Looking across the stone walls

Twenty miles east of Concord, New Hampshire is the town of Northwood. It's alot like much of western Massachusetts: mostly forested, with a few lakes and some farmland. It's also pretty similar in the context of ownership-  mostly private families and individuals, with some larger pieces owned by a state park, a Wildlife Management area, a private school, and a Boy Scout camp.

Although it is in New Hampshire, and you might think it is "way up north" (at least compared to the Massacorn area of western Massachusetts!), that region of southern New Hampshire is undergoing some real change. Between 2000 and 2008, that part of New England experienced 5-10% or more increase in population, and the USDA Forest Service estimates that between 2000 and 2030, 40-63% of its private forestlands will be developed. (For more information on growth and development in New England, and a vision for the future, see Wildlands and Woodlands      http://www.wildlandsandwoodlands.org/  ).

The National Woodland Owner Survey (the "census" of private woodland owners conducted by the USDA Forest Service;  http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/nwos/  ) tells us that most owners are interested in non-consumptive benefits like wildlife, recreation, nature, privacy, and aesthetics. These   benefits can all be better provided  by landscapes of "networked" or  "connected" ownerships, rather than individually by single ownerships, one property at a time. Wildlife habitat or the hydrologic cycle don't start or stop at an individual property boundary, and how much recreation can one individual 20 or 30-acre ownership provide?

Enter NALMC. The Northwood Area Land Management Collaborative  (http://www.nalmc.net/). Originally the idea of Carl Wallman (private landowner) and  Jim Oehler (biologist for NH Fish and Game), NALMC was formed around the idea of having owners in the NALMC "neighborhood" cooperate on conservation. The "neighborhood" is comprised of some 6,000 acres and multiple partners -   seea map here  (http://www.nalmc.net/uploads/Projects_EA_Map1_FoundingParticipants.pdf)

NALMC isn't a contractual agreement whereby landowners work in lockstep with one another. In their words (from their website), they pursue their goals by:

• Sharing information and ideas about our lands and building connections with NALMC neighbors via workshops, potlucks, and other events;
• Helping landowners connect with their land and empowering them to gain the knowledge and assistance they need to sustain and enhance the resources on their lands for their benefit and the benefit of the NALMC neighborhood;
• Promoting enhancement of natural resources (i.e., woodlands, waters, wildlife, recreation, etc.) on NALMC lands through active land stewardship that also preserves the NALMC neighborhood’s capacity to maintain itself as a healthy, natural ecosystem;
• Developing a model for collaborative land stewardship that can be exported to other parts of the state.

NALMC has participated in a number of activities such as a Discovery Day at the local state park, development of a 5-mile loop trail across multiple properties, and an ecological assessment of the area. They're exploring water quality monitoring as part of their watershed. The local Northwoods Crankpuller snowmobile club (http://www.northwoodcrankpullers.com/index.htm  )  are active participants in NALMC, because they know the network of snowmobile trails depends on some level of collaboration or cooperation between multiple owners at scales greater  than the individual property.

NALMC has a new kiosk erected prominently in the middle of the"neighborhood" to announce upcoming events, and provide maps and other information, as well as a sense of "identity" and promote awareness of cooperation. They also host periodic informal social gatherings where local people can gather -  landowners, snowmobilers, and others -   to exchange information and learn what's happening. There aren't apparently actual memberships or dues or rules or bylaws -   NALMC seems to be a local coming-together of private and public landowners and others who see the benefits of collaborating, rather than acting individually without communicating with one another. The informal concept seems to be an excellent concrete example of win-win:   landowners and locals benefit by thinking across stone walls and property boundaries, and so does the land.