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REWILDING, NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire Couple Protects 74 Acres

This December, CC and David White protected 74 acres in Sandwich, New Hampshire as wilderness with a generous donation of a conservation easement to Northeast Wilderness Trust. Thank you, David and CC, for making a gift that will live on for generations to come.

The couple has long been friends of the wild. David served on the board of Lakes Region Conservation Trust and CC served on the Northeast Wilderness Trust board. They are volunteer monitors for NEWT-protected lands in Central New Hampshire and are valued members of our Forever-Wild Circle of monthly donors.

The new Heath Brook Forest conservation easement will safeguard this land as forever-wild, meaning the forest will never be logged but will rather grow old and complex. Its purpose will be first and foremost as a home to wild beings, from the smallest spring peeper to the largest black bear. The Wilderness Trust easement on this land protects a forest that was last harvested 50 years ago and is regenerating well, along with highly important wetland habitat. Pictured here is Heath Brook, which runs through the land, and a stunning Red Maple-Sphagnum Moss wetland nearby.

Not only does the new easement conserve 74 wooded acres—it also links protected habitat together within a wildlife corridor of recognized importance. This corridor ties the Ossipee Mountains to the Sandwich Range with forested lowlands in between. Not only does the Heath Brook Forest lie within this corridor, it connects two NEWT easements to each other which were previously separate. This geographic joining of protected lands helps build back larger blocks of forest and stave off forest fragmentation. The two NEWT-protected properties that Heath Brook Forest abuts and connects are the Alice Bemis Thompson Wildlife Sanctuary and the Homestead forever-wild easement.

Photography: David & CC White by Bob Linck; Heath Brook conservation lands by Shelby Perry