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| New Hampshire Land Trust | |
|---|---|
| Name | New Hampshire Land Trust |
| Formation | 1983 |
| Type | Nonprofit land trust |
| Headquarters | Concord, New Hampshire |
| Region served | New Hampshire |
| Leader title | Executive Director |
New Hampshire Land Trust The New Hampshire Land Trust is a statewide nonprofit conservation organization focused on protecting landscapes, water resources, and wildlife habitat across New Hampshire. Founded in the early 1980s, it operates alongside regional and national conservation organizations to conserve farmland, forests, and shorelines. The organization works through easements, fee acquisitions, scientific assessment, and community partnerships to advance land protection in the Granite State.
The organization was founded amid rising conservation activity in the late 20th century that included contemporaries such as The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Appalachian Mountain Club, and state-focused groups like Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Early campaigns intersected with land use debates involving municipalities like Concord, New Hampshire and Manchester, New Hampshire and issues tied to rivers such as the Merrimack River and Connecticut River. Founding years saw collaboration with federal programs under the Land and Water Conservation Fund and state entities including the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. Influential conservation figures from New England and national leaders—linked to organizations like the Trust for Public Land and the Conservation Fund—shaped initial strategies. Over successive decades, the trust’s work paralleled regional movements addressing suburbanization, agricultural preservation related to Dartmouth College research, and habitat protection noted in reports by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission.
The trust’s mission echoes principles advanced by entities such as IUCN, Land Trust Alliance, National Park Service, and academic centers at University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College. The board governance structure includes representatives with expertise from institutions like Saint Anselm College, Keene State College, Northeastern University, and legal counsel familiar with statutes such as the Uniform Conservation Easement Act. Executive leadership often liaises with state commissioners from the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and municipal conservation commissions across towns like Conway, New Hampshire and Peterborough, New Hampshire. The organization maintains policies consistent with accreditation standards promulgated by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission and best practices endorsed by conservation funders such as the Kresge Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Programs include conservation easements, fee-simple acquisitions, agricultural preservation, and riparian buffer projects comparable to initiatives run by Rhode Island Land Trust Council and regional partners like the Mahoosuc Land Trust. Priority landscapes have included portions of the White Mountain National Forest, headwaters of the Pemigewasset River, and coastal parcels on the Great Bay estuary. Projects coordinate with federal conservation tools like the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and state bond-funded programs such as the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program. The trust also implements farmland protection aligned with research from the Northeast Organic Farming Association and watershed-based efforts consistent with the EPA’s regional planning.
Science-driven strategies draw on work from universities and agencies including Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine’s environmental health units, the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, and habitat assessments used by the U.S. Geological Survey and New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau. Conservation planning utilizes datasets and tools developed by the NatureServe, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, and landscape connectivity models cited by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Management actions address species of concern listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and regional bird conservation plans produced with the Partners in Flight coalition and Audubon Society of New Hampshire. Climate adaptation work references projections from the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center and integrates best practices from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for coastal resilience.
Partnerships span local land trusts such as the Monadnock Conservancy, Seacoast Land Trust, Kearsarge Regional Conservation Trust, and national partners including the Land Trust Alliance and Trust for Public Land. The organization engages municipal conservation commissions, county cooperative extension offices, and regional planning commissions like the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission. Community programs coordinate with schools and nonprofits including Plymouth State University, Keene State College, New Hampshire Audubon, and volunteer networks tied to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and regional chapters of The Nature Conservancy. Outreach includes stewardship workdays, volunteer events with groups such as AmeriCorps, and collaborative planning with tribal nations and regional stakeholders like the Penacook-Abenaki communities.
Funding sources include private philanthropy from family foundations similar to the Gund Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation model donors, state grants from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, federal programs like the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and municipal contributions. Capital campaigns have mirrored strategies used by organizations such as the Trust for Public Land and Conservation Law Foundation, combining major gifts, planned giving, membership donations, and grants from national funders including the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities when cultural landscapes are involved. The trust also competes for project-specific funding through partnerships with entities like New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
Notable projects include protection efforts in the White Mountains, conservation of river corridors along the Merrimack River and Connecticut River, coastal work in the Seacoast Region near Great Bay and Isles of Shoals, and farmland preservation in the Monadnock Region. High-profile collaborations involved land adjunct to the Appalachian Trail, parcels contributing to the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway, and shoreline projects affecting estuaries linked to the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Other significant efforts paralleled conservation outcomes on landscapes important to institutions such as Dartmouth College and regional parks like Pawtuckaway State Park.
Category:Conservation organizations based in the United States Category:Environmental organizations based in New Hampshire