| Nature Conservancy buys 18,000
acres of Coos County land
May 17, 2000 Land holds 13 mountains Foster's Online Dover, New Hampshire To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@fosters.com COLUMBIA, N.H. (AP) — The Nature Conservancy of New Hampshire said Wednesday it would buy 18,680 acres of forested mountains in Coos County, with plans to protect more than half as a nature preserve. The rest would be resold to a timber company, but with conservation restrictions, the organization said. The area, the Bunnell Tract, straddles Columbia and Stratford and abuts the Nash Stream State Forest. It includes the highest mountain range north of the White Mountain National Forest. The tract encompasses 13 mountains higher than 3,000 feet, including Bunnell Mountain, named after lawyer and part-time Judge Vickie Bunnell, gunned down by Carl Drega outside her Colebrook office on Aug. 19, 1997. Bunnell spent all her spare time outdoors, often climbing the former Blue Mountain. The mountain was renamed in her memory in 1998. "Vickie understood the value of keeping wild lands wild," said her father, Earl Bunnell. "She also understood the economic importance of working forest. I know she would have been very pleased with this exciting conservation effort." The Nature Conservancy will buy the land for $3.8 million from the Arlington, Va.-based Conservation Fund, which bought it from Champion International Corp. as part of a deal to preserve nearly 300,000 acres of the Northern Forest in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. About 10,000 acres will be set aside permanently as the Vickie Bunnell Nature Preserve, the Nature Conservancy said. Recreational uses, including hiking, snowmobiling, hunting, fishing and cross-country skiing, will continue to be allowed. The rest of the land will be sold to a timber company, subject to a conservation easement that would require the buyer to manage the forest sustainably, including allowing heavily cut areas to recover until they are productive. The area already has been logged extensively, the group said. Nature Conservancy officials declined to name the prospective buyer, saying they were still in negotiations. The Conservation Fund already had applied for a federal Forest Legacy grant to pay for a conservation easement on the Bunnell Tract. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., sponsored a spending bill in February containing $1.67 million for the grant. The Nature Conservancy plans to complete the process of getting the funds by seeking approval for its plan from the State Forest Legacy Commission in the next few months. In addition, the Nature Conservancy has raised $1.25 million from private individuals and foundations, including a $1 million pledge from the Sweetwater Trust. It must raise another $3.75 million to complete the purchase and pay for immediate and long-term stewardship costs. Gregg praised the Nature Conservancy deal in a statement Tuesday. "We think the Bunnell Tract is a model for Forest Legacy funding, given our intent to dovetail a working forest with a nature preserve," Gregg said. "This is a tremendous opportunity to encourage conservation, recreation and sustainable timber management." © 2001 Geo. J. Foster Co. http://premium1.fosters.com/2000/news2000b/may/17/nh0517k.htm
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