December 2019 - The Piscataquog Land Conservancy’s effort to purchase 274 acres of forest, streams and wetlands in Mason has received a big holiday boost from two state grant programs. In late November, PLC was awarded a $300,000 grant towards the land acquisition we are calling the Nissitissit River Headwaters project from the Aquatic Resources Mitigation (ARM) fund. On December 4th, PLC was awarded a $200,000 grant for the project from the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP). We had applied to both grant programs this past summer after securing a purchase agreement with the land’s current owner.
The Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund’s coordinator Lori Sommer says “ARM is thrilled to provide funding to protect this outstanding property, which contains extensive high-quality wetlands, headwaters streams, and exemplary wildlife habitat.” Administered by the N.H. Department of Environmental Services, the ARM Fund focuses on the conservation and restoration of wetlands and other aquatic resources. Its funding comes from mitigation payments made by building or transportation projects that impact wetlands.
The land PLC hopes to buy is located in northeast corner of Mason off Abbott Hill Road. When it came on the market earlier this year, a conservation-minded interim buyer stepped in to quickly purchase the land before it could be bought for development. If PLC’s fundraising effort to purchase the land is unsuccessful the interim owner will have to place the parcel back on the market.
The property is a top priority for Mason’s conservation commission. It directly abuts the Town’s Spaulding Brook Conservation Area and Doonan property, and builds on the larger protection effort in the area which has to date protected over 1,700 acres of land in Mason and Milford. The project would also expand conservation to the north and west towards another 1,800 acres of nearby protected land centered on Russell-Abbott State Forest in Wilton.
LCHIP Executive Director Dijit Taylor says “LCHIP is pleased to be able to assist with the Nissitissit Headwaters project. Partnerships like this between a strong regional land trust and a local conservation commission build on the strengths of each group, and lead to careful project selection and effective long term conservation of important parcels. The LCHIP team enjoyed seeing the pond, dam, ledge, wetlands and recreational opportunities during a summer visit to the site.“
Protecting the land would help complete a decades-long effort to protect the headwaters of the Nissitissit River. The Nissitissit is a main tributary of the Nashua River that flows through Brookline and Hollis, and was given National Wild and Scenic River status in 2018. The Piscataquog Land Conservancy has previously worked with the Town of Brookline to conserve key parcels along the river’s mainstem.
PLC’s President Chris Wells says “beginning with grassroots efforts to clean up the Nashua River in the late 1960s, local conservationists have been working for more than 50 years restore the Nashua river and preserve the wildness of its upper reaches. The Nissitissit Headwaters project is the latest chapter in this story, and we are proud to be part of it.”
PLC has until the end of June 2020 to raise $650,000 and close the purchase. With the two recently announced state grants, plus grants already awarded to the project from the Merrimack Conservation Partnership and the state’s Conservation License Plate grants program, we have already raised $539,000 toward the purchase. PLC hopes to raise the balance of funding for the project from the Town of Mason’s conservation fund, private grants and local fundraising.
