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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2008
CONTACT:
Richard Church (603) 357-0600
MONADNOCK CONSERVANCY ANNOUNCES MONADNOCK TOMORROW CAMPAIGN
$3 million will protect land worth $20 million
( Keene)—The Monadnock Conservancy has announced the public phase of its $3 million Monadnock Tomorrow capital campaign. Money raised by the campaign will enable the organization to accelerate the pace of land protection in the 35 towns of the Monadnock Region and use conservation easements to protect land valued at over $20 million over the next five years.
Richard Church, campaign co-chair stressed the importance of the Conservancy’s window of opportunity: “We need to significantly increase the pace of land conservation while there are good conservation values still to protect, and while it is relatively cost effective to do so. One only has to look to our east beyond Temple Mountain to see how rapidly open land can be developed and how expensive it has gotten to protect the few large open spaces left.”
At the public kick off, Jennie Norman, Monadnock Tomorrow co-chair, announced that the campaign has already raised $2.6 million toward its $3 million goal and is now entering the community phase of the drive. Since the feasibility study and initial contacts were conducted in the summer of 2006, the campaign has been in what’s known as the “quiet phase,” visiting individuals on a one-on-one basis.
Funds raised by the campaign will empower families to donate easements and provide match money to purchase them when necessary, conserve major greenways and corridors, and establish a fund to allow the Conservancy to move quickly to conserve key lands. Donations will be used to build the Community Conservation Partnership to help our 35 towns achieve their conservation goals.
Conservation easements are forever. Resources from the campaign will ensure the perpetual stewardship of conserved lands and will be used to enforce conservation easements when needed; they will be used to support appropriate public access and recreation.
“The opportunity before us needs quick action,” explained Norman. “We have already put some of the funds to work. Some has been used to match public money in the acquisition of Temple Mountain late last year. The new 352-acre state reservation anchors the southern end of the large Temple-to-Crotched Conservation Corridor envisioned by the Conservancy. An additional land protection specialist will be hired to capitalize on the wide interest in donated conservation easements facing us. In November, we launched the Community Conservation Partnership in collaboration with five partners: Antioch New England Institute, The Harris Center for Conservation Education, UNH Cooperative Extension Service, The Center for Land Conservation Assistance, and Southwest Region Planning Commission. We are not waiting until the end of this campaign to start this important work.” She predicted the campaign would reach its goal in time for the annual meeting of the Monadnock Conservancy the last Saturday in August.
Founded in 1989, The Monadnock Conservancy is a non-profit land conservation organization that serves 35 towns in the Monadnock Region. Its mission is to identify, promote, and actively seek protection of significant natural, aesthetic, and historic resources in the Monadnock Region; and to monitor and enforce the protection of lands in the trust.
For more information about the Monadnock Conservancy, call 603-357-0600.
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