Harris Center Protects Historic
Camp Marienfeld in Harrisville and Nelson

February 17, 2010 - In one of four recent land-protection projects, the Harris Center for Conservation Education has protected nearly 200 acres on the western shore of Silver Lake in Harrisville and Nelson.

The project is made possible by generous funding from the Silver Lake Land Trust that enabled the Harris Center to purchase a conservation easement from the landowner, Buckingham Browne & Nichols (BB&N), a private school based in Cambridge, Mass. BB&N has used the camp each fall since 1975 to provide incoming ninth-graders with outdoor education and team-building, a 12-day experience known as the school’s “bivouac.”

“Preservation of Camp Marienfeld has been a major priority of the Silver Lake Land Trust and its leaders David Putnam, Duke Powell, Bill Walker and Wally Francis for nearly 20 years,” said Rosamond Delori, a summer resident of the lake and an active board member of the Silver Lake Land Trust. “Thanks to the excellent work of Amy Smagula of the N.H. Department of Environmental Services a decade ago, we learned that the more than 60 percent of Silver Lake’s tributaries flow under, through and over Camp Marienfeld. We are delighted that these precious water resources will be forever protected as a result of this effective, persistent collaboration of three land trusts, the state of New Hampshire, the Silver Lake Association, BB&N, its alums and their families in the region and many, many volunteers.”

The conservation easement allows BB&N to continue to use the property for the school’s fall bivouac and summer programs, but permanently protects the tract from development.

The land has a camp tradition that goes way back to the nascent camping movement in the late 1800s. In 1896, the former farmland just north of Chesham Depot was purchased by Dr. C. Hanford Henderson, a noted educator who established Camp Marienfeld. At the time, it was one of the country’s first summer camps for boys.

Camp Marienfeld grew quite large with numerous buildings, and operated as a progressive summer camp until it went bankrupt in 1956. The land was then purchased by the Hendersonville Corp. – a group of neighbors who didn’t want the land being subdivided and developed – which in turn donated it to BB&N in 1964.

In recent years, officials from BB&N had been in discussions with the Silver Lake Land Trust, the Monadnock Conservancy and the Harris Center to protect the Camp Marienfeld land. The project gained momentum last year with the active enthusiasm of BB&N’s board of trustees.

“We’ve long been interested in protecting this remarkable property for a number of reasons,” said Meade Cadot, director of land programs for the Harris Center for Conservation Education. “While it has 700 feet of shoreline frontage on Silver Lake, the land is a big part of the view from the lake and surrounding lands. Its forest is excellent habitat for a number of wide-ranging species like black bear and bobcat, and connects with a growing number of other protected properties. This is an important linkage between the city of Keene’s water supply in Roxbury and other tracts that protected by the Harris Center and our partner land trusts. Aside from the farsighted folks at the Silver Lake Land Trust, considerable credit to making this deal happen goes to trustee Stephen Froling, who chairs our Land Committee. Stephen worked tirelessly with the Silver Lake Land Trust team to see this land protected.”

"The Silver Lake Land Trust, the Monadnock Conservancy, and the Harris Center are dedicated to preserving the historical legacy and natural beauty of this region and BB&N is very pleased to have partnered with them on this important project," said BB&N Head of School Rebecca T. Upham.

The Silver Lake Land Trust and residents around the lake played a key role in the project by contributing to purchase the conservation easement. The Monadnock Conservancy, which holds easements on neighboring parcels, held and raised the land-protection funds for the project.

Because of the land’s many natural resource values and its proximity to other protected tracts in the Monadnock Region’s highlands, the project was supported by the Quabbin-to-Cardigan Partnership. The partnership is a collaboration of more than two dozen agencies and organizations aimed at protecting the highlands between the Quabbin Reservoir in Massachusetts and Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire. The partnership supported the project with a grant of $13,900 for transaction expenses. To learn more, visit www.q2cpartnership.org.

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Other land-protection projects recently completed by the Harris Center include:

DePierrefeu-Willard Pond Wildlife Sanctuary Easement, Antrim: In Antrim, New Hampshire Audubon has transferred a conservation easement of a 135-acre tract along pristine Willard Pond to the Harris Center. The tract was recently purchased by New Hampshire Audubon from Rosamund Gilbert Iselin (great granddaughter of the wildlife sanctuary’s founder) and had already been protected by conservation easement. Upon receipt of the tract, New Hampshire Audubon transferred the conservation easement to the Harris Center to keep its restrictions intact. The tract protects more than one-third of the shoreline of Willard Pond.

Hartshorne Easement, Nelson: In Nelson, a conservation easement donated by Emily A. and Richard A. Hartshorne now protects 103 acres south of Apple Hill Road. The easement is significant because it links other protected tracts with the city of Keene’s water supply land in Roxbury, forming a large and growing block of conserved lands. The land is an important habitat for bobcat, black bear, moose and other wide-ranging mammals and songbirds.

Ward Easement, Stoddard: In Stoddard, Fred and Ruth Ward have donated a conservation easement protecting 47.9 acres between Route 123 and Bailey Brook Road. The easement adds to a large block of protected lands that include 1,667-acre Robb Reservoir tract that was purchased in 2006 by the Trust for Public Lands and is now owned and managed by the Harris Center. The new easement protects an important stretch of wetlands, including part of Cedar Pond.

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Established in 1970, the Harris Center for Conservation Education is a member-supported nonprofit organization that:
• Promotes understanding and respect for our natural environment through education of all ages;
• Protects and practices exemplary stewardship of the region's natural resources; and
• Provides programs that encourage active participation in the great outdoors.