Snow Family Conservation Easement

Learn more about Snow Family Conservation Easement -- For more than 20 years, Stephen Snow has managed his 325 acres of working forest with an eye towards its economic and ecologic enhancement and also created meadow habitat for wildlife. When he bought the land, it had mostly been clear cut but his creative and calculated timber-stand management techniques have produced a productive forest. While it takes time to improve the forest, the Timber Management Plan includes thinning unwanted trees and nurturing red oaks, valuable trees for veneer.

The value of Stephen’s conservation easement extends well beyond the boundaries of his land. The property lies next to 360 acres of conserved parcels and close to Ellis Hatch Wildlife Management Area and Moose Mountains Reservation, contributing to a growing greenway used by wildlife in search of food and shelter, to escape disease or other threats, to ensure genetic diversity and adapt to the changing climate. Snow’s land also provides critical lake watershed protection for both Lake Wentworth and Kingswood Lake. The conservation easement ensures that future forestry practices will continue to safeguard both intermittent and perennial streams and the riparian buffers that preserve the water quality of both lakes.

The project was funded with an LCHIP grant, a NH State Conservation Committee Moose Plate grant, as well as over 80 private donors who generously contributed to the Snow Family Conservation Easement project. Other protected properties to the north comprise about 400 acres, bringing the protected land in this corridor to over 700 acres.