Landowner Collaborative Encourages Looking Beyond Stone Walls

Cooperation is a good thing, and a group of landowners in Northwood, New Hampshire is putting this concept into practice to positively impact their woods and the community.

The Northwood Area Land Management Cooperative (NALMC) was founded in 2006 by Jim Oehler of NH Fish and Game, Matt Tarr of UNH Cooperative Extension and landowner Carl Wallman in an effort to explore the possibilities of abutting neighbors “looking beyond our stone walls” before making management decisions that would effect the entire ecosystem. “Our goal is to work together across property boundaries to maintain and enhance the resources of the local landscape,” says Oehler. Currently, the NALMC neighborhood encompasses 3,034 acres of public and private lands.

NALMC spent the first two years putting ideas into a framework, creating a representative steering committee and holding public meetings to educate people about “ecosystem-based management.” This means thinking about land and the natural systems it supports at a landscape scale – beyond our familiar property boundaries.

The collaborative has created a five-mile hiking trail that crosses several woodlots and Northwood Meadows State Park and sponsored events like informal potluck get-togethers around maple sugaring, hiking, and fire ecology. A new community garden, conceived by Master Gardeners Linda Smith and Ted White, is also located in the NALMC neighborhood. Volunteers tend the garden to provide fresh produce for the elderly and families in need throughout the local community. These communal activities show the benefits of “working together across our stone walls.”

Thanks to a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Otto Fund, it looks like NALMC will be able to continue its vision. The grant will fund an ecological assessment of the natural resources on collaborator lands to provide context and an understanding of the resource value of the region. The grant has also allowed NALMC to hire an outreach coordinator to assist with gathering information, presenting it to collaborative members and the town.

Interested in the NALMC? They are planning an event! The Northwood Meadows Discovery Day - - a celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Northwood Meadows State Park will take place July 11, at the Park.  The event is an opportunity to discover and interact with the natural and cultural resources in and around Northwood Meadows State Park – the lands which form the core of the NALMC neighborhood. The day will be hosted by the Town of Northwood, in partnership with The Northwood Area Land Management Collaborative, the Northwood Crankpullers and the NH Division of Resources and Economic Development.

For more information about NALMC or Northwood Meadows Discovery Day, visit www.nalmc.net, or contact Maryalice Fischer at (603) 664-5097, or Carl Wallman at (603) 435-5209.

by Kristina Ferrare, UNH Cooperative Extension, Forestry and Wildlife Program Outreach Assistant

UNH Cooperative Extension programs and policies are consistent with pertinent Federal and State laws and regulations on non-discrimination regarding age, color, handicap, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran’s status. University of New Hampshire, US Department of Agriculture, and NH Counties cooperating.