Moose Mountains Regional Greenways
Adopted by the MMRG Board of Directors on February 2nd, 2026
Photo Credit: Danielle Smith
2026
Conservation Action Plan Expansion |
It is, however, only one tool and a tool that reflects a snapshot in time. Each project requires a full-context approach to its evaluation and the consideration of a number of factors, not all of which can be considered or captured by the CAP.
This plan, based on data and metrics which were carefully selected to reflect our goals and values, identifies the highest priority conservation areas within our service region. It lays a foundation for the proactive strategies and activities that form the basis of our work, as well as one metric for evaluating the merits of potential and existing projects.
Page {{page}} | MMRG Conservation Action Plan (CAP) Expansion • 2026
Conservation Action Plan Form and Function
The Conservation Action Plan (CAP) serves as both a high-level strategic guide to our conservation work and planning, as well as a functional, day-to-day resource for assessing our projects and activities. In short, the CAP is not a report that is created and shelved, but a living document which serves both the aspirations and the daily activities for land protection within our region.
Photo Credit: Jerry Monkman Photography
In reading this report, readers can develop an understanding of the natural resource values and characteristics that are of primary importance to MMRG, as well as a clear understanding of our future strategies and goals for achieving conservation outcomes within the geographic zones outlined here. One will also have the impression of the larger context of our work as it relates to continuing conservation efforts above and beyond, but connected to, our service region. While our future projects may not be limited to the areas designated in this report, we can convey a clear delineation of high priority zones for future impact and the next phase of our work as a conservation organization.
inclusion in this report to be redundant. Simply put, we could not improve on a great resource! Rather, this priority map seeks to help us make conservation decisions which identify and include the resources beyond those which are so readily available to us (i.e. water resources). MMRG continues to place a high priority on water resources and shoreland protection opportunities and is well attuned to both the resource maps at our disposal for this identification as well as the ample and generous statewide funding opportunities which rightly emphasize and facilitate their permanent protection. We will continue to consult the priority mapping included in our 2017 CAP as we evaluate individual projects and develop strategies for future conservation work.
This document represents the first of what are intended to be regular updates of the CAP, that will incorporate new conservation datasets, organizational priorities and land use change factors. This update builds on the comprehensive work contained in MMRG’s 2017 Conservation Action Plan - Our Home, Our Land, Our Tomorrow, and should be treated as an addendum to the original plan. The original CAP includes a thorough description of methodologies used, an overview of important natural resources present throughout our service area, and a description of co-occurrence mapping and focus area analyses, and should be referenced for further detail on how conservation priorities were developed.
A critical change to note in this update is the emphasis on current day needs and interpretation that both takes advantage of and moves beyond the newest and most readily available statewide datasets. As will be discussed, since the original 2017 publication of this document, a number of important statewide reports and datasets have become available. This update takes advantage of that progress and they are incorporated into our results. However and notably, MMRG consciously chose to lower the emphasis on water resources within our weighting system as it is reflected in this update. This is not because water resources are not of primary importance to MMRG. Quite the opposite! Mapping tools which identify water features and resources are so readily available and so comprehensive that we felt their
Following the merger, the new organization engaged in a professionally facilitated strategic planning process and by the fall of 2022, MMRG employed three full time staff and encompassed the expanded nine-town service area of Brookfield, Wakefield, Milton, Farmington, New Durham, Middleton, Wolfeboro, Ossipee and Tuftonboro. As part of the strategic planning process, the board of directors of MMRG felt very strongly that updating the conservation action plan to reflect the new service area of the organization was vitally important. This importance was felt both symbolically in terms of bringing Tuftonboro and Ossipee ‘into the fold’ of MMRG and also functionally in that the CAP is a living and working document that guides the work of the organization in evaluating prospective conservation projects and strategically targeting future parcels for permanent protection.
Organizational Context
Furthermore, MMRG was integrating its first full-time, professional land protection coordinator into the role. Transitioning more of the work of conservation onto full time professional staff, as well as integrating the reviews and evaluations coming through the merger process, created a feeling within the organization that we were ready to evaluate and update many of our organizational processes and value statements in order to chart a new course which matched our new operations. Overall, it was a time of forward energy, enthusiasm, hope and hard work within MMRG and particularly within its core staff and volunteers dedicated to land protection and stewardship.
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In 2017, MMRG employed 1 full time Executive Director and multiple part-time staff across a seven-town service region of Brookfield, Wakefield, Milton, Farmington, New Durham, Middleton and Wolfeboro. By 2022, the organization had changed significantly from its 2017 identity. This growth and change was due in large part to a 2021 organizational merger with the former Dan Hole Pond Watershed Trust. Through this merger, MMRG acquired nearly a dozen new properties, doubled its membership rolls and added Ossipee and Tuftonboro to its service area.
The NH Coastal Watershed Conservation Plan brought together many partners in understanding and stating as a public goal that conservation of upstream waterways was essential to preservation and improvement of water quality downstream in Great Bay, one of the east coast’s most substantial marine estuaries. NH Fish and Game’s additions of the Wildlife Connectivity Model and The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping Tool provided additional mapping and information to better understand how key species are moving across New Hampshire landscapes as well as how these landscapes might sustain the growing impacts of climate change in years and decades to come.
Changing Information in a Changing Environment
The ability to access these new data sets and to incorporate them into our conservation action plan was an important benefit of updating and expanding the plan. Any expansion of the plan to new towns (Ossipee and Tuftonboro) would require new and updated data and therefore required that the data for all towns be updated. Early thoughts of ‘simply adding’ new town data were quickly cast aside in favor of creating new datasets for all towns that took the best advantage of newly available information and, logically, compared ‘apples to apples’ in cross-town or service region analyses.
As our organizational identity, needs and context had changed, so too had the conservation ‘landscape’ in terms of the information and data available to the public and to organizations like ours. Between the publishing of the original 2017 plan and 2025, several very influential reports and data sets had been introduced into the state: The NH Coastal Watershed Conservation Plan, an update of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife Action Plan, a new data layer available from NH Fish and Game labeled the NH Wildlife Connectivity Model and The Nature Conservancy's Resilient Land Mapping Tool.
Consulting Stewardship and Lands Committee Charlie Bridges, Committee Member Dan Coons, Committee Member Jack Savage, Committee Member Jared Kane, Committee Member Jon Nute, Committee Member Phil Auger, Committee Member Rebecca Digirolomo, Committee Member Ron Gehl, Chair Tim Nolin, Committee Member Wendy Scribner, Committee Member
At the outset of this project, a search began for the team of contractors who could help us in expanding and updating our Conservation Action Plan to complement the needs of the current organization. After interviewing a number of candidates, our efforts brought us back to our beginnings with Steve Whitman, part of our original team, leading the effort. In early 2023 we formally engaged with Resilience Planning and Design LLC, owned by Steve Whitman, to complete the project with GIS specialist Zak Brohinsky, completing a majority of the work. In early 2024, staff finalized a working draft of the Conservation Action Plan for Stewardship and Lands Committee (SLC) review. The SLC performed an extensive review and update of the document over the course of 2024 and early 2025. A draft was presented to the Board of Directors (BOD) in June of 2025. Subsequent enhancements were made based on BOD and further SLC feedback. The updated CAP was approved by the BOD in February, 2026. Finally, our communications staff person, Abby Rummo, packaged our efforts and they were released to the public.
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We are deeply grateful for Steve Whitman and Zak Brohinsky’s thoughtfulness from the outset, as well as their commitment to process and excellence. To Zak especially, we owe a debt of gratitude for his patience, his candor, teaching ability, willingness to pursue every avenue and to answer questions big and small. We could not have completed this process without him and through our conversations with him we learned so much more than we planned on about our service area, the role GIS and conservation plans like this can play in our work, and even about ourselves. Thank you, Zak.
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Our Partners
Adopting Board of Directors Peter Goodwin, Board Chair Greg DeMarco, Vice-Chair Ian Whitmore, Treasurer Nicole Csiszer, Member Ron Gehl, Member Jared Kane, Member Jacob Evans, Member Joseph Hankins, Member Steve Panish, Member
Executive Summary
MMRG’s Conservation Vision: To conserve key natural resource areas in our NH communities and connect them within a permanently protected network of greenways and open space for today and tomorrow.
Within MMRGs service region there are many thousands of acres of high conservation value lands based on the metrics used in this report, that remain without formal conservation protections. Altogether, land area that constitutes high and moderate conservation value comprises nearly 50% and over 100,000 acres of the service area. This report paints a robust picture of natural resource value remaining within the service region and should provide a strong mandate to the organization for further conservation work. Approximately 16% of land available for conservation within MMRG’s service area (i.e., not currently conserved and not waterbodies) is characterized as “high conservation value” under the metrics used in this report, while 30% is at least of moderate conservation value. The high- and moderate-conservation value lands in the region total almost 105,000 acres, and all areas contain high percentages of these lands, ranging from 31% to 75% of total acreage for individual towns. A closer look at the numbers within the report reveals that no single area may be the focus, or conversely, cannot be overlooked, when determining conservation strategies across the region. Visually, this report portrays a striking and symbolic image that supports MMRG’s Greenways Vision. Establishing “greenways” is a core part of the vision and mission of MMRG. Greenways are undeveloped, “open-space” corridors that support wildlife habitat, natural resource protection and low-impact recreation. They are often created incrementally over time by “linking” contiguous conservation properties. Data and mapping tools used to visually identify key conservation areas paint a prominent stripe through the middle of our service region. In essence, future conservation goals and projects can seek to form one united greenway through the heart of our member towns, creating at a broader scale what we have often sought to do on a smaller scale.
The Greenways Vision: MMRG acknowledges its place as a conservation group, landowner and steward within a mutually connected landscape. Our conservation mission depends upon permanent land protections and ethical stewardship both within and outside our regional boundaries. Our air, our waterways, our flora and fauna know no geographical bounds and our goal as a conservation group must be to unite as many parcels as possible into unfragmented greenspace and to work with our partners and neighbors to make collective conservation and stewardship decisions for the benefit of all.
The original 2017 CAP identified high priority conservation focus areas through a comprehensive co-occurrence analysis of natural resource values throughout the (at that time) seven-town service area. This update to the CAP features a new co-occurrence analysis that incorporates different weighting factors, which highlighted other areas of our service region that deserve greater attention for permanent preservation efforts. We have identified three additional key priority areas in eastern Wolfeboro, southeastern New Durham and along the Ossipee/Tuftonboro boundary in which to focus conservation efforts for the most enhanced impact and progress towards this uniting Greenways Vision. This does not limit our scope or focus across the region and does not exclude certain projects from completion. Rather, it provides a road map for long term planning and strategic conservation activity in light of our broader vision. We hope that readers of this report will feel more knowledgeable about the MMRG service region from reading its contents. We cannot help but feel bolstered and excited by the level of high value remaining conservation parcels in our service area and the opportunities we have to translate them into our ultimate vision of one united Greenway which protects lands, wildlife and natural resources for today and tomorrow.
Photo Credit: Kate Wilcox
Report Findings
New Data Sets NH Coastal Watershed Conservation Plan (2021) NH Fish and Game’s additions of the Wildlife Connectivity Model (2022) The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping Tool ( 2016) NH Fish and Game’s updated Wildlife Action Plan Data (2020)
This update to MMRG’s CAP employs a new co-occurrence analysis of natural resource attributes of lands within our service area, based in part on the latest datasets available from studies completed since the original CAP was published. The purpose of co-occurrence analysis and mapping is to identify areas where resources are “co-located”, indicating areas of high-priority conservation values for consideration in long-range strategic conservation planning or for evaluating site-specific conservation opportunities as they occur. Co-occurrence mapping is designed to generate a “shared vision” of conservation values and priorities within MMRG’S service area. A modified Delphi process was employed that had MMRG staff, with guidance from MMRG’s Stewardship and Lands Committee, assign priorities to the various conservation attributes to provide rankings that could be applied to the co-occurrence analysis (see original CAP for a further description of the Delphi process) Further detail on the co-occurrence analysis and results is provided below.
226,946 Total potential land acres for future conservation within study area
314, 853 Total acres within study area
Table 1:
- 52, 805 Acres of existing conserved land within study area
- 35,102 Acres of water within study area
Once the amount of potential land for future conservation was understood, MMRG set forth to prioritize those lands based on many factors including but not limited to wildlife habitat, surface and groundwater resources, agricultural assets, undeveloped and roadless areas, and areas proximate to existing conserved lands with MMRG interest (either through easements, fee ownership, or other interests).
279, 751 Total land acres within study area
Co-occurrence Analysis
The study area for the Moose Mountains Regional Greenways Conservation Action Plan Update added two towns to the service area – for a total of 9 towns – and incorporated a 1-mile buffer around the entire area. Doing so provides MMRG the opportunity to explore conservation efforts that are within the service region but also extend beyond it. Because of this, the study area encompasses 314,853 acres. Over 35,000 acres of the study area are water bodies and account for 10% of the study area. Removing water bodies provides a more accurate representation of land that can be conserved. Doing so drops the land acreage to 279,751. Furthermore, there are over 50,000 acres of existing conserved lands within the study area; because those lands are already conserved, they are not available for future conservation and can be removed from the following calculations. This allows the co-occurrence to focus on lands available for future conservation. Table 1 shows the calculations made to understand the amount of available land for future conservation within the study area.
This yielded 14 categories across which to allocate ‘points’. The more points a category would receive, the more ‘weight’ it would carry and therefore the more emphasis or priority it would receive in the final mapping. As previously mentioned, the 2017 Conservation Action Plan put additional emphasis on the important water resources within our service region because the data at the time was not as prominent regarding these resources. Since then, available datasets that account for and prioritize water resources have greatly expanded and improved. They include The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping, NH Wildlife Connectivity Model and the updated NH Fish and Game Wildlife Action Plan. These datasets are readily available as an additional resource for information and consultation and their results have been incorporated into our analyses. As a result of these statewide additions, MMRG was able to apportion a higher number of points to other resource types and still feel very confident that water resources would be well represented in the high priority areas as seen in Map 1 (p. 14). After the full suite of conservation attributes were identified, MMRG staff set forth to prioritize each attribute by allocating 1,000 points across the resource categories. Each staff member assigned points to the available categories based on their individual discretion. Following the allocation process, the points were averaged, and overall weights were calculated. The Stewardship and Lands Committee was consulted regarding the overall weighting that resulted from these averages. Table 2 (p. 12) shows the full suite of conservation attributes, their average point score, and the ultimate weight (as a percentage) given to each input. With the input scoring complete, the co-occurrence analysis was completed using the appropriate weights. The results of this process can be seen in Map 1, which shows the distribution of existing conserved lands with the prioritized lands based on MMRG’s updated co-occurrence analysis.
Table 2:
Natural Resource Values
Natural Resource Description
Points
Weight
Wildlife Habitat 1
Tier 1 highest ranked habitat (NH WAP); Source: NH Fish & Game Wildlife Action Plan
150
15%
Wildlife Habitat 2
(a) Tier 1 highest ranked habitat (b) Tier 2 second highest ranked habitat (c) Wildlife corridors Source: NH Fish & Game Wildlife Action Plan, NH Wildlife Connectivity Model
115
12%
Water Resources 1 (surface water)
(a) Waterbodies w/200' corridor (b) Wetlands <10ac w/ 100' corridor (c) Wetlands >10ac 1w/ 200' corridor (d) Stream order 1-2 w/ 75' corridor (e) Stream order 3-4 w/ 125' corridor (f) Stream order 5-6-7 w/ 250' corridor Source: NH Department of Environmental Services, Water Resources Division
25
3%
Climate Resilience 1
Most resilient lands Source: The Nature Conservancy's Resilient Land and Connected Network
130
13%
Climate Resilience 2
Moderately resilient lands (more resilient & slightly more resilient) Source: The Nature Conservancy's Resilient Land and Connected Network
Agriculture 1
Important agricultural soils (prime & state) Source: Soil Survey Geograpghic Database
80
8%
Agriculture 2
Active agricultural land use (land cover types - crop, hay, pasture) Source: Soil Survey Geographic Database
50
5%
Forests 1
Unfragmented blocks of open space 5,000+ acres (minus road buffers, development w/100' buffer, & waterbodies)
Forests 2
Unfragmented blocks of open space 2,000-5,000 acres (minus road buffers, development w/ 100' buffer, & waterbodies)
Forests 3
Unfragmented blocks of open space 500-2,000 acres (minus road buffers, development w/ 100' buffer & waterbodies)
0
0%
Rare Habitat 1
(a) Cliff and Talus (b) Floodplain forest (c) Grassland (d) Northern swamp (e) Peatland (f) Pine barren (g) High-elevation spruce-fir (h) Lowland spruce-fir (i) Rocky ridge (j) Temperate swamp (k) Wet meadow/shrub wetland Source: NH Fish & Game Wildlife Action Plan
Properties 1
1 mile buffer around MMRG properties
125
Properties 2
3 mile buffer around MMRG properties
Comparing Map 1 (p. 14) with the co-occurrence mapping completed for the original 2017 CAP reveals differences that correspond with the higher weighting of wildlife habitat, climate resilience and unfragmented forest attributes vs. the previous co-occurrence analysis. For instance, while some areas of eastern Wolfeboro were previously identified as highest priority conservation focus areas in the 2017 report, the area of highest conservation value has expanded significantly in the latest mapping, largely due to high rankings in wildlife habitat and an extensive area of unfragmented forests. The area of eastern New Durham bordering Farmington and Middleton has a broader acreage of highest conservation value compared to 2017 for similar reasons. Parts of eastern Tuftonboro and bordering lands in Ossipee, while not mapped during the 2017 effort, display outstanding values with respect to their unbroken forest, wildlife habitat and climate resilience. Areas highlighted in the 2017 analysis as highest priority continue to rank highly, as in the vicinity of the Moose Mountains in Brookfield and Middleton, the areas surrounding Merrymeeting Lake in New Durham, and the southwestern portion of Farmington.
Map 1:
High conservation value lands are those that rank highest in the co-occurrence analysis conducted during this effort, based on the weightings of natural resource attributes outlined in Table 2 (p. 12). These 36,395 acres are distributed throughout our service area, and tend to be areas that rank highest in wildlife habitat and unfragmented forest natural resource values, with a lesser influence of climate resilience and other attributes included in the co-occurrence analysis. While water resources were de-emphasized in the weightings of the current analysis, it is interesting to note that most areas that ranked highly due to water resources in the 2017 CAP continue to rank highly in this revision, as high-quality water resources typically correspond with good wildlife habitat and rely on unfragmented forest to maintain that water quality. Certain areas of MMRG’s service area have a higher proportion of high conservation value land due to historic land use patterns and/or general inaccessibility. Generally speaking, more rugged landscapes were less suitable for farming and did not have well-developed road networks, and therefore favored larger unfragmented forest blocks that rank highly in the current analysis. Examples of this are found in northern New Durham, the Moose Mountains complex in Brookfield and Middleton, southwestern Farmington and the northern fringes of Tuftonboro and Ossipee. These areas provide opportunities to expand existing conserved acreage with the objective of ultimately connecting these larger forest blocks with greenways.
36,395 16%
Potential land acres of high conservation value Percent of potential land acres of high conservation value
68,402 30%
Potential land acres of moderate conservation value Percent of potential land acres of moderate conservation value
122,149 54%
Potential land acres of some conservation value Percent of available land acres some conservation value
High Conservation Values
Table 3:
Table 3 shows the acreage and percent of potential conservation lands within the study area that has high, moderate, and some conservation value. Lands of high, moderate, and some conservation value exist in all towns within the service area. Water bodies and existing conserved lands were removed from the town calculations so that the percentages of available land can be accurately and easily compared.
It is important to note that the landscape-scale mapping of high conservation value lands is not definitive – closer analysis of individual parcels often yields important natural resource attributes that are missed in wider-area mapping. The current mapping efforts and those in the original CAP are intended to guide our efforts toward areas that have a preponderance of high-quality attributes, but we will continue to evaluate conservation opportunities throughout the service area as opportunities arise.
Moderate conservation value lands rank slightly lower in the co-occurrence analysis conducted during this effort, based on the weightings of natural resource attributes outlined in Table 2 (p. 12). These 68,402 acres are more widely distributed through our service area, and tend to be areas that rank slightly lower (but still important) in wildlife habitat, have somewhat smaller unfragmented forest blocks, but sometimes rank higher with respect to climate resilience. These lands tend to surround the highest-quality conservation lands, and are important supporting landscapes in the region that help advance the Greenways vision. While the Conservation Action Plan presented in this document is a strong and comprehensive tool, it is important to situate it as only one resource within a full-spectrum of informational and decision-making tools at the disposal of the organization when evaluating potential land projects. MMRG considers many factors and analyses when making the decision of whether and how to pursue a potential land project. These include, but are not limited to, other internal tools such as our "MMRG Criteria and IRS Public Benefits Checklist for Land Conservation Projects" and our "MMRG Project Feasibility Checklist." Additionally, MMRG takes into account project-specific resource mapping, publicly available data sets that have already been mentioned elsewhere in this document and, finally, less tangible criteria such as landowner relationships, funding availability and public support. The sum analysis of all of these many resources, factors and considerations, as formally reviewed and decided upon by organizational committees, comprises the basis for project adoption.
Moderate Conservation Values
Greenway Opportunity
Broadly, Map 2 (p. 17) shows large-scale greenway opportunities given the high and moderate conservation value priorities. While these represent long-term opportunities, they should be kept in mind when considering future conservation focuses.
Map 2:
Areas in the town of Wolfeboro provide a unique opportunity and can be better understood when looking at Chart 3 (see appendicies) alongside Map 2 (p. 17). Wolfeboro has over 10,000 acres of available lands of high or moderate conservation value with over 3,000 acres of high value. Much of those 3,000 acres is in 1 contiguous block in the eastern corner of town, which is surrounded by large areas of moderate value. This provides an opportunity to conserve a substantial amount of high and moderate value lands. More so, it provides a real opportunity to connect existing conserved lands in New Durham, Middleton, and Brookfield with other lands in the northern parts of the MMRG service area. Similarly, Ossipee has over 20,000 acres of available high and moderate conservation value land. Much of this can be found in western and northern parts of town proximate to existing conserved lands. Not only do these areas of significant conservation value provide the opportunity to expand existing conserved lands in Ossipee and Tuftonboro, but they would extend in a southerly direction towards other sizable, conserved areas in Brookfield, Middleton, New Durham, and others. Other parts of this landscape should be considered in this regard and can be used in conjunction with Chart 3 to determine future conservation focus areas.
Possible Focus Areas
Three areas provide significant opportunities to focus conservation efforts that would increase protected land within MMRG’s service area, and also dramatically increase the connectivity of existing large, conserved blocks. The following possible focus areas are shown in Map 3 (p. 19).
Map 3:
Connecting this area in eastern Wolfeboro with the Ossipee Mountains, consisting of more than 20,000 acres of existing conserved lands, could be a dramatic connectivity opportunity. Several factors make this possible link more interesting and tangible. More than 1,000 acres of existing conserved lands, owned in fee by Carroll County lie less than 1 mile northeast of the high conservation value lands in Wolfeboro. Continuing in the same northeasterly direction less than 2 more miles is another substantial block of approximately 2,000 continuous, high value conservation lands in western Ossipee. This block of high conservation value lands contains tributaries of the Beech River, eventually flowing into Ossipee Lake. This area abuts and surrounds the Dan Hole Pond Merrow Preserve that MMRG has an interest in along the shores of Dan Hole Pond. The eastern Wolfeboro block of high conservation value land lies less than 3 miles southwest of another 4,100+ acre block of contiguous, existing conserved land in eastern Ossipee and Effingham, which includes the Pine River State Forest. Included in this block of existing conserved lands in eastern Ossipee is the 171-acre MMRG property, the Charles C. Norman Munroe Preserve. This MMRG property abuts a contiguous block of an additional 4,000 acres of existing conserved land, most of which is the Pine River State Forest. MMRG’s presence in this area could provide new momentum to expand this area and connect it with lands in eastern Wolfeboro. One opportunity making the connection between eastern Wolfeboro and eastern Ossipee possible could be the presence of Youngs Brook flowing north out of Wolfeboro into the block of existing conserved lands in Ossipee and eventually flowing into Ossipee Lake. The presence of Youngs Brook, which is surrounded by areas of high conservation value lands itself, as a connectivity link between the block in eastern Wolfeboro with existing conserved lands in Ossipee is a noticeable and clear opportunity.
One possible focus area, mentioned in the above Greenway Opportunity section, is in eastern Wolfeboro. This area consists of approximately 1,000 contiguous acres of high conservation value lands. The intact nature of this area, surrounded by smaller blocks of high value lands and nested within an even larger area of moderate conservation value, sits between several distinct and large existing conserved areas, and provides a powerful opportunity for increasing connectivity between them.
Eastern Wolfeboro
Another opportunity exists heading south from the block of high conservation value lands in eastern Wolfeboro connecting it to large and prominent blocks of existing conserved lands in the Moose Mountains. Ryefield Brook is a short distance south of the eastern Wolfeboro area. The brook is surrounded by high conservation value lands and is a noticeable connectivity opportunity flowing south out of Lake Wentworth. One mile south of high value Ryefield Brook (and less than 3 miles from the eastern Wolfeboro lands) are two MMRG properties – Split Rock Conservation Area and Snow Family Conservation Easement totaling nearly 500 acres. Furthermore, these MMRG properties are a short distance to the larger Moose Mountains where large partners including Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT), the Society for the Protection of NH Forests (SPNHF), and NH Fish & Game (NHFG) all own properties in fee totaling over 5,000 acres. Much of the land in this area that is not already conserved is of high conservation value and, although it is likely of interest to these larger partners, Moose Mountains Regional Greenways has property interest in the area and could play a critical role in partnering to make conservation efforts happen. To the southwest of the Moose Mountains is another sizable block of high conservation value lands abutting Merrymeeting Lake. Additionally, MMRG holds interest in over 2,000-acres of land already conserved as part of the Birch Ridge Community Forest.
Looking to the southwest of this area is a 1,500-acre block of moderate to high conservation value land that is less than ½ mile to the south from the Great Meadow Preserve in Tuftonboro, NH. MMRG has a conservation easement over 22 acres of the over 300-acre preserve. Scanning east of the 1,500 acres of land will bring you back to the 2,000 acres mentioned above in the Wolfeboro focus area of contiguous high value conservation land that directly abuts the Dan Hole Pond Merrow Preserve. The 20,000 acres of conserved land, including the Ossipee Mountains, Chocorua Forestlands and the Castle in the Clouds, between the Northwestern Ossipee 1,000 acres of high conservation value land and the 1,500 acres of moderate to high conservation value land is what makes this potential connection feasible. Another opportunity for connection lies to the northeast with a mostly contiguous 1,900 acre block of moderate to high value conservation land that abuts the 2,700 acre Ossipee Pine Barrens Preserve with frontage along Ossipee Lake. To the south of Ossipee Lake is the 4,100+ acre block that the Eastern Wolfeboro Focus Area references, where MMRG’s Charles C. Norman Munroe Preserve is. Bearcamp River flows through part of this 1,900 acre block of moderate to high value conservation land into Ossipee Lake. Along the edges of the river are high value conservation land that show an opportunity for connection.
Northwestern Ossipee/Eastern Tuftonboro
Building upon the Eastern Wolfeboro focus area, is the Northwestern Ossipee/Eastern Tuftonboro focus area that has another nearly 1,000 acres of contiguous high value conservation land. This focus area directly abuts the MMRG 626-acre Thurley Mountain Preserve and encompasses both Moody and Bean Pond. These 1,000 acres of land are surrounded on all fronts by other large conserved blocks of land that could be connected by the permanent protection of this acreage.
Southern New Durham
Another possible focus area is in southern New Durham near the intersection of Middleton, Milton, and Farmington. Consisting of approximately 1,500-acres of high conservation value lands surrounded by other areas of moderate value, this area has nearly 400 acres of existing conserved land to build from and several long-term connectivity options.
Sizeable contiguous, existing conserved lands lie ½ mile from the southern New Durham focus area. Totaling more than 3,000 acres of conserved land along the shores of Merrymeeting Lake, MMRG has a significant presence with their interest in Birch Ridge Community Forest. Additionally, this area around Merrymeeting Lake holds large blocks of high and moderate conservation value lands and are a short distance to the Moose Mountains conservation land. Heading east from the southern New Durham focus area is another block of mostly contiguous conserved land totaling nearly 4,500 acres. Included in that is the 242-acre MMRG Teneriffe Mountain Forest. This large, conserved area contains approximately 4 miles of protected shoreline along Northeast Pond on the borders of New Hampshire and Maine. MMRG’s presence in this area could provide additional opportunity for increasing shoreline conservation efforts along Northeast Pond as well as increasing connectivity to other areas within the service area. South of the southern New Durham high value lands is another large, contiguous block of existing conservation lands totaling more than 7,600 acres and extending well beyond the MMRG service area. Partners in this area include NH Fish & Game and other state agencies, the Blue Hills Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Bear Paw Regional Greenways. Although some of these partners have interests outside the MMRG service area, they are part of a mostly contiguous block extending into it. Included in this large block is the 116-acre MMRG property Widowmaker Farm. Nearby are two other MMRG properties including the 197-acre Thompson Family Conservation Easement and the 62-acre Leary Field & Forest. These three MMRG properties are on the northern extent of the block of existing conserved lands and could be a jumping off point to extend northward to southern New Durham. Abutting this large block of existing conserved lands south of the southern New Durham focus area includes more than 3,200 acres of high conservation value lands that provide sizable areas of opportunity. This area, lying mostly in the Town of Farmington, is a clear area to expand existing conservation lands and think long-term about increasing connectivity northward to southern New Durham.
Map 4:
While it’s reasonable for MMRG to focus conservation efforts and connectivity within their service area, it is worth noting the opportunities that lie beyond. Rather than exclusively focusing on connectivity between existing conserved lands inside the 9-town service area, there are likely options to look more broadly at a regional perspective. Connectivity and the creation of greenways is vital for MMRG to focus on in the future and it could be worth exploring what opportunities exist to connect existing conservation lands within the service area to others outside it. Map 4 (p. 24) provides an initial conceptual idea of what that type of thinking could look like. While these types of regional considerations may be decades away, there is value in beginning to think of them now and look for ways to develop relationships that could bear fruit in the future.
Longer Term Thinking
Conclusions
MMRG’s recent expansion into Ossipee and Tuftonboro was a logical extension of, and exciting opportunity for, our continued work. We are buoyed by the opportunities we have discovered within our own service region, which will undoubtedly provide many years of earnest work on our behalf. While this report is but one contextual tool in evaluating potential land protection projects and strategic long term activities, herein lie many paths towards creating a reality of our Greenways Vision. MMRG’s Greenways Vision represents both a place and a strategy. As a core part of our mission and vision, MMRG seeks, wherever possible, to establish greenways or corridors in which wildlife and natural habitats may connect, travel and flourish. Through this strategy, even small parcels or those with lesser resource values may realize their full potential as part of a uniting fabric of conserved lands in service to a higher mission. We are heartened to see the fulfillment of this vision put to paper through this plan. While it is still but one evaluation metric, every reasonable opportunity to fulfill the promise of the Greenways Vision as outlined in this Conservation Action Plan will be pursued. In ten years time, MMRG hopes to have stitched together a greater proportion of the parcels required to make up our Greenways “quilt”, so that we are as close as possible to truly functional wildlife corridors that also conserve unique habitat, and provide for a climate-resilient environment in our special corner of New Hampshire.
APPENDIX
However, the nature of conservation work truly lies on a landscape scale and it is important to remember our own context as a small, regional land trust within a much larger physical reality. This mapping tool calls strongly on our organization to develop lasting and strategic partnerships with neighboring land trusts and municipalities in service of larger, landscape level goals. This thinking and relationship development must cross borders and unite missions to meet our shared goals for a future of lasting conservation and climate resilience.
Wildlife Habitat 1: Individual Natural Resource Map Wildlife Habitat 2: Individual Natural Resource Map Water Resources 1: Individual Natural Resource Map Water Resources 2: Individual Natural Resource Map Climate Resilience Map 1: Individual Natural Resource Map Climate Resilience Map 2: Individual Natural Resource Map Agriculture 1: Individual Natural Resource Map Agriculture 2: Individual Natural Resource Map Forests 1: Individual Natural Resource Map Forests 2: Individual Natural Resource Map Forests 3: Individual Natural Resource Map Rare Habitats 1: Individual Natural Resource Map Properties 1 & Properties 2: Combined Natural Resource Map Town Specific Data
While Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking specifically of racial and economic injustice, his words in Letter from a Birmingham Jail resonate with the spirit of our work when he wrote, "We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Letter from Birmingham, Alabama Jail, April 16, 1963.