The Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership (Q2C) today released a request for applications for both its   Land Conservation Grant and Trail Grant programs. In 2019, the Partnership has $50,000 for its Land Conservation Grant program and approximately $25,000 for its Trail grant program to re-grant. The grant program is privately funded and administered by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests on behalf of the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership. Non-profit land trusts, municipalities, and state agencies that have land conservation as a primary function are all eligible to apply for Q2C grants.

The two-state Quabbin-to-Cardigan region spans one hundred miles from the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts northward along the spine of New Hampshire to the southern boundary of the White Mountain National Forest. Encompassing approximately two million acres, the region is one of the largest remaining areas of intact, interconnected, and ecologically significant forest in central New England and is a key headwater of both the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers.

Launched in 2003, the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership is a collaborative effort of more than twenty private organizations and public agencies working on land conservation in the Q2C landscape. The partners share a vision of conserving (on a strictly willing-seller/donor basis) the region’s most ecologically significant forests and key connections between them for wildlife passage and human recreation. Over the past ten years, the Q2C partners have helped to permanently protect thousands of acres.

In 2009, the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership launched its Land Conservation Grants program, which underwrites transaction costs—appraisals, surveys, title research, staff time, etc.—on conservation transactions that protect land identified in the Q2C conservation plan. Over the past ten years, the lands grant program has awarded $943,000 to 95 separate land conservation projects that have conserved more than 33,000 acres of land.

In 2013, the Q2C Partnership began offering small grants to support the development, improvement, and maintenance of hiking trails in the Q2C region. More than 47 trail projects have been funded and some $271,000 has been awarded to partners to improve 93 miles of trails within the region, conduct trail planning, develop parking areas, signs, trail maps, and trail guides, and even purchase important trail lands. As with our land conservation grants program, the trail grants are awarded through a competitive process and are available for projects in both the New Hampshire and Massachusetts portions of the Q2C.

Before applying for a Q2C grant, applicants should carefully review the request for proposals and application materials. These are available on the “Grants” page of the Q2C website, www.q2cpartnership.org.  The website also includes information on the Quabbin-to-Cardigan region and conservation plan, maps, a list of towns in the region, etc.

Projects must be located in the following towns to be eligible to apply for funding:  IN NEW HAMPSHIRE:  Acworth, Alexandria, Alstead, Andover, Antrim, Bennington, Bradford, Canaan, Chesterfield, Croydon, Danbury, Deering, Dorchester, Dublin, Enfield, Fitzwilliam, Francestown, Gilsum, Goshen, Grafton, Grantham, Greenfield, Groton, Hancock, Hanover, Harrisville, Hebron, Henniker, Hill, Hillsborough, Jaffrey, Keene, Lempster, Lyme, Marlborough, Marlow, Nelson, Newbury, New Ipswich, New London, Newport, Orange, Orford, Peterborough, Richmond, Rindge, Roxbury, Rumney, Salisbury, Sharon, Springfield, Stoddard, Sullivan, Sunapee, Surry, Sutton, Swanzey, Temple, Troy, Unity, Warner, Washington, Wentworth, Wilmot, Wilton, Winchester, Windsor. IN MASSACHUSETTS:  Ashburnham, Athol, Barre, Erving, Gardner, Hardwick, Hubbardston, Leverett, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Shutesbury, Templeton, Warwick, Wendell, Westminster, Winchendon.

Completed applications must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 30, 2019. Completed applications may be submitted electronically to ccolton@forestsociety.org. Completed applications may also be sent by mail and must be postmarked no later than August 30, 2019. Mail applications to:  Connie Colton, Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 54 Portsmouth Street, Concord, NH  03301. Successful grant applicants will be notified in late October 2019.

For all questions regarding the grant program and the application process, please contact Brian Hotz at (603) 224-9945 x 316 or bhotz@forestsociety.org.