In November, 2010, as we were well along the process of putting our land into conservation, we sat on our back porch looking toward Sucker Brook, which runs from Highland Lake in Andover to Webster Lake in Franklin, and watched a small white ermine cavorting across the stream. His bright white coat showed up beautifully against the November russets and browns, but he would be invisible after snowfall. As we watched we both said, “That wee beastie is why we are putting this land into conservation!”

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Sixty-nine Acres on Valley Road in Andover Conserved

When Ann and Harte Crow purchased their land in northeast Hanover over thirty years ago, they thought of naming the place “Pressey Brook Farm.” But says Harte Crow, “that seemed awfully pretentious,” for the landscape they had come to know. Instead, their family affectionately refers to the land as “The Dismal,” in honor of The Great Dismal Swamp in the southeastern U.S. The land is wet and portions are often flooded due to a hearty population of beavers that is active near the confluence of several brooks. These brooks, Pressey and Tunis, join on the property to create a large wetland complex. Pressey flows from a height of land near the Lyme/Hanover border and Tunis comes off of Moose Mountain; together these brooks serve as a watershed for Goose Pond and the Mascoma River.

The Crows recently donated a conservation easement on their 239-acre property to the Upper Valley Land Trust. This agreement will ensure the permanent protection of this land.

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Wildlife Habitat and Open Space Conserved in Hanover