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| Goffstown to Preserve Historic Shirley, Welch Farms |
By
STEPHEN BEALE
Union Leader
Correspondent
GOFFSTOWN -
Officials late this week announced that Goffstown has received a $756,000 federal grant for the preservation of 178 acres of historic farmland on Shirley Hill Road near the Uncanoonuc Mountains.
The town will match the grant, which is through the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, with $425,000 in local conservation money, including $245,000 voters approved last March. Another $25,000 is coming from the Russell Piscataquog River Watershed Foundation.
“I think it’s one of the biggest accomplishments the conservation commission has obtained so far,” said selectman Vivian Blondeau, who is a board liaison to the commission.
The combined funding will purchase conservation easements on 95 acres of the Welch Farm and a 15-acre field on the Shirley Farm. The owner of the second farm, James Shirley, is also donating 68 acres of land, valued at $425,000. Shirley said in an interview last night that he plans on putting a similar easement on the remaining land he owns.
“I love this hilltop and I would love to see it remain undeveloped,” Shirley said.
The farm has been in his family for a number of generations. In 1976, he said the U.S. government designated his land a Bicentennial Farm since it has been in use by one family continuously for more than 200 years. Today, it is run as an organic farm.
He said the farm affords scenic views of the surrounding area. Its proximity to the Uncanoonuc Mountains, where there is plenty of undeveloped land for hikers and nature lovers, makes his land even more valuable for conservationists, according to Shirley.
“You could walk for three weeks and not repeat yourself,” he said.
Paul Welch, owner of the second farm that is being preserved, said his family had owned the land at least since the 1920s. Welch, who grew up on the farm, said it his family sold diary products there until the 1960s. Now he breeds and sells horses.
The easements, which have yet to be signed, will allow the Welch and Shirley properties to remain as farms and prevent them from being developed, according to town officials. The Piscataquog Watershed Foundation will co-hold the easements with the federal government and will be responsible for maintaining them.
Should the foundation or the federal government fail to enforce the easements, the town will take over that responsibility, said David Nieman, the chair of the open space committee, which spearheaded the preservation project.
The board of selectmen will hold a public hearing on the purchase of the easement on May 21 and June 4 at 7 p.m. both nights.
Reproduced by the Goffstown
Residents Association.
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