4-8-08 

Walpole Farm Conservation Project Completed

53 Acres Along Connecticut River in Conservation Easement

By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer

The Walpole Conservation Commission and the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the announced Monday the successful closing of the Ballam Farm Conservation Project—a project that has been two years in the making. 

 Walpole’s Conservation Commission now holds a conservation easement over approximately 52.89 acres of farm and forestland that contain important frontage on the Connecticut River.  The project also provides the town with eight acres as an addition to its wellhead property and which could support an additional wellhead if needed in the future.

“Protecting the Ballam Farm property means protecting Walpole’s drinking water now and into the future,” said Mark Houghton, Walpole Water Department Superintendent.  “The property sits next to our well head and beneath it is one of the most productive aquifers in the state, serving  over 900 residents and businesses.”

The Ballam Farm property, once part of Louis Ballam’s family farm, was for sale by the Henry B. Cabot 1967 Trust in the spring of 2006. There were reports of a purchase offer being considered by a developer with plans for a car dealership along Rt. 12 and residential development behind it. After last spring’s failed effort to gain enough taxpayer support to fund the easement’s purchase, the TPL, in the summer and fall of 2007, launched a private fundraising campaign to complete the Ballam Farm conservation project.  The campaign was recently successful in raising almost $200,000 of private funding to match public funds and to complete the deal.

The TPL spearheaded the project as part of its Connecticut River Program that works in four states to conserve land that is prized by local communities and representative of the resource values of New England’s largest watershed.  The property contains nearly half a mile of pristine Connecticut River shoreline, including a unique floodplain forest natural community, that will receive protection under the terms of the conservation easement. 

Ballam Farm will continue to be farmed under the terms of the conservation easement.  In fact, as the Eagle Times reported on Monday, it has already been sold to David and Suzanne Green of Walpole, MA for $875,000.

Josh Kelly, TPL Field Representative, thanked the many private donors that brought the project to a close.  “Ballam Farm is conserved today because of the generosity and caring of area residents that support the needs of their community.”  Kelly also praised the landowners for allowing the time necessary to complete the deal and acknowledged the work of the Conservation Commission, the Walpole Select Board, and other local residents, as well as the Monadnock Conservancy, which holds an Executory Interest in the conservation easement, and the Granite State Rural Watershed Association for its role in highlighting the importance of the aquifer’s protection.

  In addition to private dollars raised by TPL, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP), awarded the project $295,000 toward the purchase.  The New Hampshire congressional delegation, led by U.S. Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu and Congressman Paul Hodes, strongly supported use of FRPP funds for the project.

Additional project funding came from a grant of $153,000 from the NH Department of Environmental Services (DES) Water Supply Land Grant Program.  “DES is pleased to have been able to help protect this important drinking water source while also protecting valuable farmland,” said Program Coordinator, Holly Green.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national non-profit organization conserving land for people to enjoy as parks, gardens, and natural areas.  Since its founding in 1972, TPL has helped protect more than 2.1 million acres of land in 45 states, including over 200,000 acres in New Hampshire.  For more information, contact TPL’s Northern New England office at (802) 223-1373 or visit www.tpl.org/newhampshire.

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