Fundraising for Mahoosuc Highlands project nearly complete

SHELBURNE — The non-profit Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests sent word out to its members in its June “Tree Mail” that it only needs to raise $80,000 more for the Mahoosuc Highlands project to help conserve 3,700 acres along the Androscoggin River and the Appalachian Trail. These final dollars will leverage more than $3.3 million in other gifts and grants that are already in hand or committed.

“The Forest Society has the opportunity to conserve a magnificent landscape and a key link in the chain of connected lands that reach from the White Mountain National Forest to Grafton Notch, encompassing the beautiful Mahoosuc Mountain range,” reads the email. “Working in partnership with the nonprofit The Conservation Fund (whose NH/VT representative Sally Manikian lives in Shelburne) and the Town of Shelburne, the Forest Society seeks to purchase 3,700 acres of forestland that includes 1.6 miles along the Androscoggin River. Rising from the banks of the Androscoggin, the Mahoosuc Highlands property reaches to the ridges of Stevens Point, Mount Hayes, Cascade Mountain, and extends to Bald Cap Peak and Middle Mountain, together forming the scenic backdrop and ‘big country’ seen from Route 2 from Gorham to Shelburne.”