Five Rivers Receives Significant LCHIP Grant to Conserve Pletcher Farm
November 19, 2020 – Five Rivers Conservation Trust has received an anchoring grant of $215,000 from LCHIP (Land and Community Heritage Investment Program) towards the permanent protection of the 118-acre Pletcher Farm (Vegetable Ranch) in Warner.
Competition for LCHIP funding this year was intense, but the Pletcher Farm has great agricultural, wildlife, water and forestland features that made it a very competitive project. “We are grateful for LCHIP’s investment in conserving the Pletcher Farm” said Beth McGuinn, Five Rivers Executive Director. “The LCHIP award is a critical component in conserving this important local food system for generations to come.”
Larry Pletcher, owner of the Vegetable Ranch is a wizard at coaxing nutritious, appealing, tasty organic food from the soils on the side of Mt. Kearsarge. He’s improved the soil over decades through organic practices of building organic matter and nutrients in the soil. His farm products feed people throughout the Merrimack River Valley, from the Concord Farmer’s Market to Concord Hospital, Warner Local Market, and Whole Foods in Bedford and Nashua.
Conserving the Pletcher Farm, through sale of a conservation easement, will allow Larry to make the Vegetable Ranch more accessible to the next generation of farmers. The conservation easement, a perpetual legal restriction on the use of the land, will prevent future development of the property and ensure the land is always available for high quality farming and forestry.
This easement also protects:
- The upper reaches of Stephens and Willow Brooks, prioritized for conservation by the Warner Conservation Commission.
- 70 acres of the highest ranked wildlife habitat in the state/biological region.
- Forestland adjacent to the Warner Town Forest, and part of a 10,000 acre complex of conserved land.
- Three house lots on North Road, subdivided by a former owner and ready to sell unless conserved.
You Can Help Conserve the Pletcher Farm
Larry has offered to conserve his land with Five Rivers at a deeply discounted price. To purchase the conservation easement, survey the property, and take care of all the details, we must raise $354,000. The anchoring LCHIP grant and several smaller grants cover most of the costs. As of today, we need to raise an additional $25,000 in private donations to finish the project.
Every private donation will be matched dollar for dollar, by the Thomas W. Haas Fund of the NH Charitable Foundation, doubling each donation!
Click here to make a donation today. If you prefer to donate by check, please print this form. We are also happy to accept your PLEDGE to make a gift to the project before March 31, 2021; accept your gift of appreciated stock or accept a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA – just call the office at 225-7225 for details.
Thank you for supporting local agriculture!
