Fort Rock trails at risk: How Exeter, Newfields look to save 148 acres from development

EXETER — A campaign is underway to preserve 148 acres of woodlands, which includes the Fort Rock trail system, from future development.

The Trust for Public Land and Southeast Land Trust is looking to work with the towns of Exeter and Newfields to purchase the land from the Rugg family for nearly $5.2 million.

The family has owned the 170-acre property, which includes a house, plant nursery, woodlands and extensive trail system, for three generations. They want to sell 148 acres, retaining ownership of 22 acres around the Rock Crest Nursery.

“The Rugg family needs to sell the property,” said Duane Hyde, conservation director for the Southeast Land Trust. “They have graciously agreed to give us, the community, and the land conservation community, the opportunity and the time to try and put a project together to conserve this property. But if we fail, the only other option for the family is to sell the property and likely sell it for development.”

Hyde gave an overview of the project during Monday’s Select Board meeting.

The property, he said, comprises 47 acres in Exeter and 101 acres in Newfields and, if purchased, would expand adjacent town forest lands.

Hyde said the the project will bring Oakland Town Forest and Inland Acres Town Forest together and "unify them into a much larger conservation area."

“The proposed project structure is for each town to own the component within its municipality,” he said. "We’re proposing this as a community forest model so that the communities will be working together and jointly, in both raising the money to do the project, but also to manage it in the long term.”

The Rugg family has given the nonprofit and both municipalities two years to raise funds and purchase the land, said Hyde.

Shelby Semmes, vice president of Trust for Public Land for the New England region, said the project’s biggest challenges “are the expense of real estate and complexity of the acquisition.”

“Developable land in New Hampshire's Seacoast is at a premium and will increase in expense with time,” she said. “Protecting this land today will be more cost-effective than losing it to development or the slim chance of trying again five years down the line.”

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How would Fort Rock conservation project be funded?

Hyde said the 148-acre property is appraised at $5,166,000 million. Exeter’s 47 acres are valued at just over $1.64 million, while Newfields’ 101 acres are just over $3.5 million.

Hyde said they plan to put forward an advisory petition warrant article at the March Town Meeting to see if Exeter voters support the project. If they receive a favorable vote, they intend to return in 2025 seeking approval for an $800,000 to $1.1 million bond.

Newfields will ask voters in 2024 to approve a Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan between $2 million and $2.5 million at its Town Meeting for its share of the project's cost.

Hyde said they will seek public grants, private funding, and philanthropic donations to cover the remaining costs.

Semmes said the project's total cost would be around $5.7 million, which includes constructing a parking lot that connects to Route 87 in Newfields as well as building a trailhead at the entrance of the forest.

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Residents speak in support of project

Several Exeter residents spoke in support of the project at Monday’s Select Board meeting.

Vanessa Lazar of Wood Ridge Lane said the project had already received 962 signatures of “incredible support” for the creation of the community forest.

“This land will be sold, be it to us – the people of Exeter and Newfields – or to a developer who will pave our paradise and put up a subdivision,” said Lazar. “These are our only two choices.”

Lazar said if the plot were to be sold to the developer, the land would be lost forever. Hyde had said up to 67 housing units could be built on the property if not conserved.

“Places like this kept us sane during the COVID shutdown and it continues to support our mental wellbeing,” she said. “My family calls it our ‘other neighborhood,’ it’s the best thing about living in Exeter.”

Hyde said the property has miles of established trails, which the family has opened up for public use for mountain biking, trail running, walking/hiking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.

“Many people… don’t realize that they’ve been recreating on private land all this time,” he said. “This will make these trails public on public land.”

Hyde said the project will protect public access to 30% of the trails within the popular Fort Rock trails network and protect water quality for two nearby public drinking water wells.

If successful, the project will increase the existing town forests by 33%, adding to the 488 acres of protected land spanning Exeter and Newfields for 636 acres of conserved land.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Exeter, Newfields look to save Fort Rock, 148 acres of forest land