In its twelfth round of grant-making in the fall of 2018, the Q2C Land Conservation Grants Program awarded grants totaling $45,000 to six projects that will conserve a total of approximately 2,498 acres of land. 91 percent of the acres protected are located within areas identified as conservation priorities in the Q2C land conservation plan – falling within either “conservation focus areas” ranked as the most ecologically critical lands in the region, or “supporting landscapes” that buffer and connect the core focus areas. The total value of the projects funded in 2018 (land and easement value plus transaction and other costs) is conservatively estimated at nearly $2 million. The projects are briefly summarized below.
The two-state Quabbin-to-Cardigan region spans one hundred miles from the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts northward along the western spine of New Hampshire to the boundary of the White Mountain National Forest. Encompassing approximately two million acres, the region is one of the largest remaining areas of intact forest in central New England and is a key headwater of both the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers.