NEWBURY, Vt. — Doug Britton has always cared about the future of a 301-acre plot of land his family owned on Bowen Road in Newbury, Vt.
He had affection for the land, which his family — who used to operate Britton Lumber Co. — had owned for 70 years, growing trees to eventually harvest under the careful purview of a forest management plan. Around a decade ago, he ran into Jeanie McIntyre, then executive director of the Upper Valley Land Trust, a Hanover-based nonprofit organization, and told her about the forest.
“The more contiguous acreage you can get, the more good it can do,” Britton, of Norwich, said in a Friday phone interview. “The larger the tracts, whatever aspect you’re looking at whether it’s water quality or recreation or forestry, the more impact it’s going to have.”
Discussions were put on pause as the Upper Valley Land Trust worked to conserve the Woodchuck Mountain Conservation Area, which happened earlier this year, Peg Merrens, the organization’s vice president of conservation, said in a Wednesday phone interview.
After that project concluded, talks with Britton picked up again, and this month he and his wife, Katharine, gave the 301-acre parcel, known as the Britton Forest, to the Upper Valley Land Trust — its largest ever donation in Vermont.
“This is super exciting,” Merrens said. “The value to our organization is that this is a well-cared-for, larger forest tract that will gift to the community and gift to the future and really special because it’s adding to a larger block of conserved land.”
It’s also exciting for another reason: With the addition of the Britton Forest, there is now more than 1,300 acres of contiguous conserved land, including Tucker Mountain Town Forest.
“By protecting these larger tracts we are protecting areas for species movement over time, with the hopes for forest health and watershed health,” Merrens said.
Britton decided to give the acreage to the land trust instead of selling it at a bargain price so that the organization could use its money for other projects.
“We were able to gift it so we went that route,” he said. “This just seemed like the time to move it into a permanent home.”
While the land was free, maintaining it will not be: An endowment has been established to cover future costs, including forest management, taxes and insurance.
She noted that the land had been carefully managed over the years by area foresters Greg Chase, of Hartland, and Elisabeth “Tii” McLane, of South Strafford. Bear, moose, deer and other wildlife are regularly spotted in the Britton Forest, along with migrating birds.
“The forest condition is very healthy,” Merrens said. “We’ll be looking to keep the trail maintenance easy and manageable.”
Recreation trails have existed on the land for generations — Britton noted that his family has never had the land posted — and the Upper Valley Land Trust plans to keep them going.
“We’re excited about it,” Tom Kidder, chair of Newbury’s Tucker Mountain Town Forest Management Committee, said in a Friday phone interview while doing trail work in the conservation area, echoing Merrens. “It’s great wildlife habitat.”
The Tucker Mountain committee looks forward to working with the Upper Valley Land Trust to maintain the trails that connect the two properties for hiking, snowshoeing, skiing and other types of recreation.
“It means a lot to me,” Kidder said. “I am totally attached to the outdoors and the forests. It’s an opportunity for me in my life to help steward this large piece of land.”
