The Monadnock Conservancy

Conservation easement stewardship the organization supported and coordinated 13 volunteers and 4 staff members to monitor 235 conservation easement-encumbered and deed-restricted properties totaling 21,182.5 acres. Staff resolved 7 conservation easement violations involving a tree cutting, encroachment, and erosion, and 4 minor violations including soil erosion, dumping, and minor encroachment. They reached out to landowners to confirm contact information and survey them about changes in land management and other uses, offering to meet with them on their land and, where appropriate, pointing them toward land management resources such as trainings, grants, and other professional advisors. Staff worked with surveyors to re-mark boundaries on selected properties, and worked to proactively mark fading property boundaries and install signage where necessary. Continued on schedule o

Land management and recreation staff and 27 volunteers monitored 26 fee-owned properties totaling over 2,400 acres. Staff performed fieldwork for one new property acquisition to inform management plans and conducted initial visits to three potential future acquisitions. Staff enrolled all fee-owned lands into a five-year contract with the natural resource conservation services conservation stewardship program to receive funding for responsible stewardship and management practices. Management projects in this fiscal year included a timber harvest to remove trees killed by a recent insect outbreak and re-establish wildlife habitat, rerouting trail sections on three popular hiking trails to improve overall functionality and ecosystem health, adding a spur trail for better view of a waterfall on a popular trail, and replacing or removing several trail bridges in poor condition. Signage prohibiting camping, open fires, atvs, bikes, and dumping was placed on three properties where issues had been found. Continued on schedule o