TRUST RECEIVES SOME FINE GIFTS


This is the season for giving and the Lakes Region Conservation Trust has been blessed with many fine gifts. There are the gifts of money of course; but some of the best gifts are "Fee Simple" gifts, gifts of land, not easements, to be owned by the Trust and managed by it for the benefit of the community. The real estate gifts in 1998 include a cottage and two small shore lots on Lake Winnipesaukee and a lot with 800 feet of shoreline on Wicwas Lake in Meredith. The land on Wicwas has been given by Norman and Joan Harris who have spent summers there for the past 35 years, monitoring the resident loon pair, watching blue herons and osprey, and looking out across their peaceful lake and at nothing but nature. Wicwas is small, quiet, beautiful and bucking a trend. As other lakes in the area see ever-larger boats, and more flamboyant development, Wicwas keeps getting quieter and more protected. That is one reason the Harrises give for this conspicuous act of giving. "When we first came," Harris said when talking about the recent gift, "there were some big boats and some water skiers but the mood has changed. There still are some big boats, but there are many days we see nothing but canoes, kayaks, and small sailboats." In the past several years a lot of land around Wicwas has been put into permanent protection, with a potential for more. One Harris neighbor has given a large chunk of land to the Town of Meredith for parkland. In 1997 other Harris family members gave The Lakes Region Conservation Trust a conservation easement on 51 acres. So this year, when the Harrises were thinking about what they could do to further the effort, the LRCT quickly came to mind. "I've seen the good work they do and am impressed," Harris said, "so it was a natural." The Trust will care for the land forever and will open it for use by canoes and kayaks arriving by water; there is no access to the property by land. "The Trust is very grateful to the Harrises", Executive Director Tom Curren Said, "for helping us expand the protection of this beautiful lake." While, as every child knows, it is better to give than to receive, a gift to the Trust also has benefits for the giver. Are you interested in making a gift to the Trust? Would you like to know the benefits of such a gift? Please contact Tom, Colleen or Sue, Lakes Region Conservation Trust, PO Box 1097, Meredith, NH 03253 or call 603-279-3246.