Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests


The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests is a private, non-profit, land conservation and sustainable forestry organization based in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It purchases or is given easements on property, or obtains outright ownership, as a way to conserve land for wildlife, recreation, sustainable forestry and sustainable agriculture. It also performs advocacy and education services. It was established in February 1901, with Frank W. Rollins as its first president. Philip W. Ayres was appointed the first Forester. During the 1920s, the SPNHF raised over $100,000 towards the purchase of land in Franconia Notch.
As of 2017, the society owns more than 180 properties covering, including The Rocks and Bretzfelder Memorial Park. It also holds conservation easements on more than 700 pieces of property covering, and has land transferred with deed restrictions on 94 properties, covering. Among other properties it owns are the Lost River Reservation in Woodstock, and the Mount Monadnock Reservation, in Jaffrey and Dublin, New Hampshire.
In addition to holding easements, SPNHF acts as a resource for landowners and other, smaller conservation land trusts. Staff make presentations and host seminars for the public and other local land trusts. One of its larger events is an annual "Saving Special Places" workshop. Members of the public, town conservation commissions and land trusts attend seminars presenting information ranging from tax laws and conservation easement creation to fundraising techniques and marketing a land trust. From its inception, it has produced occasional publications for guidance and information, such as A New Hampshire Everlasting and Unfallen and At What Cost? Shaping the Land We Call New Hampshire: A Land Use History, edited by Richard Ober.