Five Rivers Conservation Trust and the Friends of Stone Farm in Dunbarton are pleased to announce that they have received a grant of $119,500 from the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to anchor the fundraising effort to conserve 200+ acres of the historic Stone Farm in Dunbarton.

The LCHIP grant has leveraged a matching challenge grant up to $50,000 to encourage private donors to contribute the remaining funds to complete the project. The matching grant is offered by the David W. Haas Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The Davis Conservation Foundation, Dunbarton Conservation Commission, Merrimack Conservation Partnership, Russell Farm and Forest Conservation Foundation and State Conservation Committee Moose Plate Grant Program have each committed critical funding to this important conservation project.

Five Rivers' Executive Director Beth McGuinn said, "We are grateful to LCHIP and each of these funding agencies and foundations who are collectively providing 83% of the funding to conserve this very special farm. Now we must raise additional funds to take advantage of the matching challenge grant and conserve Stone Farm." To learn more about helping to fund the Stone Farm Conservation Project, please contact Five Rivers at info@5rct.org or 225-7225.

The Stone family has farmed the Stone Farm in Dunbarton, since the 1780's. When Jim Stone died unexpectedly in 2013, the fate of the farm was in question. The Stone family, though, is committed to keeping this land undeveloped and has offered to sell a conservation easement so the farm will always be available for farming, forestry and recreation in the future.

Productive farm fields have grown hops, hay and grazed cattle for generations, and historic foundations and cellar holes tell the story of the farm's past use. Conservation of this farm will link other conserved properties to create a 650 acre block of conserved land. New Hampshire's Wildlife Action Plan ranks wildlife habitat on the property as among the best in the state and the biological region. The property filters water going into two important water systems - Bella Brook and Kimball Pond. Once conserved, the Conservation Commission will create a public trail exploring some of the remarkable stone foundations and stone walls that speak to the land's past use. Watch Five Rivers' web site at www.5rct.org for more information on the Stone Farm Conservation Project.