Below are some of the recent projects our Land Protection Specialists have closed:

Jaffrey

Signature view of Monadnock protected

With a final flourish of a generous donation from Stonyfield Farm’s "Profits for the Planet" initiative, a ‘signature view’ of Mount Monadnock was protected. Stonyfield’s $5,000 donation capped a successful fund drive to take advantage of a bargain sale to purchase the Merritt property, 97 acres overlooking Perkins Pond on the southwest slope of The Mountain.

Ms. Merritt, who now lives in Virginia, inherited this land from her parents. The family used the land as a woodlot and for recreation. Recognizing the strategic nature of the parcel as part of one of the more well known viewsheds of Mount Monadnock from Route 124, the Merritt’s came to the Forest Society a year ago and proposed a bargain sale. Captured in countless paintings and postcards, it is one of the great signature mountain views in all of New Hampshire

The property includes portions of Perkin’s Marsh, an important wetland that is excellent wildlife habitat. It directly abuts the Gay State Forest and water supply lands owned by the Town of Troy. Additionally, it also abuts a very small parcel owned by the Society (Troy Mills Wetlands) and is near both Monadnock and Gap Mountain Reservations.

The Stonyfield Farm funds were donated as an ‘offset’ for the approximately six-acre parcel recently cleared at the company’s Londonderry production facility. Stonyfield is in the midst of a major expansion of its plant at 10 Burton Drive.

The Merritt property is an addition to the exiting Monadnock Reservation. The Forest Society currently owns more than 4,900 acres on Mount Monadnock and Gap Mountain, and holds easements on an additional 1,000 acres.

Deering

Forest Society celebrates 150th reservation!

The 103-acre Edward Cobbett Forest—donated by Forest Society 2006 Conservationist of the Year Jon Dawson, became the Forest Society’s 150th permanent reservation. Dawson suggested that the parcel be named in honor of Ed Cobbett, who has served on the Deering Conservation Commission for 20 years. An avid outdoors man who enjoys hunting and fishing, Cobbett has played an active role in many of the land protection projects in Deering involving Dawson.

The Cobbett Forest is located near the Forest Society’s Tom Rush Forest. It contains an important wetland that drains into the Piscataquog River, and a previously undiscovered Black Gum - Red Maple Basin Swamp. This is a rare type of naturally forested bog community that is dominated by a species of Black Gum tree that achieves ages in excess of 500-600 years. The swamp contains many, possibly hundreds of older Black Gum; many of these trees may already be over 400 years old.

Farmington

177-acre donation helps protect 2,000 more

Sylvia Thayer and Philip Zaeder and family knew they wanted to do a good thing by permanently protecting a 177-acre woodlot in Farmington. When they realized that a land donation to the Forest Society could also help protect more than 2,000 acres in the Moose Mountain range in Brookfield and Middleton, they decided to act sooner rather than later.

Thayer and Zaeder, along with their three children who also held partial interests in the land, were willing to donate the land, allowing the Forest Society to use the value of their donation as ‘match’ for one of the federal grants used to finance the 2,189-acre Moose Mountains purchase in nearby Middleton and Brookfield.

All but the lowest part of the land features northern hardwoods, predominately red oak, but with significant white oak as well, with the land along both sides of the river dominated by hemlock. This combination of habitats meets the needs of many species such as deer, fox, coyote, rabbit and pileated woodpeckers. The smaller northern slope contains a wetland, good pine soils, and provides connectivity to other open and protected land along the Cocheco River, creating a safe passage foranimal inhabitants between the Ela and the Cocheco.

Colebrook

Long-held wish fulfilled

The Forest Society purchased a 140-conservation easement in Colebrook from the estate Harold Davis, helping the Davis family fulfill Harold’s long-held wish to protect his picturesque farm.

The farm has sweeping views across lush hayfields and well-managed woodlands to Vermont’s Monadnock Mountain. The property overlies an aquifer, protecting local drinking water supplies, and includes more than 2,000 feet of frontage on the Mohawk River, a high-quality trout fishery managed by the state and to which the easement guarantees public pedestrian access from Route 26.

Harold was born in the same farmhouse where his mother, and then he, died. He took on running the farm when he was 16, when his father died, and ran it as a full-fledged dairy operation until 1980. Right up to his passing, Harold continued to manage the farm himself, producing primarily hay and firewood.

Having initiated conversations with the Forest Society 12 years ago, Davis passed away before completing an easement that was well underway. He was a bachelor, but fortunately had two surviving siblings, who were the heirs of the property and committed to seeing Harold’s dream come true after their brother’s passing.

Lancaster

One of the most beautiful properties one could ever want

After a year of following in his father and brother’s steps working at Chase Manhattan Bank, Brooklyn, NY native Redmond Thayer realized that keeping banker’s hours in the city wasn’t the life he wanted. So, in 1970, Thayer moved to New Hampshire with his wife, Milou, and worked as a carpenter. From his northern New Hampshire home, he also owned and managed two buildings in NYC, heading down to the city in his mobile workshop every six months to perform whatever repairs needed to be done.

But his greatest joy was working on his 200-acre certified Tree Farm, which he calls "one of the most beautiful properties anyone could ever want." To make sure that it stays that way, Thayer donated a conservation easement on the property to the Forest Society.

Thayer’s Lancaster property abuts the White Mountain National Forest and features not only productive, well-managed woodlands, but hayfields with productive agricultural soils, wetlands, especially diverse habitat, old released apple orchards, and brushy field areas. The property has rich historical features, including stone-lined cellar holes for two farmhouses and related outbuildings, and the rail bed of the former Kilkenny Lumber Company, active during the boom years of the logging era a century ago.

Lydeborough

Residents work together to conserve local land

More than a year after they first began talking, Lyndeborough residents succeeded in conserving nearly 35 acres along Mountain Road. Two parcels were acquired by the Forest Society as additions to its Whittemore Reservation.

In the summer 2004, a 19-acre parcel on Mountain Road with scenic open fields and woodland came on the market. Local residents, including Samuel Kaymen, were concerned that this last remnant of the old Spaulding Farm would be subdivided for residential development.

Within weeks the Lyndeborough Land Preservation Society (LLPS) was formed to conserve this land and work to encourage more land protection in the area. LLPS members pooled their funds and acquired the land in an effort to keep it from potential development. They asked the Forest Society for help to find a way to purchase the land from LLPS.

Shortly thereafter, the Forest Society and LLPS began working with the Russell Foundation, a private foundation based in New Boston, to permanently conserve the 19-acre parcel as part of the Forest Society’s Whittemore Reservation. The Russell Foundation awarded the Forest Society $186,000 in funding to purchase the LLPS Land. The only requirement of the grant was that the Forest Society and LLPS needed to find a match parcel of equal in value to be conserved.

The generous gift of Samuel and Louise Kaymen’s 15.9 acre parcel to the Forest Society and several conservation easements pledged to the Piscataquog Watershed Association (PWA) cleared the way for the Russell’s Foundations generous grant. What began as a desire to protect just 19 acres grew to include still more land.

Hancock

Forest Society collaborates with Harris Center

Working with the Harris Center for Conservation Education and the Town of Hancock’s Conservation Commission, the Forest Society helped permanently protect and now owns 120-acres in Hancock that has long been targeted for its high conservation values.

The John Kulish Forest is named in honor of the legendary local trapper who went on to become the first teacher-naturalist at the Harris Center. Kulish spent his life roaming the area, and wrote a book called Bobcats Before Breakfast chronicling his experiences on this and other woodlands in the area.

Located in northwestern Hancock near Route 123, the Kulish Forest directly abuts two other parcels of conservation land — The Forest Society’s 252-acre Welch Family Forest and the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department’s 397-acre Carpenter Marsh. In addition, the newly protected piece provides a key link between these parcels and land owned by New Hampshire Audubon on Willard Pond and up Bald Mountain.

The high elevation ledge covered spruce habitat found on the property, surrounded by the deciduous, hard-mast-producing stands and fields on the Welch Farm and the wetlands complex associated with the Carpenter Marsh Wildlife Management Area, collectively combine for a strong array of important habitat for a variety of wildlife species.

Manchester/Londonderry

Protecting the "Golden Triangle"

In 1966 Henry Edgell, who liked to commute to his job in Boston in his private plane, placed an advertisement looking for 10 acres of land near the Manchester airport. Someone responded with a question: how would he like 54 acres of land for the price of 10? He got the 54 acres on the Manchester-Londonderry town line for the princely sum of $6,600. Over the years he added an additional 31 acres, and recently his widow, Betsy Edgell, donated a conservation easement on the land.

Incredibly this land sits at the apex of the "Golden Triangle" formed by routes I-93, I-293 and Route 28 (which becomes Manchester’s South Willow Street, of big-box store fame). In accordance with Henry’s wishes, the land is 6,740 feet east of the newly extended northsouth runway of Manchester airport—and 8,065 feet from the Mall of New Hampshire parking lot.

This part of Manchester contains much of the city’s last open space and the city Master Plan calls for protecting it; the Edgell easement is a huge step forward. The town of Londonderry recently discontinued a class VI road that might have vectored development right up to the Edgell parcel. With the road discontinued the town has since added a parcel to the protected block.

Why would the Forest Society want to conserve 85 acres near the heart of New Hampshire’s most urban landscape? Because it can become the core of a significant green space spanning the Manchester and Londonderry town line, preserving habitat, protecting water, producing lumber and protecting the near-in hunting grounds used by the native Americans who first enjoyed the bounty of the Merrimack River around the Amoskeag Falls.

Salisbury

287.4 acres protected near Daniel Webster's Birthplace

Ken and Diana Celmer donated a 287.4-acre conservation easement to the Forest Society for property they own in Salisbury near the Daniel Webster Birthplace. The relatively unfragmented forest features a stream running through the property to a habitat-rich beaver meadow and active heron rookery. Waterfowl, beaver, mink, and other species abound in the area.

Canaan

275 acres protected within the Quabbin to Cardigan area

The Colao family have protected two of their properties totaling nearly 275 acres, located within the Goose Pond watershed and within the Forest Society’s Quabbin to Cardigan project area. The protected land offers spectacular views of Moose Mountain in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Camilla Colao donated a conservation easement on her 208 acres of scenic forestland and open fields—home to numerous moose.

William and Martha Colao and Christopher Calvin donated the abutting 66.1-acre conservation easement—a property holding a forested spruce swamp, mixed deciduous hardwood forest, and considerable rock ledges. The mixture of open fields and forest provides excellent wildlife habitat.

Bethlehem

The "Sleeping Astronomer" can rest easily

Among the 146 forest reservations owned and managed by the Society for the Protection of the New Hampshire Forests, The Rocks in Bethlehem is one of the most familiar. Tens of thousands of people visit the 1,300-acre estate annually to cut their own Christmas tree, learn how maple syrup is made, or just enjoy walking on the trail network. Descendents of John Jacob Glessner, who built the estate, made it possible in 1978 by donating the land and buildings to the Forest Society.

The tradition continues. Cousins George Mathey, a direct descendent of the Glessner family, and Henry Vaillant (a descendent of Eman Beck and Mary Payne Beck, a second cousin of Alice Glessner), protected another well-known parcel near The Rocks. An 88-acre piece that includes the "Sleeping Astronomer" formation was under threat of development, so the two cousins bought it and then donated it to the Forest Society, thus permanently protecting it.

"I hated the thought of having 20-plus house lots on the property," said Mathey. "Housing keeps creeping up Route 302 toward the center of Bethlehem—a part of the world that ought not to have housing so widespread and should remain as natural as possible. The "Sleeping Astronomer" property was once a part of The Rocks. It belonged to my great grandfather, and I thought it would be nice to put it together again. I knew Henry would want to help me, and we got together to help conserve the land."

More recently, Vaillant gave the 89-acre Seven Springs Forest in Bethlehem and Mathey a conservation easement on 22 acres to the Forest Society. Both properties abut the "Sleeping Astronomer". Together, the two have donated land or easements that add up to more than 200 acres of protected land in Bethlehem.

Canterbury

Morrill Pond protected forever

Hattie McGraw donated a conservation easement on 465 acres of land in Canterbury, following a long tradition of conservation, Hattie’s father, Bob Burroughs, was a Forest Society board member for many years and her grandfather was one of the first board members. Hattie has been coming to the property during the summers for most of her life. She wanted to ensure that the pond and surrounding land remain undeveloped. The property consists of a well managed forest and the entire shoreline of the undeveloped Morrill Pond.

Webster

Scenic views along Route 127 protected

To protect the land he grew up on in Webster, Joshua Taylor has donated a 20-acre conservation easement on a field and woodlands neighboring his home. Joshua recalls how as a boy he raised vegetables and sweet corn in this field, marketing them at a roadside stand, and then later from a truck at the Hopkinton Fair. Now used for hay, the field provides highly scenic views along Route 127. This easement donation is the first part of a two-part planned conservation easement gift which will protect a total of 44 acres, all the land around his family home, when he completes his plan.

This easement adds to the growing group of permanently protected lands along the Blackwater River riparian corridor, which the Town of Webster has identified priority for protection, and abuts the George conservation easement, also held by the Forest Society.

Hillsborough

Generous gift protects over one mile on Contoocook River

The newly established Penelope and John Dawson Memorial Forest was made possible by the Tyrrell Foundation’s extraordinary gift of 515 acres of land in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. This new reservation protects over a mile of direct frontage on the Contoocook River, 50 acres of active agricultural lands and more than 465 acres of forestland. The land directly abuts over 1,000 acres of other conserved open space stretching south into Deering and Henniker.

The land provides excellent wildlife habitat and preserves 4,000 feet of Bear Hill Road frontage with scenic views across open agricultural lands on both sides of the road. The new reservation includes two farms in a historic part of town that was once proposed to be on the national historic register of special places. The farms on this road have been actively farmed since 1738!

Alstead

Hardwoods and hayfields permanently protected

Nan and Bruce Montgomery donated a 65.7-acre conservation easement on their property in Alstead, New Hampshire. The property includes 6.5 acres of hay field, (hayed by a neighbor), and a mixed northern hardwoods forest dominated by sugar maple, birch, and beach. A beaver pond on the property’s southwestern corner is part of the property’s healthy wildlife habitat.

Deering

Forest Society partners with NH Audubon

The Audubon Society of New Hampshire donated a conservation easement to the Forest Society on 102.5 acres in North Deering abutting the Hillsborough town line. Mixing wetlands, open waterfowl habitat, a red maple swamp, and pine forest, the land was previously donated to Audubon with the condition that a Forest Society easement be added for additional protection. Audubon will use the property for wildlife enhancement, research, and education.