Following on the heels of the 3,700-acre Mahoosuc Highlands Project in Shelburne, the Forest Society now seeks to acquire 730 acres of forestland in Berlin.
This project builds on a legacy of conservation in the Upper Androscoggin River Valley and will accomplish working forest conservation, public recreational access, watershed protection, and enhanced conservation connectivity — all within the city limits of Berlin.
Accessed from the Cascade neighborhood on the Berlin and Gorham town line, this property rises up an easterly-facing hillside toward Sugar Mountain and Jericho Mountain, surrounding stretches of Tinker Brook and other perennial streams. Managed as a woodlot for decades, the property is a mixed northern hardwood conifer forest with a 30-acre peatland and wet meadow at higher elevations. The wetlands offer habitat for wildlife as diverse as moose, white-tailed deer, black bear, beaver, snowshoe hare, ruffed grouse, songbirds, and spotted salamanders.
Existing woods roads offer access by foot from the Cascade neighborhood, and it is presently used lightly by dog walkers, hikers, and snowmobilers. Snowmobile Corridor #19 follows 1.75 miles of woods roads across the property, linking the Gorham Town Forest with Jericho Mountain State Park.
This property forms a bridge between the population center of Berlin on its east side and more than 100,000 acres of contiguous conserved forestland to the south, west, and north that has been protected as community forests in Randolph and Gorham, state parks and the White Mountain National Forest. Now, Berlin will also benefit from conserved lands, open for passive public recreation, in close proximity to the city.
For the Forest Society, this project strikes a desired balance: conserving 730 acres of Northern New Hampshire’s wood basket near mills and transportation; providing public recreational access from local neighborhoods; linking and expanding large blocks of conserved forestland; and protecting streams like Tinker Brook that drain to the Androscoggin.
To acquire the property, the Forest Society must raise a total of $675,000, the majority of which is likely to be funded through grant programs. To demonstrate a broad base of support that will help secure those grants, we hope you will consider a gift to this project today. Our goal is to raise $50,000 from individual donors by June 30, which will support land acquisition, associated costs, and a long-term stewardship endowment for care and maintenance in perpetuity.
Please join us to conserve 730 acres of forestland in Berlin today!
