Community Conservation Assistance Program
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UNH Cooperative Extension provides assistance to New Hampshire communities and conservation groups with land and water conservation planning projects through its Community Conservation Assistance program. A limited number of communities are assisted each year. A team of Extension Educators provides direct assistance to selected projects at no cost to the communities.
Projects typically include a team of community volunteers. Extension assistance includes:
- Helping establish goals and priorities.
- Guidance formulating project work plans
- Training needed by volunteers to complete specific project tasks.
- Addressing issues in specialized areas, e.g. wildlife habitat, wetlands, etc..
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Types of Conservation Assistance:
- Natural Resources Inventories, including using geographic information systems
(GIS)
- Natural Resource Inventories Slide Show
- Identifying and prioritizing resources for protection
- Outreach and Education Planning for land and water conservation projects.
- Creating and implementing a conservation plan for protection of land and
natural resources.
- Conservation Planning Slide Show
- Assessing wildlife habitat.
- Significant Wildlife Habitats Inventory Slide Show
- Study and/or conservation of water resources and wetlands.
How to Apply for Assistance
Communities and conservation groups apply by submitting an application describing the project and the type of assistance needed. Click here for the application form.
Project selection criteria
- Available Extension staff time.
- Number of people involved and their level of commitment
- Collaboration among municipalities or private conservation groups.
- Documentation (e.g. master plan recommendations, Community Profile outcomes) that supports the project.
- Degree of public support.
- Conservation values to be protected
- Degree to which the assistance can benefit the project.
Successful applicants must commit to:
- Setting project goals, objectives and time frame (a project plan);
- Establishing a project team (volunteers), project leadership and identifying responsibilities; and
- Communicating regularly with UNH Cooperative Extension staff
Amanda Stone, Community Conservation Coordinator
UNH Cooperative Extension
36 County Drive
Laconia, NH 03246-2900
Tel: 364-5324
Fax: 364-2456
E-mail: Amanda Stone
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Programs with Partner Organizations
Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC)
The Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC) is a collaboration among 10 state, private non-profit, local, and regional organizations. NROC assists coastal watershed communities use a natural resource-based planning approach to managing growth pressures.
NROC offers a customized educational presentation, Dealing with Growth, for municipal board members, staff and interested citizens. Dealing with Growth reviews the current status of a community's natural resources and potential impacts of growth, and introduces various techniques for managing them. The natural resource-based planning approach focuses on conserving natural resources, and minimizing the effects of growth.
The presentation is followed with a series of community meetings to focus on natural resource protection goals and the actions needed to accomplish them. NROC provides sustained technical assistance to help communities and conservation groups meet their identified goals.
Contact: Amanda Stone, NROC Coordinator, UNH Cooperative Extension,
(603) 364-5324
Partners: NH Estuaries Project, NH Coastal Program, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Regional Planning Commissions, Center for Land Conservation Assistance, NH Dept of Environmental Services, UNH Seagrant, NH Office of Energy and Planning, and the National NEMO Network.
Center for Land Conservation Assistance
The Center for Land Conservation Assistance (CLCA) is a New Hampshire non-profit organization that seeks to raise the level of professionalism in land conservation transactions and stewardship among all land conservation groups in the state. The CLCA also strives to ensure that land conservation and stewardship needs are met competently and professionally in all areas of the state. The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension is a principal partner with the CLCA in its educational programs.
The CLCA serves as a statewide resource and network for land conservation information, and focuses on two primary audiences, land trusts and municipalities, and encourages the two to work cooperatively (click here to see a map of land trusts in New Hampshire). The CLCA provides information and services in three basic areas: education and information, transaction assistance and land and easement stewardship.
Contact: Dijit Taylor , CLCA Director, (603) 717-7045
Partners: Center for Land Conservation Assistance
UNH Senior Projects Course
The Community Environmental Outreach Program matches UNH Natural Resources Department student teams with community requests for assistance with environmental projects. Projects have included basic natural resource inventories, watershed studies, wetlands evaluations, education program development and water quality monitoring. Communities receive low-cost, skilled assistance, while students develop and practice their skills in a "real world" environment.
Contact: Paul Johnson, UNH Natural Resources Department, (603)862-1020
Partners: UNH Natural Resources Department
Non-Point Source Pollution Prevention, Connecticut River Watershed
The goal of this program is to protect water resources in the Connecticut River Watershed through workshops, demonstrations, field days, informational news releases and mailings. Programs and activities inform home/landowners and municipal officials about potential non-point pollution sources to enable them to adequately identify, inventory, and protect their water and other natural resources. Workshops also offer up-to-date information on state regulations and programs including the Shoreland Protection Act, Wellhead Protection Program, and Source Protection Program.
Contact: Ginny DiFrancesco, UNH Cooperative Extension, Grafton County, (603)787-6944
Partners: NH Fish & Game Dept., Natural Resource Conservation Service, Grafton County Conservation District, U.S. Geological Survey, Lake Associations
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Workshops and Trainings
(This will list all the CCA workshops and trainings on offer)
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Previous Participants
(this will include a list of all towns who have participated in CCA to date, and a brief description of the projects they received assistance with)
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Fact Sheets and Publications
- Buffers for Wetlands & Surface Waters - A Guide for NH Municipalities
- Natural Resources Inventory Guide
Links
- Audubon Society of New Hampshire
- Center for Integrative Regional Problem Solving
- Central NH Regional Planning Commission
- Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
- Lakes Region Planning Commission
- Land Trust Alliance
- Minimum Impact Development Partnership
- Nashua Regional Planning Commission
- NH Coastal Program
- NH Department of Environmental Services
- NH Division of Forests & Lands
- NH Estuaries project
- NH Fish & Game Department
- NH GRANIT statewide GIS
- NH Office of Energy and Planning
- North Country Council
- Rockingham Planning Commission
- Society for the Protection of NH Forests
- Southern NH Planning Commission
- Southwest Regional Planning Commission
- Strafford Regional Planning Commission
- The Nature Conservancy
- Upper Valley-Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission
