On July 12, SELT successfully completed the conservation of the 558-acre Jones Brook property in Milton. The property represents a significant resource for drinking water as it lies entirely within the Somersworth Water Works Source Water Protection Area.
In addition, the Jones Brook parcel is rich with diverse habitat for plants and wildlife, and encompasses two miles of Jones Brook and Hart Brook, which are known to contain native brook trout and other aquatic species of concern.
An important section of a broader conservation tapestry, Jones Brook sits under the northern shadow of Mount Teneriffe and builds on the 2022 conservation of the Teneriffe Mountain Forest with SELT and Moose Mountains Regional Greenways.
“Jones Brook is the missing piece in a 4,000-acre block of conserved land,” says Lori Sommer, SELT’s Coastal Watershed Land Conservation Manager. “The conservation of this land is a major achievement on behalf of the greater Milton community and provides critical protection of a drinking water supply that serves thousands of New Hampshire residents.”
Through this project, the land will be permanently protected by a conservation easement held by SELT, and the underlying ownership sold to the Carl Siemon Charitable Trust. Other funding partners include the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund (ARM) of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the Carl Siemon Family Charitable Trust.