• Home
  • How We Work
  • Where We Work
  • News Room
  • About Us
  • My Nature Page

The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

None


The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire Press Releases
Search All Press Releases

Eric Aldrich
603-224-5853, ext. 26
E-mail: ealdrich@tnc.org

LCHIP Grant Helps Nature Conservancy Protect the Ossipee Pine Barrens

$300,000 from revitalized Land and Community Heritage Investment Program boosts forest conservation and groundwater protection.

MADISON, N.H. — Nov. 13, 2007 — One of several grants recently award by the N.H. Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) will help The Nature Conservancy protect one of New Hampshire’s most endangered forest types, the Ossipee Pine Barrens.

The LCHIP board has awarded $300,000 to the Conservancy for its campaign to protect 719 acres of forest in the Ossipee Pine Barrens. The lands are in Madison, Freedom and Ossipee.

 

Scrub Oak Leaf in the Ossipee Pine Barrens

Scrub oak explodes with fall color in the Ossipee Pine Barrens. Learn the latest on the Conservancy's efforts to protect the Ossipee Pine Barrens. Check out the Pitch Pine Update 2.
Photo © Daryl Burtnett / TNC

“We are extremely grateful and honored that our Ossipee Pine Barrens project is among the many outstanding projects to be given a significant boost by LCHIP,” said Daryl Burtnett, state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire. “Conserving the Ossipee Pine Barrens is not only protecting a globally rare forest type, it’s safeguarding a critical source of groundwater for several communities in the Mount Washington Valley.”

“The Ossipee Pine Barrens is truly a unique ecosystem,” said Craig Welch, chair of the LCHIP board of directors. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to support the preservation of a resource that is significant from a local, state, and even global perspective.”

The Ossipee Pine Barrens is recognized as a top priority “conservation focus area” and “highest quality habitat” in the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department's recently completed Wildlife Action Plan.

It is formally designated by New Hampshire Audubon as one of the state's Important Bird Areas. The habitat harbors declining songbirds (such as whip-poor-will, Eastern towhee, brown thrasher, and nighthawk) and 17 rare moth and butterfly species.

Largely flat and sandy, the habitat is highly vulnerable to residential and commercial development. The Conservancy has been conserving land here since 1988, but had to respond quickly during the last two years when a number of the most ecologically significant tracts were listed for sale. Recognizing the irreplaceable natural resources at stake and the immediate opportunities for conservation, the Conservancy last year ramped up its protection efforts and applied for $2.38 million under the federal Forest Legacy Program. The Conservancy’s Forest Legacy proposal for the Ossipee Pine Barrens ranked No. 2 nationally out of 80 total, and is included in the president’s budget request to congress.

If the Forest Legacy funds are approved – and other grants and pledges come through – the Conservancy will have $20,000 left to raise for the campaign to protect the Ossipee Pine Barrens.

###

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.  To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 14 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 83 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Since 1961 The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire has helped protect more than 265,000 acres of ecologically significant land and currently owns and manages 28 preserves across the state. For more information, visit www.nature.org/newhampshire.