hundreds of visitors to The Rocks to learn the history, science and art of making maple syrup. Each class of children and adults enjoys tapping their own tree and tasting the final result of boiling sap into syrup. Today, our maple program needs a better facility for serving these larger groups.
In good New Hampshire fashion, we hope to marry the wise management of our maples with the wise re-use of one of the most unique historic buildings remaining at The Rocks, the “the Sawmill / Pigpen.” Designed in 1906 by Hermann von Holst, the Sawmill/Pigpen building is adjacent to a stand of sugar maples, providing easy access for demonstrating the maple tree tapping and sap collecting process.
We need your help to restore, adapt and re-use the historic Sawmill / Pigpen as the new Sugar House and Maple Education Center. The cost of the project is $98,600, and the first $19,000 has already been raised. In order for the new facility to be complete in time for sugaring next spring, we need to raise the funds by May 15th.
Please make your gift today to help us save a piece of New Hampshire’s farming history, and to keep a legacy of conservation and ‘wise use’ alive!
Protect clean drinking water for 46,000 residents
The Forest Society is currently working to protect land that includes nearly two miles of frontage along the upper reaches of the Salmon Falls River in Milton Mills. The Salmon Falls watershed provides public drinking water to downstream towns such as Somersworth (serving some 12,000 residents!), and strongly influences the water quality for public wells serving 33,000 residents in Portsmouth.
The 787 acres to be protected include two tracts. The first, 343 acres along the Salmon Falls River, will be a permanent forest reservation owned by the Forest Society. An easement will be put on a second tract that buffers nearly 1.5 miles of shoreline along Jones Brook, which joins the Branch River three miles above where it meets with the Salmon Falls River.
This watershed landscape includes diverse habitat including peatland, marsh, riverine, field and uncommon enriched soil plant communitites. Within minutes of NH Route 16 and 15 miles from the center of Rochester, these tracts are part of 2,300 and 3,800-acre forest blocks which fall into the state’s coastal conservation plan.
The Salmon Falls Headwaters project got a huge boost recently with the announcement of a Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) grant of $325,000. Additional financial resources will come from the Town of Milton conservation fund and Moose Mountains Regional Greenways, as well as generous easement donations that serve as valuable match for grants.
Thanks to grants and easement donations, the Forest Society must raise just $39,000 in private donations in order to complete the $1.3 million Salmon Falls River land protection project. Please make your gift today to help us permanently protect the drinking water supplies in the increasingly developed Seacoast area.
The Forest Society is working to purchase a conservation easement on more than 900 acres on the northern slopes of Ragged Mountain, immediately adjacent to the Ragged Mountain Ski Area. To complete the project, we must raise $40,000 from private donors and we need your help today.
If you ski, fish, hike, appreciate wildlife, love our glorious fall colors, or simply live in the area, the March Pond Forest is much more than a beautiful view – it’s a very important place for the wonderful quality of the life we enjoy in this region.
March Pond Forest sits amid a 10,000-acre landscape of large unbroken woodlands – a high-priority area for regional conservation plans. In addition to its scenic beauty, there are a remote pond and pristine headwater streams that flow into Gulf Bog in Danbury, and later feed into the Smith River. Conserving these small coldwater streams is vital for protecting water quality, as well as critical spawning habitat for native fish species including salmon.
Located in the southwest corner of Hill, along the boundaries with Danbury and Andover, March Pond Forest connects with more than 750 acres of protected land in the Town of Andover that reaches all the way to Highland Lake, creating a block of 1,650 forested acres that will remain permanently protected for recreation and wildlife habitat.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has already awarded the Forest Society a substantial grant to support this conservation easement, and the landowner has agreed to sell the easement to the Forest Society at a discounted price. Now, we are seeking to raise the final $40,000 needed by May 15, 2008.
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