SUNAPEE — Sisters Cora Collins Kangas and Sandra Blackington have donated the 265 acres of land that make up the conservation easement on their “Rowell MacWilliams Woodlot” property to the Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust.
The woodlot is located on Perkins Pond Road and has extensive wetlands that are part of the watershed for Ledge Pond, which was formerly used as the source of drinking water for Georges Mills, according to a news release from Ausbon Sargent. The property has valuable wildlife habitat as listed in the 2015 NH Wildlife Action Plan and it has valuable forestry soils that will be managed with the assistance of forester Van Webb, who is also the Sunapee Conservation Commission Chair. The land will be open to the public for low-impact recreation.
“It gladdens me to see a parcel of this size be protected because of a strong feeling for the land, and not for financial reasons,” Van Webb said in the release. “I have passed by this parcel a number of times over the years and was excited when the beavers built a dam and flooded a portion of the property, creating a heron rookery as the pine trees died and created ideal habitat for that species.”
LYME — Freda Swan, a longtime Lyme resident who advocated to preserve land in the Breck Hill Road area of Lyme, who died on July 4, 2017, will be honored with a stone marker and plaque at 1 p.m. at the North End of Breck Hill Road on Sunday.
The marker is being sponsored by the Upper Valley Land Trust, The Forest Society and the Lyme Conservation Commission.
Swan spearheaded early land conservation efforts on Breck Hill, resulting in conservation easements on 20 properties along 2 miles of road frontage, according to a news release from the land trust.
Swan and her husband, Hank, served in leadership roles for major land conservation groups in New Hampshrie and helped strengthen protection and stewardship of natural resources and creating opportunities for ordinary citizens to participate, according to the news release.
WOODSTOCK — The Norman Williams Public Library has raised $500,000 to replace its heating and cooling system three months and 19 days after its board of trustees started a fundraising campaign to replace the aging system, according to a news release from the board.
The heating portion of the project will be operational before winter begins and the library’s regular operations and programs will be uninterrupted by the project.
BENNINGTON, Vt. — A Haverhill private boarding school has made a bid to buy a closed Vermont college.
The Bennington Banner reported that the head of Oliverian School in Pike, N.H., and the board chairman of the former Southern Vermont College, confirmed Friday that the private school has offered $4.9 million for the 371-campus and buildings in Bennington. Pike is a village in Haverhill.
“We feel that our students and faculty would thrive here,” said Will Laughlin, head of the Oliverian School.
Southern Vermont College officials said the closing last spring after graduation was due to a decline in enrollment and related debt issues that face other small colleges in the Northeast.
According to Oliverian School’s website, it’s an alternative college preparatory boarding school for adolescents who have not thrived in traditional settings.
— Staff and wire reoprts