Caring for the Land
Lifelong Stewardship of Lands You Love
Land protection is just the beginning.
Monitoring Conservation Easements
Once a landowner has placed a conservation easement on their property, the Harris Center is responsible for ensuring that the terms of the easement are upheld, year after year, even if the property changes hands. Every year, Harris Center staff and interns conduct monitoring visits at all of our 100+ conservation easements.
Monitoring involves contacting landowners to set up a visit, reviewing easement language and old monitoring reports, visiting the property (often with the landowner) to walk the boundaries and note any significant ecological changes, writing up a report, and sharing it with the landowner. Over the years, the Harris Center has hired well over 50 land interns to help us with this enormous and critical task. Many of them have gone on to careers in conservation.
Managing Harris Center Lands
Harris Center-owned lands are managed for wildlife habitat, forest health, watershed protection, recreation, and beauty. We monitor our properties annually to check on boundaries, ensure that trails and woods roads are in good shape, and identify issues like natural disturbances or invasive pests. Through careful planning, forest harvests on Harris Center lands are occasionally undertaken to create or maintain specific wildlife habitat and to promote diverse tree regeneration.
Contact Us
For more information on protecting your land with the Harris Center, please contact Eric Masterson at (603) 525-3394 or by email.
