The Lakes Region Conservation Trust is proud to announce the successful completion of the campaign to protect the 255-acre Wiggin hillside forest on Red Hill overlooking Squam Lake. This parcel--the upland portion of one of the oldest family farms in the region-contains a mixture of hardwood and softwood cover that has sprung up over the years through an old maple sugarbush on the western slopes of Red Hill. More than a decade ago, the Trust identified this parcel as one of the top priorities for protection on Red Hill and began working with the Wiggin family to identify conservation options for the property. The protection of Red Hill has remained a key priority for LRCT, even as the organization has focused its efforts on meeting a $2,000,000 December deadline for the second payment on the 5,200 acre Castle in the Clouds property. More than six years of discussion and planning resulted in the signing of a purchase and sale agreement on the property earlier this year. The property will be protected in perpetuity as the Wiggin Conservation Forest and will continue to be a vital link in the trail connecting the summit of Eagle Cliff to the firetower and main summit of Red Hill. The Wiggin lot adjoins the previously protected Conley and Dane properties and now brings the total of permanently protected acres on Red Hill to more than 2,550 acres, the largest conservation area protected by the Trust outside of the Ossipee Mountains. The Squam Lakes Association volunteered its assistance early in the process of raising the $500,000 necessary for the purchase. The SLA has played an integral role in supporting the Trust in its efforts to preserve Red Hill, beginning with the shared purchase of the Ford lots in 1997. In addition to the SLA, the Trust works closely with the Moultonborough Snowmobile Club, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and a host of local volunteers in preserving and protecting this key Lakes Region landmark. The Trust is grateful to the Squam Lakes Association, to the generous donors to this campaign, and to the Allen Wiggin family, which has stewarded these lands for generations and now has entrusted them to us. The Trust continues to see to it that its protected lands on Red Hill remain an unspoiled wildlife resource, a visual inspiration, and a public recreation area in perpetuity.