Nature Conservancy Poised to Protect 349 Acres at Cooks Pond in Madison

Project aims to safeguard pine barrens habitat, groundwater supplies and public access.

Madison, N.H. — July 5, 2006 — The Nature Conservancy is a step closer to protecting part of an important local landmark in Madison, including critical pine barrens habitat and overlaying a major source of underground drinking water.

The Conservancy has secured an option to purchase 349 acres between Silver Lake and Cook’s Pond, including much of a scenic stream that connects the two. Landowners Susan Goodwin and her family have signed an agreement that would allow the Conservancy to purchase the property by March 2007.

Cook's Pond, Madison. E. Aldrich photo.

The option is part of a campaign by The Nature Conservancy to protect the globally rare pine barrens habitat that occurs in Freedom, Madison, Tamworth and Ossipee, primarily between Silver Lake and Ossipee Lake.

“We are literally in a race against time to protect this irreplaceable habitat,” said Daryl Burtnett, state director of The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire. “This is one of New Hampshire’s most endangered habitats and it’s vulnerable to development, sand and gravel extraction, and incompatible forestry, among other threats. The Nature Conservancy has resolved to make protection here a top priority, and with the support of the communities here, along with state and federal partners, we’re confident that we can succeed.”

To help raise funds for this important conservation work, the Conservancy is launching a campaign: “Your Land, Your Water, Your Future: The Campaign for the Ossipee Pine Barrens and Silver Lake Watershed.” The campaign is led by a steering committee of several community leaders, chaired by Andrew Lietz and Jack Middleton. Both are from Freedom and are trustees of The Nature Conservancy’s New Hampshire chapter.

The campaign will involve events over the coming months in the communities of Freedom, Madison, Tamworth and Ossipee to raise awareness of the pine barrens ecosystem and the many public benefits in protecting it. Among those benefits is protection of groundwater for local communities. The sandy soils that support the area's unique habitat of pitch pine and scrub oak also overlay and recharge the Ossipee Aquifer, the largest stratified drift aquifer in the state. Additionally, the Conservancy's purchases help ensure public access for hunting, hiking and snowmobiling on designated corridors.

In February, the Conservancy purchased 170 acres in Freedom and 65 acres in Ossipee, both of which contain the unique and rare pine barrens habitat that the organization has been working to protect since 1988. The Conservancy has also secured an additional contract to protect 25 acres in Madison.

Because of the rarity and importance of the Ossipee Pine Barrens, the Conservancy has been actively protecting land in the area for 17 years. The Conservancy currently owns 2,285 acres in the Ossipee Pine Barrens, almost 1,000 acres of which include excellent pine barrens habitat. The Conservancy’s goal has been to protect 1,500 to 2,000 acres of areas of well-connected pine barrens habitat, buffered and linked by natural forest and wetland habitats.

The purchases and options reflect the Conservancy’s recent decision to significantly ramp up efforts to conserve the Ossipee Pine Barrens. The decision is driven in large part by the threat rapid growth and development poses to the pine barrens ecosystem, as well as the rapidly emerging statewide recognition of the ecosystem's wildlife and water resource values.

The Cook’s Pond tract:
• Contains 50 to 75 acres of intact, high-quality pitch pine barrens and extensive oak-pine forests;
• Includes much of Cook’s Pond and an associated marsh and scrub-shrub wetland system, an excellent bird habitat; and
• Is contiguous with the Madison Town Forest, potentially creating a larger core of protected unfragmented forests.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s recently completed Wildlife Action Plan recognizes pine barrens habitat as one of the state’s significant habitat types in greatest need of conservation. While there are small remnant patches of pine barrens in Concord and elsewhere in the Merrimack River valley, the Ossipee Pine Barrens are far and away the state’s least fragmented and most extensive. The Ossipee Pine Barrens have been documented to contain 17 rare moth species and several species of declining songbirds, such as whip-poor-wills, Eastern towhees and common nighthawks. The habitat is so noteworthy and distinct that, after careful review by biologists, New Hampshire Audubon has designated it as one of 15 Important Bird Areas in the state.