Newly Conserved Land Protects Contoocook River Frontage, Linking 449 Acres
November, 2014 – Five Rivers Conservation Trust recently accepted a 36-acre conservation easement from Dan and Missy Dustin on land located on both Dustin Road and the Contoocook River in Hopkinton. The newly conserved property links two parcels of the Bohanan Farm which were conserved in 2010, creating a contiguous conserved landscape of 449 acres.
Beth McGuinn, Five Rivers’ Executive Director said that “The Dustin project is a great example of the positive impact of compatible funding sources targeted to efficiently conserve a property with many public benefits”. Five Rivers now takes on its perpetual stewardship responsibility of monitoring the property annually and working with the Dustins and all future landowners to ensure the land is never developed.
The Dustin property is open to the public and completes protection of a popular existing trail that crosses the Bohanan Farm and the Dustin property along the river. The trail is accessible from the trailhead on Penacook Road at the Contoocook River. Many paddlers float by the property’s ¼ mile of scenic river frontage as they meander down the Contoocook River, past the diverse silver maple floodplain forest.
According to Ken Stern, Five Rivers’ Project Manager, the Dustin property contains some interesting water features including a small oxbow pond that was once the river channel and an area that still floods during high water, helping to prevent downstream flooding during heavy rains. The New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan identifies the property’s silver maple floodplain forest as an unusual and dynamic environment, which makes the area an important habitat for wildlife. The wetlands on the property are rich in insects and amphibians which, in turn, create plentiful food for a wide variety of birds, mammals and reptiles.
Hopkinton Conservation Commission member Ron Klemarczyk notes that this property is very near the slowly expanding developed area of Contoocook Village and without landowners like the Dustins, willing to forever protect their land, eventually, there would not be places for the black bears, porcupines and other wildlife that he saw during the course of the project. “The partnership with the Town Conservation Commission and Five Rivers Conservation Trust is a good example of protecting land for people and is reflected in the way the Hopkinton Community and Five Rivers came together to respond to the opportunity to protect a valuable resource – water,” said ARM program coordinator Lori Sommer.
Dan and Missy Dustin continue to own the land, and Five Rivers Conservation Trust now holds a conservation easement that will prevent future development of the property and other activities that would negatively impact the land’s important conservation features. Five Rivers worked closely with the Hopkinton Open Space Committee and funders NH Department of Environmental Services through its Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) program and the Hopkinton Conservation Commission through its Conservation Fund to complete the project.
Ken Stern summed up the project by saying “A longstanding conservation goal of the Dustins was achieved through a timely source of funds from NHDES’s ARM program and the Town of Hopkinton’s Conservation Fund. Many people helped in the process of conserving this very special property in record time.”
