NH DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME PLANS TO GRANT
$150,000 TO HELP THE FOREST SOCIETY CONSERVE BLACK MOUNTAIN
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is pleased to announce that the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game is working with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to obligate $150,000 of Wildlife Restoration Funds to the Forest Society’s Black Mountain campaign. This contribution will come from US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Pittman-Robertson Act funds. The NH Department of Fish and Game will hold a conservation easement on the land.
“We are so close to reaching our goal,” said Forest Society President/Forester Jane Difley. “This grant from Fish and Game is just the boost we need.”
“Fish and Game is pleased to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to bring funding from the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Program to the Black Mountain Forest project,” said Charlie Bridges, habitat/wildlife diversity programs administrator at the NH Department of Fish and Game. “The project will protect a large section of Mount Kearsarge, a defining landscape feature in central NH, and conserve significant fish and wildlife habitat resources for all the state’s citizens.”
The Forest Society has been working to conserve the 1,025-acre property located next to Mount Kearsarge in Sutton and Warner. If the organization is successful, the land’s conservation will add to the protected landscape surrounding Mount Kearsarge State Park, a popular hiking destination. The Forest Society plans to manage the land as one of its reservations to ensure that it will remain open to the public for hiking, hunting, fishing, and other recreational pursuits.
Just two years ago, this land on the shoulder of Mount Kearsarge was advertised as a promising site for a residential subdivision.
The Forest Society must raise $1.2 million to conserve the property.
“We are so grateful to all the many individuals and businesses that have contributed to the Black Mountain conservation campaign so far,” said Difley. “Thanks to them, if the Fish and Game funds come through, we will be just $14,000 away from ensuring that this land remains intact.”
The Forest Society has extended its December 15 deadline through the end of the year.
For more information about Black Mountain or to support the project, visit forestsociety.org/blackmountain, email skh@forestsociety.org, call 603-224-9945, or look for “Black Mountain, NH” on Facebook.
Founded in 1901, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. Supported by 10,000 families and businesses, the Forest Society’s mission is to perpetuate the state’s forests by promoting land conservation and sustainable forestry. For more information, visit www.forestsociety.org.