WAKEFIELD, NH—On January 30, Moose Mountains Regional Greenways placed a conservation easement on Gage Hill Farm, a historic 108-acre farmstead in Wakefield, NH. The conservation organization then donated the land to the Town of Wakefield for recreational and educational use by the community.
A private donor made the transaction possible by donating funds to Moose Mountains Regional Greenways, who in turn purchased the property, donated a conservation easement to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF), and then donated the fee ownership to the Town of Wakefield. The goal shared by all the parties involved is to facilitate the protection of land for use by the townspeople for hiking, skiing, nature study and as an outdoor classroom.
Gage Hill Farm is ideally suited to these purposes. The property features an extensive network of woods, roads and continuous forest cover. With numerous vernal pools and a mix of mature white pine and young hardwood forest, the land provides habitat for a variety of wildlife, including moose.
The property has an interesting historical feature: piles of large cut granite blocks, such as might be seen in the foundations of old cellar holes. The mystery is that there is no evidence of structures or quarrying in the vicinity of the piles. Were they on their way to somewhere else, when the snow melted and skidding became impossible? Were they at the intended site of a structure that was never built? The Wakefield Conservation Commission intends to dig into the history to try to answer these questions.
The farm’s frontage on Gage Hill Road, combined with the future intended donation of a conservation easement on the abutting 28 acres of Gage Hill Farm, will create a valuable buffer against development along Gage Hill Road at a point less than 2000 feet from busy NH Route 16.
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests will hold the conservation easement on the land. As the easement holder, the Forest Society agrees to take on the perpetual responsibility of monitoring and enforcing the restrictions of the conservation easement to make sure that the land remains in the natural state that the landowner envisioned.
“This project is an example of how a town and three conservation organizations were able to accomplish more as partners than they could alone,” said Mike Speltz of SPNHF. “Moose Mountains brought their local knowledge and volunteer time, while SPNHF agreed to provide the stewardship for the easement. The Town of Wakefield agreed to manage the land to accomplish the purposes envisioned by the fourth key partner, the private donor.”
“This has been a long time coming,” said Wakefield Conservation Commission Chairwoman Nancy Spencer Smith, who represented the town at the closing and who has been an ardent advocate for the project. “But today, it was all worth it.”
Moose Mountains Regional Greenways is a non-profit organization that works to protect and connect the most special undeveloped lands of Brookfield, Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham and Wakefield, New Hampshire. For more information, contact 603-817-8260.
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