Protecting New Hampshire's Natural, Historic, and Cultural Resources
Rehabilitated and Ready to Entertain
Newport Opera House resumes programming
The Town of Newport has completed one phase of work needed on its historic downtown Opera House, thanks in part to an LCHIP grant that helped pay for cleaning and repointing brickwork, repairing the main staircase, and replacing in-kind the maple floor in the theater upstairs. 

Built in 1886 as a town hall and performance space, it thrived through the nineteen thirties and forties, fell onto hard times in the fifties and sixties, and was restored in the seventies. Into the twenty first century, the auditorium floor was replaced while the building was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The work included soundproofing to reduce noise disturbances to the Sullivan County Court, which occupies the first floor. 

The building has reopened and programming has resumed.

Photo: The historic Newport Town Hall and Courthouse is currently used as a performance center by the Newport Opera House Association and as the New Hampshire Sullivan County Superior Court.
New Durham’s Recreational Opportunities Expand
Birch Ridge Community Forest adds 636 acres
With assistance from a 2020 LCHIP grant, the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire recently added 636 acres to New Durham’s Birch Ridge Community Forest.  The newly-conserved land includes extensive south-facing slopes which provide wintering areas for wildlife and spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountain range. An existing network of wood roads combined with three miles of Snowmobile Corridor #22 offer year-round recreational access. (Trail Map). 

LCHIP is proud to have assisted in the creation of nine community forests across the state, totaling over 18,000 acres of land managed by and for local communities. Learn more about community forests in New Hampshire here.
Mountain bikers enjoy the woods roads in the Stell tract of the Birch Ridge Community Forest.
Photo Credit: Jerry Monkman/Ecophotography, LLC
Stewardship Work gives Insight on LCHIP's Impact
Andrew Chaplin, Summer Natural Resources Steward
Andrew Chaplin has just completed his third summer as LCHIP’s Natural Resources Steward. During the other ten months of the year he works as a high school chemistry teacher. His work for LCHIP involves checking on the condition of properties that have received LCHIP grants for natural resource conservation. This year he visited more than 20 properties, often working alongside landowners and other stewards. Visiting sites from Salem to Errol, he documented property conditions, boundaries, trails, flora, fauna, and owner’s future plans. The work in stewardship has given Andrew a heightened sense of the impact LCHIP has throughout the state. Andrew observed that the funding LCHIP provides “allows for the conservation of absolutely wonderful pieces of property representing a variety of landscapes throughout New Hampshire.”
 
Photo: LCHIP’s Natural Resources Steward, Andrew Chaplin
The NH Conservation License Plate (Moose Plate) Program supports the protection of critical resources in our state. You can purchase a Moose Plate at any time - even for a friend! Find out more at mooseplate.com. Income from the Moose Plate Program pays for much of LCHIP's administrative expenses. Thanks Moose Plate holders for your support!
Header photo:  Review panelists Steve Walker, Ben Wilcox, and Susan Francher on a natural resource site visit in late August.