- Tags:
- Land Conservation,
- Clean Water,
- Wildlife
The Wells family gathered for a photo on their land.
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is pleased to announce the permanent conservation of 455 acres in Hopkinton and Henniker.
Bob and Binney Wells, Hopkinton residents since 1971, have long been interested in land conservation. In 1984, they donated a conservation easement to the Forest Society that protected 119 acres in Hopkinton/Henniker. But that was just the beginning.
"Bob grew up on a 2,000-acre farm in Missouri that his family has overseen since the 1800s. He has always been passionate about being a steward of the land,” states Binney Wells. “And I was inspired by my grandmother, Helen Binney Kitchel, who, when she was a young woman, bought 500 acres of forestland in Northwestern Connecticut and donated it, along with an additional 500 acres to the State of CT to be preserved to be as wildland within the Algonquin State Forest, and my father, Allan F. Kitchel, Jr., in the 1960’s produced films about land conservation and stewardship.
"I think that it’s by introducing people, and children specifically, to the natural world that you create caring for the landscape around us. We are so happy that we instilled these values in our children and that they and their spouses and their children (our grandchildren) are conserving this wonderful land."
Together, the Wells Family – Bob and Binney, their children Ted Wells and Hylah Wells Patton and their spouses, Anna and Chris, and grandchildren, Binney, Will, Coley and Thea – recently donated a conservation easement on an additional 455 acres in Hopkinton and Henniker. These lands, a mix of open fields, forest, wetlands and a beaver pond, link with a large landscape of natural areas that span from the Hopkinton-Everett Flood Control lands to the Stumpfield-Mudgett Recreation Area.
"We're honoring the legacy that Bob and Binney started here 50 years ago,” states daughter-in-law Anna Wells. “They've shaped these hundreds of acres that we're on right now over those 50 years. That's a huge legacy that will now go on in perpetuity."
"Land conservation is critical, not just for enjoying outdoor recreation, but in preventing massive loss of biodiversity in the age of climate change,” adds son Ted Wells.
“These large tracts of conserved land are critically important for our future" according to their daughter, Hylah Wells Patton. In addition, she states” Conservation has been part of our family values my whole life. I am very excited about this gift to the Forest Society which perpetuates what is important not only to me, but to my husband, Chris, and our children. Mom and dad have been discussing making this gift for a long time. Happily, it has now happened.”
The 455 acres brings the block of protected land in this area to nearly 10,000 acres, including easements on the French land and the Federal land (Army Corps of Engineers). Most of the land is situated within the Contoocook River Watershed and the southernmost parcel is within the Merrimack River Watershed. It includes hemlock-hardwood-pine forest and Appalachian oak-pine forest, open grasslands, wet meadow and shrub wetlands, and unique rocky ridge habitat. Large blocks of diverse habitat are essential for a variety of native wildlife species that are increasingly threatened due to climate change and habitat loss.
“I’d like to thank the Wells family for their generosity and for continuing a conservation tradition begun more than 50 years ago,” states Jack Savage, president of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. “With the conservation easement in place, the land will remain undeveloped in an area of continuing pressure for growth, forever benefiting both nature and people.”
A conservation easement places permanent restrictions on privately-owned land that prohibits subdivision and development and ensures that the conservation values are sustained into the future. The Forest Society will be legally responsible for upholding the terms of the easement in perpetuity.
"We've always felt the Forest Society was an extremely responsible organization. There's a balance between how property is managed and used for recreation as well as for silviculture that we really appreciate," states Bob Wells. Wells has been involved with the Forest Society for more than 50 years as a prominent attorney involved with numerous conservation projects, as well as serving on the Forest Society’s Board of Directors and Land Protection Committee.
In recognition of the watershed conservation values of this land, a portion of this project’s transaction expenses were funded by the Merrimack Conservation Partnership.