All Donations Will be Matched to Permanently Conserve the Largest Privately-Owned Undeveloped Parcel in the City
SELT is reaching out to the community to bring a once-in-a-lifetime conservation project across the finish line. In 2024, SELT signed an agreement to acquire a conservation easement on just under 100 acres of land owned by Joe Cavaretta in Portsmouth. The property is located off Elwyn Road in Portsmouth, across from the Urban Forestry Center. Now, as a fall closing deadline looms, SELT is seeking private contributions totaling $150,000 to conserve the largest undeveloped and privately owned property in Portsmouth.
“This is a rare moment for Portsmouth,” said Brian Hart, Executive Director of SELT. “To find a tract of undeveloped land of this size and value in Portsmouth represents a generational opportunity. And now, we invite the community to help make the 100-Acre Woods vision a reality.”
For an urban area, the 100-Acre Woods includes an astonishing array of wildlife, including deer, turtles, fox, coyote, and bobcat. In fact, science-based conservation plans identified what landowner Joe Cavaretta has seen – that the 100-Acre Woods is a critical link as a wildlife travel corridor from the Berry’s Brook area in Rye to the Urban Forestry Center on Sagamore Creek.
The 100-Acre Woods contains eight confirmed wildlife-rich vernal pools and a robust network of wetlands, which combat flooding and capture pollution. The land includes 1,700+ feet of a tributary stream to Berry’s Brook, an important salt and fresh-water system that discharges directly into the Atlantic.
Nestled adjacent to Elwyn Park neighborhood and the Rye town line, the 100-Acre Woods is well poised to provide even more benefits in the future. SELT’s agreement includes a “right of first offer and refusal” that would give SELT (and the City, should SELT decline) the opportunity to acquire full ownership of the 100-Acre Woods. Should this opportunity arise at a future time, SELT would gather public input to gauge interest in future community use like trails or a venue for nature-based education for area youth. However, the first step is to permanently conserve the 100-Acre Woods via the purchase of a conservation easement.
Under the terms of the agreement, SELT and the City will acquire and hold a conservation easement on the Cavaretta property. A conservation easement is a permanent legal agreement that remains in place regardless of the landowner and restricts the future use of the land to protect critical natural resources. SELT, as a nationally accredited, regional leader in conservation, holds more than 250 such easements, and is well positioned to monitor and enforce the easement, ensuring that this land remains open space for generations to come.
To complete the $2.276 million transaction, SELT must raise the final $150,000 in private contributions. And thanks to a group of leadership donors, all gifts of any size will be instantly matched.
These private gifts will supplement a significant contribution from the City of Portsmouth of up to $1 million from the City’s Conservation Fund, as well as grants from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), and the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. In addition, Joe Cavaretta generously agreed to a below-market sale price, accepting $345,000 less than the conservation easement’s appraised fair market value.
Contributions can be made online at seltnh.org/100acrewoods or by sending checks with “100-Acre Woods” in the memo line to SELT, 247 N. River Rd, Epping, NH 03042.