2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the first land protection campaign on our beloved Mount Sunapee. Learn more and join in the celebration!
Outdoor activities on the mountain - Saturday, August 27,
2011: Join us for a guided hike to Lake Solitude (9 am to 2 pm)
followed by camping at Mount Sunapee State Park. Read more...
1911: Herbert Welsh & the First Campaign
A hundred years ago this year, Herbert Welsh, the father of land conservation on Mount Sunapee, led an effort to purchase the first patch of protected forest on Mount Sunapee and place it in the public trust forever.
With clear-cut logging quickly moving up the mountainside, Welsh mobilized Sunapee locals, summer friends, and the Society for the Protection of NH Forests to buy the first 656 acres of land on Mount Sunapee for conservation.
This initial $8,000 campaign became the first in a century of citizen-led efforts to protect many thousands of acres of beautiful, natural forestland on and along the Sunapee Ridge, including the land now preserved in our beloved Mount Sunapee State Park.
To a More Glorious Mount Sunapee
Welsh sometimes ended his persuasive writings with the line, “To a more glorious Mount Sunapee.” FOMS believes that he included “more” because he viewed the 1911 campaign as the first, and not the last, grassroots effort to preserve and enjoy Mount Sunapee.
Following his vision, the Forest Society, State of New Hampshire, and many other supporting organizations continued to protect pieces of the mountain, eventually accumulating a 2,200 acre state park and more than 20,000 acres of wildlands to its south, including Pillsbury State Park and the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway lands.
A century later, Welsh’s initial campaign deserves great recognition. His intention for “more” deserves our energy and support. FOMS would like your help in achieving both.
June 2011 - update
Plans underway for Welsh Centennial Celebration
Members of Friends of Mount Sunapee met in May and June (2011) and formed an organizing committee for the Welsh Centennial Celebration.
April 2011
Honoring a Century of Land Protection
FOMS has several ideas for
how to best throw a worthy centennial celebration for Welsh and his 1911
conservation campaign.
But before we launch an initiative, we want to know your
ideas and get your support for an appropriate, achievable program of events and
activities.
Here is a list of activities that FOMS has brainstormed for discussion with any interested volunteers on April 20th:
Toward a More Glorious Mount Sunapee: Centennial
Celebration Ideas
I. Educational
Series: In Celebration of a Glorious Mountain: With all appropriate
partners, FOMS could co-host and support a lecture series about Mount Sunapee
and Herbert Welsh. Potential topics:
- Natural
History of Mount Sunapee & its Old Growth Forest
- Cultural
History from First Peoples to the Johnson Family, 10,000BC to 1909
- Herbert
Welsh’s Journey: The story of the 1911 campaign and Welsh’s life
II. Mount Sunapee:
The Next 100 Years Conference: A one-day conference exploring the future of the mountain
for the next century. Session topics could include:
- Maintaining
& Improving our Hiking Trails
- Solutions
to Development Pressures: Policy & Land Protection Tools
- The
Sunapee Highlands: Where are we headed?
III. The Long
Walk Home Fundraiser: Herbert
Welsh walked to Sunapee every year from outside Philadelphia, a journey of
about 400 miles. Let’s recruit 20 people to walk at least 20 miles of this
journey, raising $8,000 in the process. We’ll need 400 people to pledge $20
(for each 20-mile walk) to raise $8,000. |
