NEWFOUND LAND CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP

A community-based, volunteer-led partnership for land conservation.

In 2007, a group of individuals concerned with the pace of development in the watershed met to determine how to balance development with land conservation. From these efforts the Newfound Land Conservation Partnership was established in 2009, and has now driven land conservation in the watershed for over a decade. This group is comprised of local watershed residents, the Newfound Lake Region Association, the Lakes Region Conservation Trust, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, The Nature Conservancy, and representatives from NH Audubon. The NLCP educates and serves the needs of the community on land-related matters and provides information on the advantages to private owners of protective easements on tracts of land with high environmental value. The LRCT and SPNHF provide land stewardship expertise and can manage conservation easements.

CURRENT WORK

The Partnership is currently working with landowners in all five watershed towns and looking to protect land around the Alexandria aquifer, which is a drinking water supply and the largest water source feeding into Newfound Lake through the Fowler River. This region also contains the Alexandria Bog, which is an extremely rich and productive habitat for wildlife and a natural water purifier.

RESOURCES FOR LANDOWNERS

Conserving Your Land: Options for New Hampshire Landowners

Land Trusts

Lakes Region Conservation Trust

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests

The Nature Conservancy

The Land Trust Alliance

NOTABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2021 – The first land conservation project to be completed in Bridgewater by the NLCP, and the first conserved land in the watershed in Bridgewater, is finalized, with four landowners conserving abutting acreage in the Poole Hill and Dick Brown Road areas.

2021 – Martha Twombly creates the Forever Newfound Land Conservation Fund with LRCT to provide grants for land and conservation easement purchases in the Newfound watershed. Learn more at lrct.org.

2018/2019 – The Nature Conservancy becomes the fourth partner in the NLCP, conserving the Kimball Hill property in Groton, protecting a vast stretch of the Cockermouth River sub-watershed in Groton, and leading to NLRA’s 2019 Partner of the Year Award from The Nature Conservancy.