A Busy Close to 2017

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Rail Trail of the Nissitissit Project

In a flurry of December project closings, PLC added three more properties to our growing network of conservation lands.  On December 19th, our long-time partners the Francestown Land Trust (FLT) conveyed a conservation easement to PLC on a small but strategic parcel located at the confluence of the South Branch of the Piscataquog River and Brennan Brook in Francestown.  FLT had purchased the 7.5 acre property earlier in 2017, and the PLC easement   reinforces its permanent protection.  The parcel is part of larger 42-acre project led by FLT, and is a key piece of the larger mosaic of conserved land in the area.

On December 21st, PLC and the Town of Brookline completed the second phase of our joint conservation project along the Nissitissit River.  The Town of Brookline conveyed a conservation easement to PLC on five tracts totaling 14 acres, several of which were gifted to town by the Nissitissit River Land Trust and Beaver Brook Association.  The land protects another third of a mile of frontage on the river, and nearly a mile of a popular rail trail.  The town is planning a new universally-accessible river walk and fishing pier on part of the property.  Brookline and PLC had previously protected two properties totaling 75 acres along the Nissitissit in June 2017.

In our last closing of the year, on December 29th PLC completed our purchase of a 41-acre property in Lyndeborough from the Proctor Trust.  The land is located next to PLC’s Rice Preserve, and features dramatic glacial eskers and a stretch of brook that supports an exemplary native trout population.  PLC hopes to purchase another nearby tract of 71 acres from the Proctors in the spring of 2018. 

PLC will be leading a wildlife tracking walk at the Rice Preserve and the newly-acquired Proctor property March 10th