The Wingate Forest
About The Wingate Forest
The Wingate Forest is an active acquisition project located off Meaderboro Road in Farmington, NH. It is approximately 56 acres in size and has over 2,800 feet along both sides of Meaderboro Road. All of the property falls within the Berry River watershed. The Berry River watershed encompasses 8.7 square miles. The property has just over 4,500 feet of frontage along both sides of the Berry River. The Berry River is part of the larger Isinglass River watershed, which has the highest water quality of any of the Great Bay tributaries. The Berry River feeds all three major water reservoirs for the city of Rochester and is identified in both the Rochester and Farmington Master Plans as a key water resource. Protecting the drinking water quality for the City of Rochester is of high importance for MMRG on this project.
The Farmington community and its visitors will also benefit from access to the local conservation area. Once purchased by MMRG, a kiosk and small parking area will be established and the over 1 mile of trail will be opened for passive recreational purposes. This infrastructure will allow for local residents to recreate outdoors as well as to take advantage of MMRGs educational opportunities and events on the property such as forestry walks and ecology workshops. MMRG hopes to deepen its relationship with Farmington residents and association members as we conserve and care for this special space.
Property itself is host to other key natural resource values that make it a great candidate for conservation. Nearly all of the property falls within MMRG’s Conservation Action Plan tier 1 (highest priority) core focus area for conservation. According to the NH Fish and Game Wildlife Action Plan, 98% of the property has high value wildlife habitat. The NHFG Wildlife Connectivity model shows high permeability for wildlife travel and 42.56 acres falls within a prioritized habitat block for conservation. The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping tool shows that almost the entirety of the property is ranked as slightly above average resilience to climate change. The property is adjacent to 2,200 acres of other conserved lands including lands with private conservation easements, land owned by the Blue Hills Foundation and Blue Job State Forest. MMRG also has three other conserved properties nearby that are the Leary Field and Forest, Thompson Family Revocable Trust and Widowmaker Farm.
