Photo: The view from Silver Mountain in Lempster by Sue Lichty
"The more we learn about preserving water quality, the more we understand the importance of protecting the headwaters of the New Hampshire rivers that provide our drinking water. Today we need your help to purchase 1,750 acres of forestland and streams that are the source of the Ashuelot River." - The Forest Society
For more than a year, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has been working to conserve the headwaters of the Ashuelot River. The Ashuelot River Watershed encompasses 25 towns and its waters flow from the Ashuelot River to the Connecticut River, providing drinking water to the citizens of Keene and others. The efforts of the Forest Society to conserve 1,750 acres around the Ashuelot River headwaters recently received a boost. Five Lempster landowners have pledged to donate an additional 1,300 acres if the Forest Society is successful! The combined value of the donated 1,300 acres exceeds $1 million. See map. 
The 1,750 acre project is located in Lempster just south of the conserved lands surrounding Mount Sunapee and Pillsbury State Park. If successful, the project would conserve the bald summit of Silver Mountain (a popular hiking and blueberry-picking destination with spectacular views), two miles of undeveloped frontage on Long and Sand Ponds, and more than 11,000 feet of frontage on the Ashuelot River.
The land along Long and Sand ponds is especially vulnerable to development and increased risk to water quality. The project would ensure the continuation of an uninterrupted greenway stretching south from Pillsbury State Park to the 11,000-acre Andorra Forest, two of the largest blocks of forestland south of the White Mountains. This dovetails with the NH Wildlife Action Plan and the bi-state Quabbin-to-Cardigan Conservation Plan that calls for protecting intact, interconnected and ecologically important forestlands.
“The potential to conserve an additional 1,300 acres raises the stakes,” said Brian Hotz, Forest Society director of land protection. “Thanks to the generosity of these individuals, we stand to conserve more than 3,000 acres in the region.” The goal of the Forest Society is to purchase the property and protect it for long-term multiple uses. According to Brian Hotz, “Our goal is to establish a permanent Forest Society Reservation. If we’re successful, the land will remain open to the public for the hiking, blueberry picking, hunting, fishing and other activities that people have enjoyed on the mountain for generations.”
The state-funded Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) has contributed $500,000 toward the $2.18 million project, and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) granted $100,000. Private donations have made up the balance of funding received so far. However, another $750,000 is needed. The project deadline of December 1, 2009 is fast approaching. Donations are needed.
For more information contact the Forest Society at www.forestsociety.org
or Brian Hotz at 603-224-9945 /
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Make contributions payable to:
The Forest Society—Ashuelot River Headwaters
Mail contributions to: Kibler-Hacker, The Forest Society, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH 03301
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Lake Solitude Trail and other watercolors by Bea Jillette, Goshen, are featured in FOMS November 2009 newsletter.
FOMS March 2008 Newsletter (447 KB)