Conserved forests in the Nashua River watershed are among the best in the country for providing clean drinking water

NRWA’s Forest Redesign Project

NRWA is undertaking a three-year (2009 to 2012) Forest Redesign project, “Working with Municipalities, Foresters and Landowners to Increase Forest Conservation and Ensure Sound Forest Stewardship,” funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry grant.

Squannacook River - Photo by Joan WotkowiczConceived in 2007, “Redesigning” is a new approach within State and Private Forestry that is improving the ability to identify the greatest threats to forest sustainability and accomplish meaningful change in high priority areas. These projects target the three national themes: protect forests from harm, conserve working forest landscapes, and enhance public benefits from trees and forests.

NRWA’s partnership project focuses on the forested landscape of south-central New Hampshire and north-central Massachusetts, an area dominated by small, non-industrial private forest ownerships which are highly threatened with fragmentation and conversion to non-forest uses (such as housing and commercial development). The goal of this project is to increase the protection and stewardship of working forests by:

  1. Supporting forest conservation programs and providing workshops to rural municipal officials, foresters, and landowners; and,
  2. Educating current and subsequent generations of conservation easement (CE) landowners about their responsibilities, and training those responsible for easement monitoring.

This project supports the work being done to protect forests through the Forest Legacy program. Our partners in the Forest Redesign project are North Quabbin Regional Landscape Partnership and the Highland Communities Initiative of the Trustees of Reservations.