The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $3.1 million in grants this week for organizations and local governments to purchase forest land, including $600,000 for the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock.
Eric Masterson, land program manager for the nonprofit organization, said Tuesday the money is planned to be used to buy nearly 600 acres of land, called Sargent Camp.
The Harris Center is working on an agreement to purchase the land from its present owner, Boston University, which has owned it since the 1930s and once used it as a camp and a leadership retreat, he said in an interview.
There are more than 40 buildings on the property, including a lodge with a kitchen, classrooms and a dining area.
This 600-acre tract in Hancock and Peterborough is surrounded by a conservation area that is already part of the Harris Center’s 36,000-acre SuperSanctuary, which also extends to Antrim, Dublin, Greenfield, Harrisville, Nelson and Stoddard.
The property the Harris Center is negotiating to buy would be kept open for public use such as hiking, biking, boating and some hunting, according to Masterson. He said it would be protected in perpetuity as a resource for people and wildlife.
“One of the key hallmarks of the Harris Center is to create a network of protected lands that are contiguous to provide a refuge for wide-ranging animals like moose, bear and bobcats,” Masterson said. “It’s an important habitat.”
The center has teacher-naturalists who bring educational programs to schools throughout southwestern New Hampshire. Students also take field trips to the center and participate in other programming there.
The USDA announced the grants Monday and said the money was meant to conserve 1,544 acres of private forest lands as community forests. Other conservation areas involved are in Maine, Ohio and New York.
In a news release, the agency said the investments “ensure that forests critical to the social, economic, and ecological wellbeing of local communities remain as forests while also continuing to be managed locally.”
Tom Schultz is chief of the U.S. Forest Service, which operates under the USDA.
“Community forests strengthen rural communities — supporting jobs and timber production, expanding recreation, and reducing wildfire risk through local, active management,” he said in the release.
Land already protected by the Harris Center includes 23 peaks over 1,500 feet in elevation, shorefront surrounding or abutting 18 lakes and ponds, 95 miles along rivers and streams, 21 miles of hiking trails, several scenic roads and more than 1,600 acres of diverse wetlands, according to its website.
Rick Green can be reached at 603-352-1234, extension 1435, or rgreen@keenesentinel.com.
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