In a related development, at the July 8 Walpole Planning Board meeting, [Mel]Schupack handed out a summary of Walpole land holdings showing that 3,264 acres or 13.7% of the town’s acreage is currently held in conservation preventing it from being developed. Of that conserved land, 912 acres or 27.9% are owned by the town, 278 acres or 8.5% are owned by the state, 164 acres or 5% are owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, and 1910 acres or 58.5% are owned privately but under conservation easement.
Schupack alluded to the Conservation Commission’s recent—and somewhat controversial—suggestion that the town set a goal of getting 25% of its land into conservation. That goal was drawn from recommendations of the Society for the Preservation of New Hampshire Forests that argues that a “green infrastructure” is vital for human health, the rural economy, and community quality of life. The purpose of such a goal would be to assist the community in securing open lands close to home, to meet the town’s citizens’ needs for the future. Specifically such “smart conservation”, as the SFPNHF calls it, is integrated with smart growth to provide such vital assets to towns as clean drinking water, village and town parks and outdoor recreation fields, locally produced food, town forests and wildlife habitat, and lands with scenic beauty and community character.