Wildwood Wilderness Preserve

Dublin, NH 587 acres Visitor Guidelines Download Map

Wildwood Wilderness Preserve builds on conservation efforts in the Quabbin-to-Cardigan wildlife corridor and the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway. With a history of ecological studies, this site has special value for scientific research.

Wildwood Wilderness Preserve in Dublin, New Hampshire was established in December of 2021 when Rosamond Delori, James Putnam, Thomas Putnam, David Putnam Jr., Frederick Putnam, and Louisa Putnam generously donated 588 acres to Northeast Wilderness Trust. The Harris Center for Conservation Education holds a forever-wild easement on the Preserve.

Embedded within 18,000 acres of connected forest, the Preserve is adjacent to the Mt. Monadnock core conservation focus area. The Wildwood Wilderness Preserve abuts town, state, and privately conserved lands, protecting habitat connections in all four directions and building on long-standing conservation efforts within the Quabbin-to-Cardigan wildlife corridor and along the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway.

Since the 1950s, little to no management has occurred across this land, leaving it in an exceptionally undisturbed natural state. Thus, the forest has rare old forest characteristics that harbor a diversity of wildlife across a broad range of habitats. There are 14 different kinds of wetlands, ten types of upland forest, and numerous vernal pools on the Preserve. A little over two miles of headwater streams, including Mountain Brook and Minnewawa Brook, feed into the Ashuelot River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.

Like all lands owned by Northeast Wilderness Trust, Wildwood Wilderness Preserve is open to the public. A mile and a half of the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway trail, a 50-mile hiking trail linking Mount Sunapee to Grand Monadnock, bisects the property.

This site is unique in its value for scientific research. It has been the study subject of Antioch University graduate students during the 1990s and 2010s. With a robust history of ecological data, which catalogues approximately 600 fungi, 400 plants (including rare sedges and peat moss), and 100 invertebrates along with 74 birds, 33 mammals, and 18 reptiles and amphibians, Wildwood Wilderness Preserve offers a rare foundation of data from which to build future studies on wilderness and old forests.

Photography by Shelby Perry; Raccoon tracks by Joe Falconeiri.

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Visitor Guidelines

Wildwood Wilderness Preserve is open to the public for quiet exploration and enjoyment. Please respect the plants and animals who live here, show consideration to wildlife, other visitors, and neighboring landowners, know and obey the law, and leave the natural environment as you found it. Enjoy your visit and respect the following guidelines while on the land:

Welcomed Activities

Walking, hiking, snowshoeing & cross-country skiing
Photography, wildlife observation & nature study
Swimming, fishing, paddling & non-motorized boating
Dogs under voice or leash control
Hunting on the Preserve requires a permit, available at newildernesstrust.org/hunting

Prohibited Activities

Motorized vehicles (ATVs, dirt bikes, 4x4s, snowmobiles, or other motorized or mechanized vehicles)
Bicycles
Horses or pack animals
Camping, fires & fireworks
Loud music or radios
Trapping, hounding, or predator hunting
Cutting or damaging plants or trees
New trails or unauthorized trail maintenance
Launching & landing drones

Click here to read NEWT Preserve & Sanctuary Visitation Guidelines

Wildwood Wilderness Preserve

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