Great Bay Partnership Protects 70 Acres in Durham & Madbury
Family's choice safeguards forest and waterfront along Royalls Cove.

The Nature Conservancy, on behalf of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, has acquired conservation easements that protect about 70 acres in Madbury and Durham.

The project involves several parcels owned by Gerald and Dorothy Smith of Durham and his grown children, Gordon Smith, Jeff Smith and Carol Smith Tuveson, who decided that they wanted to see their lands protected and not developed.

Gerald Smith credits his son, Gordon, for getting his parents and siblings to consider conserving the land for the benefit of Great Bay and for future generations.

"We feel very good that the shoreline and drainage area into Little Bay and Royalls Cove will now be protected," said Gerald Smith.

All but one of the tracts are in the Cedar Point area of Durham, near Back River Road.

Under the conservation easement, the Smith family members continue to own, manage and pay taxes for the lands, and can even sell the properties. But with a conservation easement now in place, the tracts can't be developed. The Nature Conservancy will ultimately transfer the conservation easements on the Smith tracts to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, which holds easements on other adjoining or nearby lands.

The easements protect:

• 16.6 acres in Durham and Madbury on Royalls Coves, where the Bellamy River and Little Bay meet. The land includes open hay field and 2,550 feet of frontage along Royalls Cove and two tidal streams;
• 3.2 acres in Durham, with 340 feet of frontage along Little Bay;
• 29.74 acres in Madbury, a woodlot of mostly oak-hickory and pine-hemlock forest;
• 10.26 acres in Durham, south of Watson Road, including hay field, wet meadow and farm pond; and
• 10.26 acres in Durham on Piscataqua Road that abuts the also Watson Road tract.

Funds for this conservation project come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership uses a comprehensive approach to identify Great Bay’s most critical habitats and to protect them. With The Nature Conservancy as lead acquisition agent, the partners also include the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, Ducks Unlimited, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Natural Resources Conservation Service, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Since 1994 the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership has protected 4,783 acres of critical habitat around Great Bay. Local communities and other organizations have protected an additional 3,020 acres that the partnership has been able to use as match to leverage federal funding. The leading sources of funds include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, North American Wetland Conservation Act and private donations. A key player in securing those funds is U.S. Senator Judd Gregg who knows the Great Bay area well.