Documentation:Open Case Studies/FRST522/2021/Mink Brook Community Forest: A Case Study in Community Forestry in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Map of New Hampshire (L) and Grafton County (R), showing the approximate location of the town of Hanover (highlighted)

Theme: Community, Social, and Indigenous Forestry

Country: United States

Province/Prefecture: New Hampshire

City: Hanover

This conservation resource was created by Elise Petit.

Summary

The Mink Brook Community Forest is a community forest located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA that was established in early 2021. The forest will support conservation and protection of biodiversity, recreation and education, and sustainable forest management practices as part of the United States Forest Service's Community Forest Program. Local communities overwhelmingly supported the formation of the Mink Brook Community Forest and express appreciation for the ability to access the unique characteristics of this landscape, and the widespread enthusiasm for the project combined with its recent inception provide the opportunity to go even further, fostering more partnerships to spread community benefits to more people and getting more citizens of Hanover outside to experience the forest.

Mink Brook Community Forest background

The Mink Brook Community Forest is a 250-acre community forest on the banks of Mink Brook, an offshoot of the Connecticut River in Hanover, NH, USA, part of the traditional ancestral territory of the Abenaki Nation. Today, the small town of Hanover, New Hampshire is home to 11,870 people, Dartmouth College, and a section of the Appalachian Trail. The town is overwhelmingly white and wealthy, surrounded by rural farmland and thick northern forests. Given its proximity to vast natural areas, citizens of Hanover and the surrounding areas participate heavily in outdoor activities and show great concern for the environment.

Mink Brook in Hanover, New Hampshire

Hanover is a small college town in the midst of New England's Northern Forest, one of the largest remaining privately owned continuous forests in the United States. The area on which the town sits today was stewarded by Indigenous peoples of the Abenaki band of peoples for centuries before the arrival of settlers in the late 17th century, who swiftly commenced logging activity throughout the endless forest. At the end of the 1800s, however, resource depletion and privatization of land ownership made forest products a financially unviable market, and the 19th and 20th centuries saw economic focus move away from the one-endless forest products of the landscape to small-scale agriculture, tourism, and recreation; clear-cutting had opened the door for development of highways, farms, and vacation homes for east coast elites. The area continued to attract wealthy socialites seeking a serene respite from their bustling city lives, and in particular the Upper Connecticut River Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire retains its reputation as a place to get away and reconnect with nature. Despite a diverse population of rural farmers, wealthy upperclass families, students, outdoorsmen, and Indigenous communities, an appreciation for nature and a desire to conserve the landscape on which they reside unites most of the residents of the Upper Valley.

The Town of Hanover partnered with the Trust for Public Land and the Hanover Conservancy to “protect the ecologically rich corridor of Mink Brook, maintain the pristine meadow, provide new trails, and secure vital habitat for wildlife” through the formation of a community forest through the U.S. Forest Service’s community forest program. The property stretches around the southeastern border of the town and is home to a meadow, wetlands, a fen, rare and endangered species, and an old growth stand of eastern hemlock. Approximately 220 acres of the property is considered forested. Conservation, recreation, ecological monitoring, and active forestry will all take place on the land, with a five-acre parcel set aside for the development of affordable workforce housing, the one-acre lot containing the old farmhouse sold to a family, and a small area allocated for expansion of the town’s water tank, which already exists on the land.

Because the Mink Brook Community Forest is in its infancy—officially securing funding via a vote on July 8, 2020—the project has not yet reached its full scope. As of December 14, 2021, the land has been open to the public for several months, and progress has been made in trail and recreation area development, forestry and land stewardship planning, and management of invasive plants and ecological concerns, with plans to construct a small pavilion to host educational and recreational events as well as bridges to increase trail accessibility.

Goals and intentions

The goals of the Mink Brook Community Forest, as laid out by the Town of Hanover, are conservation, recreation, wildlife protection, and public access. Secondary goals include educational use and the protection of ecosystem services, such as healthy soils to attenuate spring flooding and the protection of a greenbelt surrounding Hanover's downtown core, dubbed the "forested backdrop" in Town documents. This greenbelt is a key part of the Town's vision for itself as existing side-by-side with nature, and also serves as a well-travelled wildlife corridor between the east and west sides of town. The area faces heavy development pressure, particularly due to an influx of people relocating from the west coast due to wildfires. Other intentions for the creation of the forest include timber management, non-forested land stewardship (specifically in the ecologically-significant meadow), and invasive plant control.

Land tenure and institutional agreements

Storm over Mink Brook, 1950

The majority of the land in the United States is privately owned, a consequence of the privatization of land as a conservation strategy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The federal government owns most of what is left, with public agencies and Indigenous reservations accounting for the rest. Private ownership conveys land rights solely to the owner, though factors like zoning, regulations, taxes, and market fluctuations can impact the owner's ability to use the land for certain purposes.

History of land tenure of Mink Brook

Available records show that the Mink Brook Community Forest land used to be part of a 380-acre parcel used for agriculture. Only a small portion of the land was suitable for farming; most of the forested area near the farmhouse was harvested for wood for construction products, fencing, and heating, while also providing pasture for livestock and wildlife to hunt for food. Throughout the 1800s the farm grew and changed hands several times, before finally becoming the LaBombard Farm, owned and operated by the LaBombard family from 1895 to 1933. After this the land was purchased by a family who lived in the farmhouse and maintained the large property until the early 2000s. Parcels of privately owned residential land spanning hundreds of forested acres are common in this area of the United States, often enjoyed by the owners for recreation. When the owners put the property on the market in 2005, a large development project was proposed for the area. Developers hoped to construct a retirement community on the property, a project strongly opposed by neighbouring residents and the Town itself. Town residents lobbied for changes to zoning bylaws that would render the project impossible, and the Town and the developer spent the next decade filing lawsuits in a stalemate over the fate of the property until 2018, when the lawsuits were dropped and the developer moved on. The Town and several other organizations began to discuss potential conservation of the property, recognizing the value in such a piece of land, but did not have the funds to acquire the deed. A plan for acquiring funds to purchase the farm was formed over the next several years, with the intent to submit a U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Program application by mid-2021. Around this time, the farm was purchased from siblings who had grown up on the property by the Town in a purchase facilitated by the Trust for Public Land, with support from the Hanover Conservancy. The acquisition cost approximately $2.5 million USD.

Funding for the purchase of the land came from the Town of Hanover ($500,000 USD from the Conservation Fund, voted on unanimously by residents), the U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Program ($600,000 USD from a federal grant), the Upper Connecticut River Mitigation Fund through the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation ($100,000 USD donation), the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program ($200,000 USD from a state-run program), and several significant anonymous donations. Revenue from the sale of the one-acre plot containing the farmhouse also contributed to the acquisition.

Institutional arrangements and partnerships

Accepting funding from organizations often entails certain requirements or guidelines for the project. The use of the Mink Brook Community Forest is greatly impacted by its funding; multiple levels of government, an NGO, and private citizens have supported this project and have expectations in return. All funding requirements have been met.

Financial contributions to the Mink Brook Community Forest

Donor name	Contribution amount (USD)	Requirements for receiving funding
Town of Hanover Conservation Fund	$500,000	Achieve a majority vote among residents in attendance
U.S. Forest Service Community Forest and Open Spaces Project Grant	$600,000	Full-fee title acquisition (conservation easements not eligible, land must be privately owned) Ownership by local government, tribal government, and/or qualified nonprofit entities Stewardship plan must include active forestry and public access Projects must be at least 75% forested Project must convey community benefits
N.H. Charitable Foundation Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund	$100,000	None (donation)
N.H. Land and Community Heritage Investment Program Funding	$200,000	Applicant must be a municipality or other political subdivision of NH, or NGO Must place an LCHIP sign on the property and include logos and official statements on publications and advertisements Stewardship plan must include natural resource and ecosystem monitoring Funds from LCHIP must be held in public trust, and public access must be guaranteed Public access to hunting, fishing, and recreation is required
Private citizens	Upwards of $500,000	None (donations and fundraising)

Also important are arrangements for forest management, community engagement, and other stewardship necessities. Mink Brook Community Forest will be managed by Jeffrey Smith, a licensed New Hampshire forester and the same forester who has been overseeing the land for years, in collaboration with the Town's Conservation Commission and input from the community. Management will prioritize biodiversity and protecting rare species, invasive species management (the property has a pressing knotweed infestation near the brook), and minimal disturbance to the ecosystem. A section of the forest was harvested in 2018, and active tree harvesting is not recommended for another two decades.

The Town, specifically the Hanover Conservation Commission, is responsible for adherence to policies and guidelines, physical oversight of the property, and the community forest planning and revision process. This includes submission of required forms for funding and plan approvals, monitoring the use of the land, delegating management, enforcing rules and regulations, and installing infrastructure such as bridges, signs, and small buildings on the property for community use. The Hanover Conservancy, a long-time partner of the Town's in the effort to protect local landscapes, has spearheaded most community engagement processes, including organizing public visits, making requests for community feedback, and researching the history and characteristics of the property to generate public interest. Such institutional partnerships have been crucial in the success of the Mink Brook Community Forest according to representatives from the Town and the Hanover Conservancy.

Affected stakeholders

Affected stakeholders are any individual or group that are likely to directly experience or be impacted deeply by the effects of the activities related to a project.

Town of Hanover (government)

The Town of Hanover is the legal landowner and rightsholder over the land on which the community forest is situated, and is also the biggest champion of the community forest project. The Town has invested a significant amount of time and money into the project and is liable for the activities occurring on its land, and hopes to balance environmental protection with community benefit. Due to its influence on the planning process and its ownership of the land, the Town is certainly the most powerful actor among all of the stakeholders with respect to the details of the project. It is important to acknowledge that the power of the Town, and likely the overall success of the forest itself, relies on the support of other actors—this could be the financial support of state and federal agencies, or the social and human capital of partners like the Hanover Conservancy or the Trust for Public Land. If the other actors reduced their contributions, the Town would likely struggle to tackle a project of this scope by itself and its influence over the forest would diminish.

Hanover Conservancy (NGO)

The Hanover Conservancy is an NGO whose goals are to protect has been hoping to conserve this property for years, and it is deeply involved in community engagement for the Mink Brook project. The Conservancy aims to conserve biodiversity, maintain beneficial ecosystem services, and engage the community in discussions on environmental science and conservation. The Conservancy is long-established, well-funded, and saw an increase in membership and donations over the course of this project, making it an influential figure in the formation and management of the Mink Brook project.

Fall foliage near Hanover, NH

Local educational programs (local community)

Nearby schools, museums, and educational programs have expressed interest in using the land for educational purposes; there are no formal educational programs at the community forest at this moment, but the Town and the Conservancy have begun discussions on the implementation of such programs in the future. Some students have shown interest in the project throughout the process and the land is open to student use, but any larger organized groups will need to request permission for use from the Town (although Town officials say that there is no reason why this request would be denied).

Abenaki Nation (Indigenous community)

The Abenaki Nation are the traditional ancestral stewards of the land that Hanover and the Mink Brook Community Forest occupy today. The Abenaki Nation of New Hampshire, specifically the Ko'asek Band, have cultural ties to the land now owned by the Town of Hanover. Due to the private residential ownership of the land over the past several hundred years, the Abenaki have been barred from accessing this area for a long time. Recently, the Town has reached out to Abenaki leaders in an attempt to partner with them in a state-wide renaming initiative, and also hope to hear from them about how they believe the land should be stewarded. Response from the nation has been slow due to political transitions and disruptive events in tribal leaders' personal lives, but the Town has established several connections with leaders and aspires to engage them with the Mink Brook Community Forest going forward. In terms of relative power, the Abenaki have very little direct influence over forest management, but the willingness of the Town to hear their opinions is a positive step in their involvement.

Greensboro Road neighbourhood (local community)

The Mink Brook Community Forest is divided into a north and south parcel by Greensboro Road, home to residential neighbourhoods with families and pets. Many Greensboro residents seem to like the fact that they can now access the wide green spaces just beyond their backyards, wishing for children's activities and roadside trailheads. Some were concerned about certain activities that may take place on the property and whether traffic and parking along Greensboro would become more difficult to navigate. Residents successfully lobbied for the prohibition of mountain bikes and motorized vehicles in the area, indicating that they have some indirect influence over the decision-making process, but their impact is much smaller than that of the Town or the Conservancy.

Hanover residents living elsewhere in or near Hanover (local community)

Residents living in the greater Hanover area seemed enthusiastic about the conservation and recreation opportunities resulting from the creation of the Mink Brook Community Forest, and even residents of neighbouring towns were invited to share their opinions during the community engagement process. Most Hanover residents indicated that their primary reason for using the forest would be recreation, with significant support for educational programs and connection to nature as well. A majority of the comments made by residents during town meetings with officials were positive or inquisitive, and none expressed outright negativity towards the project. Town officials addressed every question asked by residents and used the time to conduct surveys about community desires. Just like the Greensboro Road residents, greater Hanover residents have little direct power in terms of assuring that their specific desires are addressed, but there are numerous methods for them to express their opinions to the Town, who has thus far greatly welcomed their feedback.

Interested stakeholders

Interested stakeholders are any individual or group that have links to or interests in activity in an area but do not have local relational value to the area.

Trust for Public Land (NGO)

The Trust for Public Land is an NGO that focuses on the protection of vulnerable lands and the support of the communities inhabiting these areas. The main goal of the Trust for Public Land in terms of community forestry is the acquisition of the land by communities; as demonstrated in this case study, acquiring land can sometimes be too expensive and time consuming for communities to do alone. In Hanover, the partnership with the Trust aimed to raise funds to purchase the land and to raise awareness of the project itself, both of which the Trust achieved. Now that the Mink Brook forest is established, the Trust does not need to be as involved with the project. The Trust for Public Land has special interest in the progress of the community forest due to its partnerships with the Town and the Conservancy, and it held more power than the Town during the early stages of the project, but this influence had a purposefully-short lifespan.

Twin Pines Housing (private sector)

Twin Pines Housing is the development company contracted to construct the cottage-style affordable housing units on the five-acre parcel next to the forest. Hanover residents may balk at the idea of development, but Hanover is facing an affordable housing crisis and the units will address this shortage as well as increase the funding provided by the state. Despite growing pressure to develop, the project is currently on hold due to zoning bylaws, which have not yet been changed to accommodate the new development. Twin Pines is one of the least powerful actors involved in the community forest: public opinion on the project is mixed, no action can occur until bylaws change, and the land allocated for development is largely viewed as an entirely separate parcel from the forest (while this is technically true, the development will border the forest and its proximity may have consequences for the forest ecosystem).

New Hampshire state government (government)

The New Hampshire state government provided funding to the Mink Brook Community Forest through the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program Funding. The Town relies on the state's funding, and has agreed to comply with certain practices and regulations as a result. The state government is inherently powerful as it is one of the significant investors in the project and as such the Town has reason to comply with its requests. The motivation behind these requirements is to ensure that social and community forestry projects under the governments' jurisdiction are both socially and environmentally responsible while also adding some clauses about advertising their grant programs.

U.S. Forest Service (government)

The U.S. Forest Service was the single largest funder to the Mink Brook Community Forest, giving the Town of Hanover $600,000 USD in the form of the Community Forest Project Grant. Like the state government, the Forest Service has specific requirements for approval to ensure proper management and community benefits are accomplished. Due to the significance of the funding and the substantial guidelines to which the community forest must adhere, the U.S. Forest Service is quite influential, despite not having direct ties to the area.

New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (NGO)

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation is an NGO devoted to funding charitable activities within the state. It aims to uplift vulnerable communities and support projects for the common good. Its donation to the Mink Brook Community Forest came through the Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund, which is granted to NGOs or municipalities that are working to protect shoreline, rivers, and wetlands. The funding does not have any substantial requirements on behalf of the community forest, which makes this NGO a relatively weak player in the project.

The forested backdrop of downtown Hanover (view from Six South Street Hotel)

Researchers (government, NGO)

While not involved in the community forest yet, the presence of significant ecological areas and rare species present opportunities for research in the future. The ecologist hired to perform ecological assessments had several research topics for which Mink Brook would make an excellent study site.

Stakeholder satisfaction and conflict

Although the project is still young, stakeholders have generally expressed satisfaction with the community forest. The Town of Hanover, the Hanover Conservancy, and the Trust for Public Land succeeded in protecting the land from development or unsustainable use, conserving an unbroken stretch of greenbelt to act as a wildlife corridor and maintaining the forested backdrop behind downtown Hanover. The social forestry and land management goals of state and federal government entities are tended to through this project, and the public has access to a large portion of land that can be used for any number of activities or events. According to town officials, the only foreseeable disadvantage of the community forest is that it could become so popular that its usefulness as wildlife habitat may decrease.

The Mink Brook Community Forest project has faced few challenges from stakeholders. Mountain bikers and ATV riders expressed disappointment in the prohibition of such activities in the community forest, but agreed when town officials explained that the terrain and ecosystems are not suited for these hobbies, and they don't need to travel far to find other trails in the area better suited for this purpose. Another small point of contention was permission to hunt on the land; visitors out walking at Mink Brook and a few families in the neighbourhoods nearby were unhappy that hunting is allowed in the forest. Although hunters need to follow all state safety, seasonal, and licensing regulations, locals expressed worries about safety; however, the community generally accepted that hunting is required in order to earn state funding and that appropriate safety regulations are in place. In spite of these concerns, Mink Brook Community Forest has proven popular over the first several months of its lifetime, with Town officials hearing nothing but good things from the public.

Potential future projects

It is difficult to determine whether such a new community forest project is a success or a failure. Certain aspects of the project have already been wildly successful: many residents visit the forest each day, strong partnerships have been forged between powerful actors, and the forest has adhered to its approved stewardship plan with little difficulty. Plans are in motion on many other projects, such as educational programs and partnerships, development, and Indigenous involvement. An essential task for the Town going forward is to engage these stakeholders who have indicated interest but haven't established a concrete plan for involvement yet. Involving diverse stakeholders early helps create a more inclusive, representative plan for stewardship and engagement, which may prevent wicked problems and avoidable revisions in the future. Strengthening institutional partnerships with Indigenous communities, educational institutions, NGOs, and other current and potential stakeholders early on is a win-win for both sides, and the Town can use the Mink Brook Community Forest as a location to facilitate partnerships between other stakeholders as well.

Another important consideration for the Town, especially in light of the forest's immense popularity, is to consider potential future imbalances between environmental health and community benefits. The land on which Mink Brook Community Forest is situated not only contains rare biodiversity and unique ecological characteristics, but it also provides essential ecosystem services to the area in the form of flood mitigation, water purification, and habitat for wildlife that would otherwise venture into town. Sacrificing these environmental benefits in favour of recreation may seem feasible in the short-term, but allowing this imbalance to persist for too long leads to ecological breakdown. The Town needs to have a plan in place to curb land use should it notice signs of environmental damage, although residents have shown great concern for the state of the local ecosystem throughout the process of forming the community forest and will likely be responsive to requests from the Town.

The opportunity to engage Indigenous peoples should be seized when appropriate. Town officials show interest in working with local Indigenous communities, but connecting with the appropriate leaders can be challenging. The Town should continue to establish new Indigenous contacts, and expand to include not just tribal leaders but Indigenous land management professionals, students, educators, and more. The ability to involve a variety of Indigenous perspectives and potentially to integrate new ideas on stewardship or community engagement at Mink Brook is uniquely possible in this project due to its youth, location, and the enthusiasm of multiple stakeholders towards Indigenous engagement.

In all, the Mink Brook Community Forest is an exciting opportunity with potential for growth over the coming years. After just several months of official community forest status, local support from multiple stakeholders shows no signs of slowing down. The forest generates community benefits through recreation, ecosystem services, and education while also protecting an historic piece of land with a thriving ecosystem.

The author would like to thank Vicki Smith, Town of Hanover Senior Planner, and Adair Mulligan, Executive Director of the Hanover Conservancy, for their contributions to this project.