The Society For The Protection of N.H. Forests is taking the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to task for the latter's partnership with Northern Pass that the Society says threatens to violate the conservation restrictions for the Washburn Family Forest.
In 2008, NFWF provided $500,000 for the $2.55 million purchase of the 2,100-acre Clarksville property through an agreement to permanently conserve it.
During a meeting to announce the Northern Pass-NFWF partnership on March 26, David O'Neill, vice-president of conservation programs for NFWF, said, "We worked with Eversource [parent company of Northern Pass] to make sure their interests and our conservation interests are aligned."
The Forest Society, however, argues the segment of Northern Pass transmission line to run through the Washburn Family Forest would violate those conservation interests by giving the green light to a commercial development project.
Northern Pass proposes 187 miles of transmission line, about 7½ miles of which would be buried along roads in Coos County, including about 500 feet buried through the Washburn Family Forest. The Forest Society is among groups of opponents in New Hampshire opposed to the controversial hydroelectric transmission line that, in its current form, would include 180 miles of overhead lines and steel towers.
Of the Washburn Family Forest, N.H. Forest Society spokesman Jack Savage, on Friday, said the Forest Society owns the Washburn Family Forest land in fee, including both sides of the road and half of the river.
"We don't intend to let them dig in the dirt," Savage said of Northern Pass. "Without eminent domain, we don't see where they have any legal means to acquire permission to thrust through our conserved property in the manner they are proposing. Given that they have suggested they have legal means, which is a bit of a head scratcher, we have to anticipate a legal battle."
In a March 31 letter to NFWF Director Jeff Trandahl, Forest Society Vice-President Susanne Kibler-Hacker said, "Through this partnership, NFWF is supporting a corporate interest that is proposing to violate the conservation restrictions on a property protected with NFWF funding ... Through our grant agreement, we agreed that this property would be permanently conserved."
Kibler-Hacker wrote, "We have been vigorously defending the property against this encroachment since Northern Pass announced its proposed route in 2010. Northern Pass has put NFWF in an awkward position by engaging NFWF as a supporter of a proposed commercial development that would violate the very same conservation restrictions our grant agreement with NFWF requires us to uphold."
Kibler-Hacker said the Forest Society is currently accepting donations for the Trees Not Towers defense fund to ensure it has the resources to defend the conservation restrictions on the family forest, and she asked NFWF for support.
In a response letter, NFWF Executive Director Jeff Trandahl wrote he does "not completely agree with the representations you have made, but I want to assure you that we remain committed to supporting the on-the-ground conservation efforts in New Hampshire ..."
Per the Society's request for funding, Trandahl wrote, "Please be advised that NFWF does not fund advocacy, litigation and lobbying requests and, thus, your request is inappropriate."
Savage said, "Given that NFWF was a stakeholder in that conservation project, we're reaching out to them to inquire about their interests in supporting the defense of the land they helped conserve. What's interesting is they've chosen to interpret that action as advocacy when, in fact, it's not advocacy but stewardship."
In March, Eversource and NFWF announced a new conservation program called Partners for N.H.'s Fish and Wildlife, dedicated to restoring and sustaining healthy rivers and forests in New Hampshire.
Eversource, through its Northern Pass subsidiary, said it will give $3 million during the next two years to the partnership.
Critics of the partnership say Northern Pass is trying to buy support for the overhead transmission line they argue can be buried with existing technology.
On Friday, NFWF spokesman Rob Blumenthal declined to answer how NFWF came to partner with Northern Pass and if Northern Pass approached NFWF for the partnership.
Northern Pass spokesman Martin Murray was also contacted Friday and asked if Northern Pass approached NFWF for the partnership, but did not respond to an email and voicemail.