Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust

Land protection: aslpt adopted a written conservation plan which includes a prioritized and comprehensive list of properties worthy of protection. Aslpt protects properties through both conservation easements and fee simple acquisition. Land protection includes review, evaluation and detailed research before proceeding with the protection of a property. Aslpt insures that every transaction is legal, proper and appropriate to the goals of the Land Trust. For each conservation easement, we prepare a baseline documentation report that provides a detailed representation of the property and its condition at the time of its transfer. During this fiscal year, aslpt completed transactoins on four properties.on october 11, 2022, a conservation easement was donated to Ausbon Sargent on the 27-acre property hermit woods property in the town of goshen. A portion of the property borders babb brook, a tributary of the south fork of the sugar river, and the numerous mammals, fish, and birds, that live in the watershed. Hermit woods is open to the public for low impact recreation.on december 22, 2022, a conservation easement was donated on the 91.9-acre bravo property in the town of bradford. The property is highly ranked for wildlife habitat, and agricultural and forestry soils. The water from its forestland, open fields, and streams flow into lake massasecum. Although not open for public access, this property provides vital protection of the area's watershed. On january 13, 2023, Ausbon Sargent finalized the donation of a conservation easement on the pound woodland preserve, encompassing 125 acres in wilmot. This property is close to the cassey brook preserve, which was protected by the Land Trust in 2020, and includes the headwaters of the cassey brook. The property has been identified as an important area for protection in the wilmot master plan and is open to the public for low impact recreation. On june 9, 2023, the Land Trust closed on the purchase of 71.66 acres of the bradford bog headwaters property, an ecologically significant forest block in bradford. It protects the nearby bradford bog headwaters, which is upstream from an abenaki ancient healing springs site and a rare atlantic white cedar bog and wildflower sanctuary. The property contains beaver ponds and regenerating forest that is a haven for many threatened species of birds. This property is open to the public for low impact recreation.on july 5, 2023, Ausbon Sargent finalized the donation of a conservation easement on the 144-acre messer farm property in new london. Aslpt acquired the property in 2020. To further ensure its protection, aslpt donated a conservation easement to the society for the protection of nh forests.

Stewardship and monitoring: stewardship is the overall management and oversight of all Ausbon Sargent conservation easements and fee-owned properties. Stewardship includes, but is not limited to, monitoring and defending easements, record keeping, building landowner relationships, providing educational material and events for landowners, volunteers, members, and staff, reviewing amendment requests and reserved rights inquiries from landowners on properties on which we hold a conservation easement. Monitoring is the annual periodic property inspections by our trained volunteer monitors or staff, as well as the preparation of documents for the inspection and documentation and follow-up of the inspection. Monitoring serves as a regular reminder that the landowner is legally bound to keep the property in the condition as defined in the conservation easement. All monitoring reports are reviewed by staff and in the event of a compliance issue, aslpt staff carries out an investigation and works to resolve the issue.monitoring is done by volunteers; however, we generally aim to have staff visit 20 of these properties with volunteer monitors each year. These visits vary in length depending on the size of the property and the restrictions on the property. We generally have a training session in early june for new volunteers. The training includes an online instructional component of approximately three hours as well as a field visit. During these sessions we instruct the volunteers on their responsibilities when they are monitoring the property. We also keep the volunteers updated on any changes in policies we have regarding monitoring.we use drone technology to augment on the ground monitoring and will be initiating the use of aerial imagery. This technology is intended for larger parcels with topography that is difficult to monitor by foot.

Community relations and education: aslpt is proactive in building community relations and educating its members, landowners, conservation partners, government leaders, and the general public. Our goal is to be recognized as the place to go for Land protection expertise in the mount kearsarge/ ragged/lake sunapee region of new hampshire. We sponsor and offer conservation related events, meetings, and workshops aimed at building close ties with the community in the twelve towns we serve, around Land protection issues, growth/development challenges, and conservation priorities.additionally, our outreach efforts include hosting a semi-annual conservation commission chairperson's roundtable discussion to exchange information, resources, and experiences throughout the region. We utilize numerous communication resources including a twice-yearly printed newsletter, mailings, fact sheets, e-blasts, website, in-person events held on conservation properties, speaking engagements to civic groups, and neighborhood gatherings.