Ralph Kirshner, Chairman, New Hampton Conservation Commission, described the Snake River Stewardship Plan, which covers the recently purchased Elizabeth Baird and Spear properties. He described the Snake River Stewardship Committee as a special committee to a special commission. The Stewardship Plan, he noted, has many constraints such as a one-year period in which to use the approved funding including the creation of a trail on the property. Due to the difficult wetlands on the Spear portion of the combined properties, the trail will be only on the Baird portion. He expects that the plan that will be implemented will be a good example of what can be done to educate people about the property and why it is important to conserve it. A copy of the plan is available in the Conservation section of the WWC web site, waukewan.org. Click on Conservation.
Economic and Cultural Impacts of Conservation in the Lakes Region
Mark Billings, Chairman of the Meredith Conservation Commission and Treasurer of the Town of Meredith, described his background as growing up in a small town much like Meredith and becoming an investment banker and economist for 40 years. His environmental focus started with his involvement with Meredith’s Page Pond project as an abutter. He is now a member of the “Trust for Public Lands.” He noted that interest in conserving the environment is personal; ¬ different people have very different reasons for that interest, such as preserving beauty, maintaining water quality, avoiding over-development, and maintaining property values, to name a few. He noted that a major metric that investors use in deciding to make an investment is “Return on Investment” or ROI — after a period of time, how much more will the investment return than it cost. He noted that conserving something in perpetuity makes the issue of ROI moot. In 2010 an important change in New Hampshire law specified that only a Conservation Commission may hold property outside of the town’s boundary. This allowed Meredith to contribute to the purchase and stewardship of the Spear and Baird properties and obtain an environmental easement on them. Billings sees the Spear and Baird properties as a tremendous educational effort.
