Recreation and conservation of woodlands and water in Dublin, New Hampshire, have been secured for future generations through the Monadnock Conservancy’s purchase of 132 acres from the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains. At the heart of this property, you’ll find a half-mile stretch of the Monadnock–Sunapee Greenway Trail.
The wooded parcel, which has no buildings, abuts Howe Reservoir and part of a small water body called Wight Pond. One must hike in from a southerly access point off Route 101, taking the Greenway Trail, as there is no access by vehicle. Gertrude Russell donated the property to the Girl Scouts in 1945. It was occasionally used by the Girl Scouts and the community for hiking and nature exploration, as well as for the organization’s training classes in advanced outdoor skills.
The property will now be known as the Gertrude Russell Forest, and the Conservancy will continue to prioritize recreation, working with partners at the Monadnock–Sunapee Greenway Trail Club to keep this section of trail permanently open and maintained. Water quality for Howe Reservoir, Wight Pond, and the associated streams that run through the property is also of importance. Land management will encourage wildlife habitat, of which there is nice diversity for such a small area: from shoreline to hilltop, with the powerline corridor providing permanent “early successional,” or shrubby, conditions favored by many bird and mammal species. The variety means there is everything from red-backed salamanders and Eastern milk snakes to woodcock, Eastern cottontail rabbits, fox, and moose.
You are invited to get out there — imagine hearing the laughter of decades of girls and young women who enjoyed this place. Now that laughter will carry on into the future as new generations of girls and boys, women and men, explore these woods and walk the trail.
Thanks to many local individual supporters as well as corporate supporter C&S Wholesale Grocers for making this project a reality.
Related Link
Learn more about the Monadnock–Sunapee Greenway Trail.