Durham Bison Farm Protected by Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership

Conservation easements keep land intact and safeguard resources.

Durham, N.H. — Oct. 26, 2006 — A Durham landmark known for its grazing bison and scenic pastures on Great Bay’s Durham Point is now protected from development, thanks to the work of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership and the town of Durham.
On behalf of the partnership, The Nature Conservancy has purchased conservation easements on two parcels that have been owned by the Langley family for five generations. The easements – covering a total of 86.9 acres – allow the family to continue to own and manage the land for farming and forestry, but safeguards important habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife.

The project is one of several recent acquisitions of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, among them:
• 133 acres off Bennett Road in Durham;
• a 22-acre donation off Jenkins Road in Madbury; and
• 8.6 acres off Bay Road in Newmarket.

Langley Easement

Because of its location on Little Bay, its mix of fields and woodlands, and connection with other protected lands, conserving the Langley property on Durham Point has long been a top priority of the Great Bay Partnership.

"The permanent conservation of the Langley farm and woodlot protects not only an important historic resource to the Piscataqua Region but also a productive farm and ecological system," said Duane Hyde, director of protection for The Nature Conservancy. "This is truly a generous legacy created by the Langley family," Hyde said.

Langley Bison Farm, Durham, N.H. The Langley family has been a part of Durham’s history since 1714, even before the town itself was incorporated. The family has owned and farmed a large part of the Durham Point area since 1890. Over the years, the Langley’s initial holding has been divided, with smaller tracts going to family members. In recent times the farm on the shores of the Little Bay section of Great Bay has been well-known for its bison operation, a business David Langley started in 1986 after serving in the military.

“Our family has always had a strong connection with the land,” David Langley said. “Our feeling is that we have a responsibility not just to the land itself, but also to our ancestors and the way the land provided for them. So we all felt the land here was worth protecting.”

Now known as the Little Bay Buffalo Company, the farm has a rich human history, beginning with Native Americans. This part of the bay was considered strategic by English settlers, who built a garrison here in the late 1600s. It was attacked by Native Americans in 1694 in what’s known as the Oyster River Massacre. In the 1800s, part of the property housed a brick kiln, where bricks were baked and shipped by gundalow to Portsmouth, Durham, Newmarket and beyond.
One easement protects the 55.3-acre farm, along with a 1-acre island and a smaller, rocky island in Little Bay that supports nesting habitat for common terns. The easement, which will be retained by The Nature Conservancy, also stipulates grazing distances from the shoreline to protect Great Bay’s water quality and shorefront habitat.

The other easement protects a separate 30.6-acre woodlot off Longmarsh Road owned by the Langley family. That easement will ultimately be transferred to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, which owns adjacent land previously protected by the partnership. The woodlot is surrounded by conservation land and includes 1,400 feet of frontage along Crommet Creek, a high priority for protection by the partnership. The Forest Society is an active member of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership.
Funds for the project came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); the town of Durham also supported the project with $300,000.

“The town of Durham is very excited about preserving what has become a community asset,” said Todd Selig, Durham’s town administrator. “The community is extremely desirous of preserving open space and critical tracts in Durham, and the Langley farm is certainly one of these.”

133 Acres in Durham

Also on behalf of the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, The Nature Conservancy recently acquired 133.8 acres off Bennett Road in Durham , a portion of the historic Beaudette Farm. Purchased from the Beaudette family of Somersworth, the tract is mostly forest of oak, pine, hickory, but also includes two streams, wet meadows, wetlands and a hardwood-conifer seepage swamp.
The tract will ultimately be transferred to the N.H. Fish and Game Department. And like the Langley easement, this project was also funded by NOAA and $200,000 from town of Durham.

“Supporting projects like this one and the Langley easement make a lot of sense for our community,” said Dwight Baldwin, chair of the Durham Conservation Commission. “This helps maintain what people have come to know and love about Durham’s rural character.”

22 Acres in Madbury

September, Barbara Brewer of Rockport, Mass., donated to the Conservancy 22.4 acres in Madbury on Jenkins Road, a Class VI road. The donation is an excellent addition to the Partnership’s conservation work in the Johnson and Bunker Creek watersheds and is directly across the road from a previously protected tract. Mostly forested, the tract includes a forested wetland and vernal pools.

The tract will be transferred to the Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests. In keeping with the donor’s wishes, the tract will be known as “Grandpa Watson’s Woodlot.”

8.6 acres in Newmarket

Finally, the Conservancy recently purchased on behalf of the Partnership 8.61 acres off Bay Road in Newmarket. The tract was purchased from Larry and Deborah Averill of Newfields with funds from NOAA.

The tract adjoins The Nature Conservancy’s Lubberland Creek Preserve and will be retained by the Conservancy. It includes a tidal portion of salt marsh along Lubberland Creek.

The Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership is 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 approximately 4,700 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.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 14 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 83 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Since 1964 The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire has helped protect more than 265,000 acres of ecologically significant land and currently owns and manages 28 preserves across the state. For more information, visit www.nature.org/newhampshire.