Newton, New Hampshire
Stewardship Committee
2005 Annual Monitoring Report
Property Name: Hidden Acres
Interest: Conservation and Preservation Easement
Owner: Forrest Reynolds
42 Thornell Road
Newton, New Hampshire 03858
603 382-5405
Contact: Mary Marshall
PO Box 321
Newton, New Hampshire 03858
603-3822-6730
Project Description: To protect historic barn and house complex,
small NH farm, agricultural fields, small wood lot,as well as other conservation values including scenic vistas, passive recreation for the public. Includes farm pond and vernal pools. Abuts town-owned conservation land (6 acres) under easement held by Rockingham Land Trust.
Stewardship Activities: As outlined in the Plan, the Committee met with the landowner in February to review plans for the coming year. See the attached interview report. The Committee also monitored the property four times during the year. Bylaws for the Committee and landowner concerns were addressed at the annual meeting.
Dates of monitoring activity: April 11th, May 5th, June 9th, September 13th, and October 30th, 2005.
Historic Preservation: The historic preservation easement is on the exterior of the Victorian farm house, the large barn and the milkroom attached to the barn. On May 5th Mike Seekamp, Pat Wonson and Mary Marshall toured the perimeter of the house, barn and milkroom. The inside of the barn was also inspected with a specific trip to the third level to see if there is any damage caused by the missing weather vane, which Mr. Reynolds had indicated would be installed this year. There is none. We noted the
exterior painting being done on all the buildings in keeping with the easement. Photographs were taken to catch the same aspects as are depicted in the original baseline documentation. See attached.
Conservation Area: The conservation area consists of approximately 20 acres with half in hay fields and half in woodlot. The woodlot abuts the town owned six acres conservation area. Through the woodlot are trails for hiking and cross country skiing.
The attached map indicates where the monitoring took place by color coding. 100% of the boundaries were walked this year. No encroachments were noted and happily there was almost no ATV activity. We noted no violations of the easement. The landowner’s nephew, Ed Batchelder, has expressed some concern for the value of the metal chicken equipment no longer in service which we had begun to remove from the back of the farmstead. We decided to encourage the property owner to see that it is recycled so that they receive the value of the metal. The equipment on the concrete pad is not in violation of the towns ordinance. Some of the pieces have been restored by Mr. Batchelder. He envisions the possibility of a horsedrawn farm equipment museum as some future time.
We observed that there appeared to be no other situations that violate the easement.
On April 11th Mary Marshall rode horseback along all the woods roads including those on the town owned property, checking for winter damage and motorized vehicle activity. The fields were also observed from the margins. At that time there had been no ATV activity.
On June 9th Mike Seekamp, Nancy Slombo, Pat Wonson and Mary Marshall searched the southeast corner of the property for the location of a spring which had been reported by Mr. Batchelder. The spring was located in a turn is the brook as it nears the back boundary. We also inspected the markers in that area and noted minimal ATV activity.
On September 13th Darrell DeTour of LCHIP and Mary Marshall visited the farmstead and walked some of the fields. See attached report from Darrell DeTour.
On October 30th Pat Wonson, Mike Seekamp and Mary Marshall visited the farm walking the stone wall boundary on the southern edge and continuing around the roadside boundary. Mike was able to point out witch hazel in bloom. We had to circumnagivate three pools in the woods which may have been extraordinarily full due to the abundance to fall rain. We made a note to check nexgt year whether there normally dry up during the summer (vernal pools) or if they always have water. The stone wall boundary is in good shape. We noted that the paint blazed on the boundary with the town owned piece is not holding up as well as the plastic markers.
Attachments: Maps showing monitoring activity, interview with landowner, photos of historic preservation.
I, Mary Marshall, affirm there is full compliance with the conservation and preservation purposes.
__________________________________________________, Dated___________________
| 
