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FRPP and Partnership Preserve New Hampshire Ag Land
This area of Shackford Point, looking up the
Lamprey River, will be protected as part of a $3.65 million land purchase.
Courtesy photo. |
NEWMARKET - Preserving the integrity of Newmarket, New Hampshire, for future
generations is a primary goal of town officials, who last week secured the
preservation of 86 acres of land by The Nature
Conservancy.
Now protected under this agreement are 34.9 acres at Shackford Point, 23.5 acres
along the Lamprey River
and an additional conservation easement along 27.3 acres of what many residents
know as Sawyer Farm.
"The Seacoast is one of the fastest-growing areas in New Hampshire," said Eric
Aldrich, director of communications of The Nature Conservancy. "The conservation
we do now will define what the area looks like in the future."
The $3.65 million purchase by the Nature Conservancy, funded through a grant
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, was conducted through the
Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. Ownership eventually will be
transferred to the New Hampshire Fish
and Game Department.
The Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership was established in 1994 to protect
the critical habitats around Great Bay. In addition to The Nature Conservancy
and N.H. Fish and Game, other agencies involved in the transaction were the
Audubon Society of New Hampshire,
Ducks Unlimited,
Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve,
Natural Resources Conservation Service,
Society for
the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
The effort to obtain the land was a 10-year project for the partnership,
according to Aldrich.
"This land was on our radar right away, emerging as one of our priorities back
in ’94. We wanted to be able to protect the area from development and protect
the land around the Great Bay," he said.
For some longtime Newmarket residents, the history of the land conjures up fond
memories. For example, Zoning Board of Adjustment member Richard Shelton grew up
with Warren Sawyer Jr.
"I remember the land - it is nice, with high, rolling hills. He (Sawyer) was a
gentleman farmer, raised sheep and chickens, but he never really worked the
farm."
In the past, Shackford Point was used as a perch site for nesting bald eagles.
In addition, other wildlife and fowl could be helped with this effort, such as
Canadian geese and American black ducks.
Deer also have been affected by development in recent years, a trend that
Conservation Commission chairman Wilfred Hamel said he hopes to reverse.
"We’re trying to attach land to form some type of corridor that’s protected," he
said. So far, the town has about 300 acres of open space that’s preserved in
three areas that are somewhat attached.
While the preservation of Shackford Point may not seem like much compared with
other properties held by the conservancy - one as large as 10,000 acres in
Stratford - it is the largest in the Great Bay area. In addition, the
conservancy also supports Lubberland Creek Preserve on the Newmarket/Durham town
line.
Story by Lisa Tetrault-Zhe, Seacoast
Online.
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