Extension News: Land conservation Archives

Extension's involvement: complex, interdisciplinary, embedded in coalitions

"The fragmentation of natural lands and the conversion of farms and commercial forests to residential or commercial development often degrades natural resources, destroys wildlife habitat, and alters New Hampshire's unique social and physical characteristics," says Charlie French, Cooperative Extension's community economic development specialist.

"Although population growth has slowed in the past decade, a slowdown apparent even before the current recession, New Hampshire's population more than doubled in the decades between 1950 and 2000 and will have tripled by 2030," French says.

"That growth and corresponding land-use changes have been uneven, strong in some regions of the state and declining in others, a trend predicted to continue.

"Community leaders often feel they have to choose between the competing priorities of land conservation and commercial/residential development," says French. "We believe communities should both conserve land AND create economic vitality by finding ways to use land more efficiently and effectively. "

Extension: A century of involvement with land-use issues

Land conservation efforts can take many forms, among them:

• Removing land from future development through conservation easements and outright purchase of development rights.
• Crafting good local ordinances, then working closely with developers to protect and conserve important natural resources.
• Ensuring that New Hampshire's "working landscapes"--farms and forestlands--remain profitable and employ environmentally sound management practices.

We work in all these conservation arenas. Multi-layered and deeply collaborative, our outreach involves Extension experts in forestry, wildlife, agriculture, digital mapping, and community economic development, often embedded in the work of state, regional, and local coalitions.


Extension: first stop for private landowners looking to conserve land

"Extension serves as a first contact for landowners interested in permanently conserving their land," says Phil Auger, Extension land and water conservation educator in Rockingham County. "We meet with clients one on one and/or provide information through workshops.

"This component of our outreach leads to referrals to private conservation organizations, estate-planning attorneys, accountants, and others who can provide services to meet specific family needs. In a typical year I meet with at least 50 landowners and often 100 or more.


Extension supports private-sector service providers

"A major focus of our attention is and always has been support of private-sector organizations that provide services to meet common goals," says Auger. "Extension Foresters refer landowners to licensed private foresters to accomplish forest practices on their land. Similarly, we refer landowners to private-sector land trusts and other non-profit land conservation organizations to carry out the steps necessary to permanently conserve their land.

"Extension foresters also support land trusts by serving on boards and providing our expertise in other ways. Most of us are well-linked with numerous regional and statewide organizations, providing help with workshops, work days, educational publications, and other outreach efforts."


Extension links landowners to cost-sharing conservation programs, provides early project coordination

Extension helps qualifying landowners take advantage of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) funding programs.

These include programs such as the Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP) and the Wetlands Restoration Program (WRP), which acquire development rights from willing landowners with qualifying land.

Our roles with these programs involve educating landowners about the programs and helping NRCS with program administration. New Hampshire receives from $1.5 to $4 million each year in FRPP funds; over the past three years approximately $50 million in WRP funds have come into the state.

"We provide what I call early project coordination," says Auger. "Often today funding is necessary and the project is complicated by family dynamics, inadequate single-source funding, political issues, and more. Knowing this in advance, I often assemble a team with the landowner's help and approval.

"The team may include town officials, representatives from conservation organizations, and various funders. The early going requires meetings with the land trusts, the conservation commission, and sometimes the board of selectmen, guidance for appraisers, and continued meetings with landowners," says Auger. After a short while, the private organization(s) lead the way toward the finish line, which may be 12-24 months away."

Others praise Auger's work and his expertise. "Phil Auger knows more about potential conservation properties in Southern New Hampshire than anyone I know," says Greg Caporossi, New Hampshire project manager for the Trust for Public Land. He is the eyes and ears on the ground for many conservation organizations. He not only brings a wealth of knowledge about the landscape, but also provides invaluable technical expertise."


Extension works with municipal decision makers, volunteers, conservation groups, and land trusts on natural resources protection and land conservation to help them maintain the rural character they value in their towns, conserve economically important natural resources, and to protect the fabric of New Hampshire's rural landscape.

We respond to land trusts who've identified areas in need of conservation planning, collaborating with them, with towns, and with landowners to get new lands under conservation, targeting assistance in areas where we have expertise.


Extension offers education for healthy, working forests

With 83 percent of our land in trees, forestry is the predominant land use in New Hampshire. Since 1925 Extension's Forestry and Wildlife Program has helped sustain a healthy "working landscape" by offering information and technical assistance to the state's forest landowners, loggers, licensed foresters, sawmills, and energy plants.

We have a statewide network of licensed foresters who make site visits and offer workshops in woodlot care, long-term planning, selling timber, conserving wildlife habitat, estate planning and land protection, current use taxation, and more. Subject-matter specialists in forestry, wildlife, and forest industry are headquartered at UNH in Durham.

We help communities by providing educational support to town boards, public officials, schools, civic groups, and other community organizations.

Other conservation efforts involving Extension Forestry & Wildlife and Land & Water Conservation Program staff:

Good Forestry in the Granite State
During a three-year process involving a 24-member steering committee and input from more than 200 stakeholders, Cooperative Extension shepherded through and published Good Forestry in the Granite State: Recommended Voluntary Forest Management Practices for New Hampshire. This 224-page reference guide provides landowners and the professionals who work with them practical recommendations and information on a wide variety of forest resources.

Forest Laws Workshops for Municipal Officials
In collaboration with the Local Government Center, numerous state agencies and non-profit groups, Extension sponsors three of these popular workshops each year. Aimed at town officials and local boards, the workshops cover diverse topics, including:

• Who's responsible for what
• Timber tax and intent-to-cut forms
• Wetlands regulations, prime wetlands, stream-crossing rules, comprehensive shoreland protection
• Forest Harvest laws (slash law, basal area along roads and streams, timber theft and trespass, deceptive practices)
• Roads (classes, weight limits, bonds, authority)

Taking Action for Wildlife
This collaboration with the N.H. Fish and Game Department helps community decision makers and land trusts understand the information in the state's Wildlife Action Plan, helping them understand how they can incorporate wildlife information into their town ordinances and voluntary land-conservation practices.

Land conservation tools for communities and landowners Many landowners and communities in New Hampshire have permanently protected land from development. There are many organizations, tools, and resources available for those landowners and communities interested in conservation.

Landowner profiles These inspirational stories show how UNH Cooperative Extension works with landowners to care for New Hampshire's forests.

Speaking for Wildlife Trained volunteers from the NH Coverts Project and the Natural Resource Stewards Program are available to deliver wildlife presentations and lead walks, with support from UNH Cooperative Extension staff. Programs are free and available to community groups throughout New Hampshire.

NH Coverts Project Coverts volunteers promote wildlife-habitat conservation and forest stewardship. To date, we've trained and continue supporting around 300 Coverts volunteers from more than 130 New Hampshire communities. In 2010, 297 active Coverts volunteers:

• Worked to permanently protect over 32,000 acres of land, and reached out to over 36,000 people with a message of sound forest stewardship and wildlife conservation.
• Contributed 44,328 volunteer hours (valued at more than $900,000) on behalf of forest stewardship or wildlife habitat issues in their communities.
• Owned or managed over 100,000 acres of land specifically for wildlife each year.
• Conserved more than 32,000 acres in New Hampshire.
• Reached out to 36,000+ people with a message of sound forest stewardship and wildlife conservation.

Extension offers land-conservation outreach to family farmers

Our agricultural staff work directly with farmers throughout New Hampshire, providing one-on-one site visits, soil-testing and other diagnostic services, as well as many hands-on meetings, workshops, and conferences that help farming remain profitable enough to keep farmers working their land.

Conserving the Family Farm: A Guide to Decision-Making for Farmers, other Agricultural Professionals, Landowners and Conservationists. Comprehensive information about land conservation for farm families.

Transferring the Farm
Because it involves talking about the deaths of family elders and who gets the farm after their passing, farm estate-planning isn't easy for farm families to do. Our six-part video series takes farmers step by step through the process, learning from families who've successfully negotiated an intergenerational transfer.

Extension coordinates assistance to coastal watershed communities through the Natural Resources Outreach Coalition (NROC)

This initiative includes collaboration with NH DES Watershed Bureau, NH Coastal Program, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP), Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and others.

NROC work includes working with the Coastal Adaptation Workgroup (CAW) which involves 15 organizations. Through this group we are providing educational workshops on climate change to coastal watershed communities.


Extension facilitates Master Plan visioning

Through our Communities program area, Extension helps community leaders engage the public in the process of defining their community's vision for how it will grow and develop over the next 10-20 years. Results of this public engagement process have included new civic participation on municipal land-use committees, securing of funds to address land-use and housing issues, incorporation of new planning tools, and better compatibility between the community's Master Plan and its zoning and subdivision regulations.

Extension teaches digital mapping

Our Geospatial Technologies Training Center conducts a wide diversity of educational programs in digital mapping technologies, including project-based courses and courses offering academic credit. This outreach helps community planners and conservation commissions, environmental groups, land trusts, developers and natural-resource professionals make wise land-use decisions. Check out some of our offerings:

For novices, the offerings provide new mappers with skills to better understand maps, collect information on important natural (and other) resources in their communities, and create their own maps of conservation priorities using free software.

Advanced mapping programs train GIS professionals in advanced techniques to analyze current natural resources, forecast development patterns, and determine areas of conservation priorities in their communities.

Extending the use of Google Earth
We've developed a website that provides Google Earth users with important analytical capabilities (i.e., calculating the area of a field, buffering streams and roads, etc.) which greatly improve the land-use and land-conservation potential of this widely used, free mapping software.

Report underscores the importance of forests & forest landowner education to N.H. economy

New Hampshire's State Forester, Brad Simpkins, recently announced the release of The Economic Importance of New Hampshire's Forest-Based Economy.

The report offers a wealth of current data on the direct economic value of New Hampshire's forests, from the percent of forests covering the state (84 percent) to the $2.3 billion impact the forest-products industry has on New Hampshire's economy, including supporting 20,000 jobs and providing the green backdrop for much of the state's tourist industry.

In 2009, landowners received $30 million in revenues from timber sales, which in turn, generated $3 million in timber-tax revenues for municipalities.

"Many folks are surprised to learn that we have such a vibrant forest industry in New Hampshire or that 76 percent of the state's forest lands are privately owned," says Sarah Smith, forest industry specialist with Extension's Forestry and Wildlife Program. "Because we're so heavily forested, we tend to take our forest backdrop for granted, without realizing the importance of good management to keep these lands productive and profitable."

That's where Extension's Forestry and Wildlife Program comes in.

Landowner education for good forestry

"The State of New Hampshire decided back in 1925 to turn to Cooperative Extension to do what we do best--educate," Smith says.

"Unique in the nation, this partnership enables the State Forester to rely on Extension to fulfill their legislative mandate to educate landowners, public officials, forestry and industry professionals about forest laws and the importance of good forest management."

Most of the timber cut in New Hampshire comes from the more than 124,000 private forest landholdings. However, landowners make decisions about harvesting timber and often chose not to cut trees or to harvest for other than economic reasons ­wildlife (e.g., habitat improvement, recreation ). Extension forestry and wildlife staff help landowners think strategically about their land by identifying important features of their land and encouraging them to develop a forest management plan. We refer landowners to a list of almost 300 licensed foresters who act on behalf of the landowner. Those who so chose to harvest timber also receive and provide a host of private and public benefits:

• Providing income for the landowners.


• Delivering timber-tax revenues to the town.


• Creating jobs for foresters, loggers, truckers, forestry equipment sellers.


• Providing raw materials that feed New Hampshire's forest industry


• Enhancing wildlife habitat


• Maintaining the natural landscape that sustains New Hampshire's aesthetic values and makes our state a great place to live, play and visit.


• Sustaining many other values that working forests provide, including clean air and water, aquifer recharge, and buffers against flooding

Sawmills and wood-energy plants: big economic benefits

Citing the economic-impacts report, Smith notes that about 50 sawmills operate in the state, "producing well over 150 million board feet of lumber to supply the building industry, furniture and flooring manufacturers, and cabinet makers, both within the state as well as around the world with a wide variety of species including white pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, maple, oak, birch and ash.

"New Hampshire also has seven wood-fired power plants collectively producing 150 megawatts," she adds. "Five of the power plants have been in near-continuous operation for over 20 years, providing New Hampshire residents with renewable power from the state's forests.

A recent survey by Extension and the NH Timberland Owners Association reveals that the total direct economic impact of the wood energy plants is more than $70 million dollars, "most of which are spent right here in New Hampshire," says Smith.

"New Hampshire's forests are growing faster than they are being harvested," she says, adding, "The biggest threat to our forests isn't timber harvest, but conversion to other uses such as development.

Learn more

Download the report
UNH Cooperative Extension Forestry and Wildlife Program
Forest Industry page
N.H. forest landowner profiles

Saving Special Places, New Hampshire's largest annual conservation event, will celebrate its 10th anniversary Saturday, April 9, at Kearsarge Regional High School in Sutton.

Jointly hosted by UNH Cooperative Extension, The Society for the Protection of NH Forests, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and The Nature Conservancy, the conference typically draws at least 250 participants.

Whether you're new to conservation and want to learn from the people who do it every day, or you're an old hand wanting to network with colleagues, you won't want to miss Saving Special Places 2011. Gary Hirchberg, CE-YO of Stonyfield Farm will deliver the keynote address.

Three workshop sessions offer 9 tracks of workshops (for a total of 27 workshops) suitable for beginner level through experienced. A sample:

Conservation Easement Deeds - What Do They Say and Why?
Farmlands as Wildlife Habitat
Addressing Consequences of Climate Change in Conservation Easements
Conservation Easement Amendments - What You Need to Know

More advanced participants can attend some of the Round Table discussions led by experts in the field of land conservation.

Visit the conference web site or register online. (Note that the early registration fee of $60 is in effect until Friday, April 2. After that the fee increases to $75.)

Saving Special Places is New Hampshire's largest annual conservation event, hosted by UNH Cooperative Extension, The Society for the Protection of NH Forests, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (N.H. Office).

The conference will be held on Saturday, April 10, at John Stark Regional High School in Weare. Whether you're new to conservation and want to learn from the people who do it every day, or you're an old hand wanting to network with colleagues, you won't want to miss Saving Special Places.

Three workshop sessions offer 11 tracks of workshops (for a total of 33 workshops) suitable for beginner level through experienced. A sample:

• Basic Conservation Options
• Importance of Shrublands and Young Forests to Wildlife
• Making the Most of Your Town's Conservation Dollars
• Challenges to Conservation Easements

More advanced participants can attend some of the Round Table discussions.

Keynote Speaker Lewis Feldstein, president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, will explore the link between the special places that conference participants strive to conserve and the social capital that characterizes healthy communities. He will examine what "community" means in the 21st century, the role of public space in New Hampshire's semi-rural communities, and his evolving vision of what makes New Hampshire a special place.

Visit the conference web site and register online. (Note that the early registration fee of $60 is in effect until Friday, April 2. After that the fee increases to $75.)

Project matches farmland owners with aspiring farmers looking for land

"Today, more than ever, there's a need to match farmers who want to sell or rent their farms with people who want to go into farming," says John Porter, New Hampshire Extension dairy specialist emeritus.

"Farmland is expensive and hard to find, and there's a younger generation with a desire to farm and supply local food. Some landowners have indicated a willingness to make special arrangements for people who showed promise of carrying on their enterprise."

A formal program to match farm owners with buyers or renters
Toward that end, in 2000 the New Hampshire Coalition for Sustaining Agriculture, a cross-section of people dedicated to preserving agriculture in the state, proposed the idea of a program to join aspiring farmers to willing renters or sellers of farmland.

"We called it New Hampshire Farm Link," says Porter. "Tony Mincu, a Coalition member and a law student at the time, took on the task of formally organizing Farm Link as part of a community law project at Franklin Pierce Law School. There have been a few applications kept on file over the years and some informal match-ups, but there wasn't enough funding or staff to maintain a full-service land-matching program.

Farm Link finds a permanent home
"After several years of relative dormancy, looking for a new home, New Hampshire Farm Link has merged with New England LandLink, a program of the New England Small Farm Institute (NESFI) in Belchertown, Massachusetts," says Porter "We're really excited about this move.

"New England LandLink, which serves all of New England and eastern New York, maintains a database that currently has 510-plus seekers and more 60 farm offerings. Merging with this regional program will provide a considerably larger pool of prospective farmers and available land and should be a win-win situation for everyone involved," says Porter. "LandLink director Warren Hubley is available by phone and email to provide personal contact (warren@smallfarm.org or 413-323-4531).

Looking for farmland? Want to sell farmland?
People who want to list their property or who are looking for land can obtain application forms from any UNH Cooperative Extension office or other cooperating agricultural agencies around the state, or directly from New England LandLink. It costs $10 to register for the standard LandLink services, which include contact information for any Web listings and advice about new properties.

Saving Special Places, New Hampshire's largest annual conservation conference will be held on Saturday, April 4, 2009 at Gilford High School in Gilford.

Whether you're new to conservation and want to learn from the people who do it every day, or you're an old hand wanting to network with colleagues, you won't want to miss Saving Special Places.

Co-sponsored by UNH Cooperative Extension and the Society for the Protection of NH Forests, the conference features three sessions, each offering 11 tracks of workshops (for a total of 33 workshops) for beginners through experienced levels.

Learn about Basic Conservation Options, Wind Power and Conservation, Funding and Conservation, Integrating Biodiversity Considerations into Working Forest Easements, and more, or attend a Round Table discussion for more advanced levels.

Lisa Vernagaard, Director of Planning and Stewardship at The Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts will give the keynote address, sharing many examples of how land trusts and other conservation organizations are beginning to take meaningful action toward climate change. She will direct our attention to the many challenges we face including determining future land conservation projects, evolving our land management, reducing our organizational carbon footprints and building public support.

Rand Wentworth, President of the national Land Trust Alliance, will provide a brief overview of the national land conservation movement and its emerging trends, opportunities and challenges during the morning plenary welcome session. He will also be leading and participating in workshops throughout the day.

Conference brochure
Workshop descriptions
Conference registration form