Anonymous Donor Buys Time to Save Old-Growth New Hampshire Forest
Just as conservationists were ready to give up their fight to save a 200-year-old forest from development, an anonymous donor bought them 11 more months of time.
New Hampshire Nature Conservancy Director Henry Tepper said Sept. 5 that the donor purchased an 11-month option to buy the 227-acre property. He would not say how much the option cost, but did say it was “a five-figure sum.”
The conservancy originally had been given only one month to raise the $550,000 purchase price for one of the few stands of old-growth forest in southern New Hampshire.
If the conservancy can raise enough money to buy the land, the money for the option will be counted toward the selling price. If not, the donor will lose the money.
The land came to the public’s attention about a month ago, after the forester hired to harvest timber there recognized its extraordinary natural features and notified the nonprofit conservancy.
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