Almost 1,100 acres of land in the North Country will be protected against development under a new conservation easement that will benefit loggers, people who enjoy the woods and perhaps most important of all – a devastated bat population. NHPR’s Chris Jensen reports.
The easement will permanently protect more than 1,000 acres of land on Gardner Mountain in Lyman.
It’s an important habitat for wildlife, but especially so for bats.
Emily Brunkhurst, a wildlife biologist with Fish and Game says bats gather in the area to mate.
Right now bats badly need places where they won’t be disturbed because of a disease called White Nose Syndrome.
“It is killing bats at an unprecedented rate so we are looking at losses of over 80 percent of several species of bats here in New Hampshire.”
The new trust is the largest to be held by the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust which is based in Bethlehem. It was financed with help from the Trust for Public Lands.
For NHPR News this is Chris Jensen
