OCTOBER 2021
Welcome!
The grant round process is proceeding apace: site visits have been completed (40 of them!) and the Review Panels will complete their long day’s discussions about the relative merits of each of the proposals on the two sides of the program by the middle of the month. Next up is the decision-making meeting of the Board of Directors in mid-November.

In other LCHIP news, I have decided to retire at the end of the year. It has been both a delight and an honor to have served, happily, in this position since September, 2010. A great pleasure of this job has been to meet and assist the people who use LCHIP grant money to accomplish projects that are valued in communities all around the state.


Dijit Taylor
Executive Director
Protecting New Hampshire's Natural, Historic, and Cultural Resources
Androscoggin River Protection 
Shelburne Riverlands conserves 860 acres
Nearly 50 years ago the Androscoggin River, formerly one of the most polluted rivers in the country, helped inspire the creation of the Clean Water Act. In a remarkable success story, communities all along the Androscoggin have since worked together to clean up and protect the River, allowing it to become an important driver of the region’s growing outdoor-recreation based economy.
In a highly significant protection effort, a $125,000 LCHIP award in 2020 helped the Mahoosuc Land Trust and The Conservation Fund permanently conserve 860 acres along the Androscoggin in Shelburne, including 22 islands. The newly-protected “Riverlands” area offers spectacular views from the river and the adjacent Cross NH Adventure Trail and secures public access for paddling, fishing, and hiking. Videos available here.
Shelburne Riverlands protects 860 acres along the Androscoggin River.
Photo Credit: Jerry Monkman/Ecophotography, LLC
When Historic Roads become Highways
Stratford Grange takes a step backward from Route 3
Stratford’s historic Grange Hall is on the way to a more secure future. Constructed as the town’s meetinghouse around 1820, it was moved across the road in the 1890s and became the headquarters of the local Grange. Eventually, the road developed into busy Route 3. Salt, snow, and vibration from passing trucks buffeted the building, while run-off from the road washed through the building’s fieldstone foundation and rot damaged much of its clapboard siding. 

A $61,500 LCHIP grant is helping the town tackle these problems: the building has been moved twenty feet back onto a new foundation and the building and the deteriorated clapboards are being replaced with quarter-sawn clapboards from a Vermont mill. 

Photo: Stratford Selectmen Charles Goulet takes the measure of the notably wide planks of the 200-year-old sheathing recently exposed when carpenters removed rotted clapboards. 
Historic Resource Stewardship at LCHIP
New Staff Position Supports Historic Resource Grant Recipients
Every historic resource project completed with LCHIP support results in a legal agreement between LCHIP and the recipient. Part of the stewardship obligation of the legal agreement is that the recipient must conduct annual monitoring of the resource for a specified number of years. LCHIP helps recipients prepare for this responsibility by making a stewardship site visit during the first year of the agreement. The visit provides LCHIP with an opportunity to review stewardship responsibilities and show the recipient what to look for when completing the annual monitoring form. 

Kristen Powell holds the newly created position of LCHIP Historic Resource Stewardship Coordinator. Kristen’s position and responsibilities have evolved since she started at LCHIP as an intern in 2019 while enrolled in the Master’s degree program in Historic Preservation at Plymouth State University.  

Photo: Kristen Powell presents an LCHIP plaque to Pastor Richard Huntley of Bow Crossroads Community Church during the first year the property is under stewardship agreement with LCHIP.
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:  Natural Resource review panel visit to 2021 applicant site, including LCHIP Executive Director and pending retiree, Dijit Taylor (fourth from left).