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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 23, 2008
CONTACT:
Peter Throop, (603) 357-0600 or
Barbara Richter, (603) 224-9945
Conservation Leaders Receive Training
More than 30 town leaders learn how to protect their communities’ special places and natural resources
( KEENE)—This fall, more than thirty town leaders from eleven communities in the Monadnock Region participated in a Conservation Leadership Training program. This new 18-hour course spanned six sessions and taught town leaders about the many aspects of land protection. According to Peter Throop of the Monadnock Conservancy, one of the course sponsors, “An increasing number of towns in our region are taking action to conserve land. What they need most to succeed are town leaders who understand what land protection is, why it is important, and how it works. Our intent is to provide this training and to ask those who participate to share their knowledge in their communities.”
“This course was just what our town needed because we are just getting started,” said Linda Fuerderer of Marlow. The town of Marlow voted to support funding conservation projects at their 2007 town meeting. Bill Graf, a new conservation commission member in Jaffrey, took the course to “better fulfill my responsibilities.” David Moody, was one of five conservation commission members from Alstead in the training. He found that, “The most valuable part of this training was learning how to start a dialog with landowners and encourage them to protect their land.” He also felt that, “This course will really help our town jump start the implementation of our conservation plan.”
“I was amazed at the commitment to this program showed by our first group of trainees,” said Barbara Richter, Specialist at the Forest Society’s Center for Land Conservation Assistance, who coordinated the program with Peter Throop. “Their engagement in the activities and the level of questions that came from the participants was really exciting.” Plans are being made to offer the program again next spring.
The Conservation Leadership Training course is one of several programs being developed through the Community Conservation Partnership (CCP) initiative, a collaboration of the Monadnock Conservancy, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (Forest Society), Antioch New England Institute, the Southwest Region Planning Commission, UNH Cooperative Extension, and the Harris Center for Conservation Education. The goal of the partnership is to strengthen the capacity of towns in the Monadnock Region to identify and protect the special places and natural resources important to their communities’ rural character and overall quality of life.
The next training opportunity offered to town leaders by the Partnership will be the Monadnock Region Land Summit scheduled for Saturday, January 31, 2009 in Keene. This all-day conference will introduce members of municipal governments to methods and strategies for land conservation as practiced by conservation professionals and approached by towns throughout the Monadnock Region.
For more information about the Land Summit, contact Dee Robbins at the Monadnock Conservancy, dee@monadnockconservancy.org or (603) 357-0600.
The Community Conservation Partnership, Conservation Leadership Training, and Monadnock Region Land Summit have been generously supported by the Northeast Utilities Foundation, the Jessie B. Cox Charitable Lead Trust, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and donors to the Monadnock Conservancy’s Monadnock Tomorrow capital campaign.
Founded in 1901, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is the state’s oldest and largest non-profit land conservation organization. The Society’s mission is to perpetuate the forests of New Hampshire by establishing permanent conservation areas and promoting the wise stewardship of private lands. For more information, visit www.forestsociety.org.
Founded in 1989, the Monadnock Conservancy is a non-profit land conservation organization that serves the 35 towns of 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. More information about the Monadnock Conservancy is available at www.MonadnockConservancy.org.
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