Land conservation seeks to protect and preserve natural landscapes, ecosystems, and open spaces that hold ecological, cultural, or recreational significance at the local, regional, state, or national level. By safeguarding these irreplaceable natural resources in perpetuity, land conservation helps maintain biodiversity, enhance climate resilience, and support the well-being and character of our communities.

RESOURCE ELIGIBILITY

LCHIP’s land conservation grants focus on the following Conservation Priority Areas:

• Working lands – farm & forest land
• Source water protection lands
• Ecologically significant lands – including important wildlife habitat, wetlands, riparian areas
• Lands for recreation and educational uses
• Scenic areas and viewsheds
• Historic and cultural lands and features

PROJECT ELIGIBILITY

• Funded projects must permanently conserve eligible land via fee acquisition or acquisition of a qualified conservation easement that will permanently conserve areas of ecological value.
• Funded acquisitions should be completed following the Land Trust Alliance’s Best Practices, which outline a set of ethical and technical guidelines designed to support strong, sustainable, and legally sound land conservation efforts.
• All property must be open to the public for transitory, pedestrian, recreational uses including hunting and fishing. The property (or easement) acquired will be held in public trust, and may not be used for purposes inconsistent with the purposes of the LCHIP grant or NH RSA 227-M.
• Eligible expenses include, but are not limited to, fair market value of the property acquired, appraisal, survey, title research and insurance, recording fees, transfer taxes, environmental assessments, baseline documentation, and contributions to qualified stewardship funds.
• Property management and improvement expenses such as trail development or maintenance, installation of parking areas, kiosks, or other built infrastructure are not eligible.

Project Completion Requirements

Once funded, Land Conservation projects are completed in two phases:

1. Preliminary Documentation ~3 months prior to acquisition

Grant recipients will submit preliminary title research, a survey (if available) and other information to LCHIP to assist in developing the required conservation restrictions, which may take the form of a conservation easement and/or grant agreement. LCHIP staff will work closely with Recipients to develop the required legal documentation.

2. Final Project Documentation ~1 month prior to acquisition

   Prior to acquisition, grant recipients will submit final project documentation. This includes the survey, appraisal, title work, environmental site assessment, final project budget, baseline documentation or current conditions report, and any other required materials.

Stewardship: Grant Recipients are responsible for ongoing stewardship and oversight of the protected property. This includes annual monitoring and inspections. Each year, beginning the calendar year following acquisition, a monitoring report must be submitted to LCHIP.

Quick Links

NH GRANIT – As NH’s statewide GIS clearinghouse, NH GRANIT provides access to New Hampshire’s geospatial data. Using NH GRANIT, LCHIP applicants can create all required maps and gather geographic data to illustrate the natural, cultural, and conservation values of their project area using reliable, statewide data.

Land Trust Alliance Standards & Practices – The Land Trust Alliance’s Standards and Practices provide a set of ethical and technical guidelines designed to support strong, sustainable, and legally sound land conservation efforts. These standards cover key aspects of land trust operations, including governance, financial integrity, land transactions, and stewardship.

For land conservation grant recipients, they serve as a roadmap for ensuring that land is conserved in a responsible and lasting manner. LCHIP recipients should use the Standards and Practices to guide project planning, implementation, and long-term stewardship, helping ensure that conservation outcomes are durable, defensible, and aligned with national best practices in land trust management.