Description
This preserve in Tamworth is 247 acres of outstanding diversity including forests, swamps, streams, glacially formed kettleholes and eskers, with frontage on Chocorua Lake.
The Frank Bolles Nature Preserve lies at the foot of Mount Chocorua and touches the northern shore of Chocorua Lake in Tamworth. Protected for its outstanding diversity, the preserve includes forest lands, wooded swamps, upland streams, woodland clearings, glacially formed kettleholes and eskers, and lake frontage. Each of these ecosystems supports a considerable array of plants and wildlife: approximately one hundred and sixty species each of flora and fauna have been observed within the preserve. Moose, black bear, white-tailed deer, porcupine, red fox, short-tailed weasel, raccoon, otter, and snowshoe hare are some of the species that occupy this unique natural area.
The preserve is well buffered by thickly-wooded, privately-owned areas to the east and south. Just north is the White Mountain National Forest; the 268-acre Clark Reserve owned by the Chocorua Lake Conservation Foundation lies along the preserve's western flank. Together, the Frank Bolles Nature Preserve and the Clark Reserve form a 518-acre natural area.
The Frank Bolles Nature Preserve was a gift from Evelyn Bolles Phenix, daughter of the late naturalist and writer Frank Bolles, in 1969. It is managed for The Nature Conservancy by the Chocorua Lake Conservation Foundation.