In February, 2010, the Silver Lake Land Trust (SLLT) joined the Harris Center for Conservation Education (HCCE), the Monadnock Conservancy, and Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School (BB&N) in the successful culmination of 18 years of conversations that have resulted in a conservation easement of nearly 200 acres on the western shore of Silver Lake. BB&N School, through its Board of Trustees and with the support of the Head of School Rebecca Upham, the CFO Thom Greenlaw and the chair of the board Laura Hodges Taylor, granted a conservation easement to the HCCE on all of its land (190 acres in Harrisville and Nelson.) This easement would not be in place were it not for the dedication of Meade Cadot and Stephen Froling and the board of the HCCE, the Monadnock Conservancy staff and board, SLLT board, local land use professionals Norman McKechnie, Ed Goodrich and John Newcombe and the abutters to the property.
The land subject to the easement contains 1200 feet of shorefront and the large hillside on the western shore of the lake through which 60% of the surface water supply to Silver lake flows. In addition to its natural resources, the land is historically significant as the site of Camp Marienfeld. The easement was purchased at its appraised value using funds donated to the Silver Lake Fund for Land Conservation at the Monadnock Conservancy. The easement allows the school to continue its outdoor education activities on the land and reserves the right to one shorefront house site set back from the shore of Silver Lake.
We also give thanks to the Quabbin to Cardigan Partnership, an organization dedicated to the conservation of the highlands from Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts to Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire. The Quabbin to Cardigan Partnership donated a grant to defray the transaction expenses.
Links: HCCE Press Release; Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership; Monadnock Conservancy