Headwaters Forest at Moose Mountain
The Hanover Conservancy is proud to announce our latest land protection project—the largest, most ambitious conservation effort in our 62 year history.
Located on the western slope of Moose Mountain off of Three Mile Road, the former Kendall family farm has been a special part of Hanover’s landscape for generations. Abutting the Appalachian Trail corridor to the east, and our already-protected Mayor-Niles Forest and Britton Forest to the north, this project builds on our work to protect vital natural resources on Moose Mountain along the AT. With its protection, the property joins a network of 3,000 connected acres of conserved land.
The property’s 140 acres of high-quality forest, field, and wetland habitats support a rich web of wildlife, including moose, black bear, bobcat, bobolink, woodcock, ruffed grouse, and wild brook trout. It is also home to the ultimate source of Mink Brook, Hanover’s largest stream. Conserving these headwaters benefits our community’s water quality, flood resilience, trout habitat, and more.
Traces of Hanover’s agricultural past dot the property, including old stone walls and woods roads. The largest section of the popular Harris Trail—the historic route of the Appalachian Trail—crosses the property’s upper slopes.
While routes on the property are currently limited to the Harris Trail and several old woods roads, the land will be open for non-motorized recreational use, including hiking, walking, nature observation, snowshoeing, hunting, fishing, and back-country skiing. In the future, additional trail links may connect to nearby conserved lands and trail networks.
This project reflects a bold, innovative, responsive approach to land protection from the Hanover Conservancy. The property’s prime location and scenic locale made it high risk for fragmentation, threatening its important ecological and recreational values. Needing to act fast, and working with the supportive landowners, the Hanover Conservancy was able to purchase the property outright before it entered the open market. Our partnership with The Conservation Fund made this quick purchase possible.
The effort is part of a long-term, sustained effort at protecting ecologically valuable lands on Moose Mountain that began in 2013 with the donation of the Mayor-Niles Forest, followed by easements on the Mill Pond Forest in 2015 and the Shumway Forest in 2017, and donation of the Britton Forest in 2018.
Now we need your help to ensure this new, connecting mountainside land is protected for future generations. To partially offset the cost of this major purchase, the house and road frontage along Three Mile Road are being offered to new owners. This compelling conservation opportunity is earning generous private and public support, including a historic $250,000 grant from New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program—LCHIP’s second award in Hanover—that we now must match. To close the gap $300,000 is needed to permanently protect and care for this special place. Your support will mean an irreplaceable piece of Moose Mountain will be conserved forever, providing a home for native wildlife, recreational access for the public, and important natural services like flood resilience and carbon storage.
Make a gift to protect this special place today. Donations toward the project are tax-deductible, and count toward the Conservancy’s $2 million Promise to Protect Campaign.
Check our Events Calendar in January for opportunities to get out onto the land with Conservancy staff and supporters, and experience a new corner of Moose Mountain.