FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Amanda Nickerson, Communications Specialist
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
(603) 224-9945, ext. 301

Mulligan Forest Project Awarded LCHIP Grant

Concord, N.H., May 11, 2006—On May 8th, the Board of Directors of the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) awarded a $295,000 grant to the Forest Society’s Mulligan Forest project in Nottingham. The award was the largest of the five grants made by LCHIP out of $750,000 it had available.

Located in the heart of Nottingham, the 2,036-acre Mulligan Forest property is the largest unprotected privately owned woodland in Rockingham County. The Town is working with the Forest Society to purchase a conservation easement over the entire property that would permanently protect the land from development, preserve its water resources, and guarantee public pedestrian access.

The Mulligan Forest project was one of eleven projects invited to submit a full proposal to LCHIP, out of 288 projects that had submitted preliminary information to the program. In addition to the $295,000 grant for Mulligan Forest, LCHIP awarded a $250,000 grant to the Robb Reservoir conservation project in Stoddard, and made three smaller historic preservation grants for projects in Exeter, Lempster and New Durham.

"We are thrilled and grateful to the LCHIP Board for its decision to fund the Mulligan Forest project. LCHIP’s support confirms the statewide importance of permanently protecting Mulligan Forest, and will be a huge boost for the private fundraising that will still be necessary to complete the project," said Tom Howe, the Society’s Director of Land Protection.

The LCHIP grant augments $850,000 in town funds overwhelmingly approved by Nottingham voters in March. The bond was approved by 96% of the voters, a new record for a town vote on conservation funding in New Hampshire. The project has also been made possible by the strong support of the regional land trust, Bear Paw Regional Greenways.

With town and LCHIP funding in place, the Forest Society enters the final phase of its fundraising for the Mulligan Forest project: raising approximately $280,000 in private donations. The Society hopes to raise remaining private funding by the end of 2006, and complete the easement purchase in early 2007.

For details on other LCHIP grants awarded, view the LCHIP press release. (Link no longer works.)

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. In order to preserve the quality of life New Hampshire residents know today, the goal of the Forest Society, in partnership with other conservation organizations, private landowners, and government, is to conserve an additional one million acres of the state’s most significant natural lands for trails, parks, farms and forests by 2026.

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