The Fernalds trace their Madbury history to the 1850s, and their land, now conserved, will endure as a key piece of drinking water protection for greater Portsmouth.
Jodi Fernald can hear the sound to this day. The deer in the woods, huffing, puffing, giving birth. And the next morning there they were, mother and fawn, peeking through the sunlit green of the nearby forest.
This is a special land, steeped in family history and rich with biodiversity. Growing up on this 52-acre Madbury property gave Jodi and her family a front-row seat to wildlife ambling this way and that as well an outdoor world to explore. To this day, she is grateful for the ecological marvels that surround her.
“I have a mourning dove nesting right out of my front door,” Jodi says. “Yesterday, I saw a brilliant red cardinal that was out here in the trees out front when I woke up. And then when I came home, and was putting things away, I saw that it was back here again.”
Since 1854, the land has been in Jodi’s family. It has been farmed from the beginning until the 1970s when her grandfather served as the last working farmer. The property was then lovingly managed by her father. In 2005, Jodi’s father passed away and her mother passed several years ago. The family had reached a crossroads with the property; should they subdivide and sell for development, or was there another way?
Conservation became that other way. The City of Portsmouth saw immense value in the Fernalds’ land thanks to it abutting the Bellamy Reservoir, the primary water supply for the City of Portsmouth and several surrounding communities. The property boasts nearly a mile of frontage along the Bellamy Reservoir. In 2022, Jodi and her family began the dialogue with SELT and the City of Portsmouth that would ultimately lead to June 4, when, in the culmination of a process that began three years ago, her family’s treasured land was protected for all time through a conservation easement held by the City of Portsmouth.
“As a result of Jodi Fernald’s desire to protect her property from development forever, and with the City Council’s support, the City has increased our protection of the Bellamy Reservoir water quality through this conservation easement,” said Al Pratt, Water Resource Manager for the City of Portsmouth. “SELT greatly assisted the City through this transaction. The conservation easement on Ms. Fernald’s property is another important step toward the continued long-term protection of the Bellamy Reservoir to ensure the quality of the drinking water supply for Portsmouth and the other communities served by the Portsmouth Water Division.”
“I wanted to leave this property for my niece and nephews, and for the next generation,” Jodi says. “I didn’t want it to be on my watch to sell it for development. My father worked so hard to keep it all in one piece.”
For this project, SELT served in as assist role, helping the City of Portsmouth shepherd the project forward to completion.