PRESERVATION PROGRESS

This year the Town Crier joyfully reports many wonderful events under the heading of “preservation

progress.”

The biggest story has to be a conservation easement

for the Behr Field on Ferncroft Road! Green Mountain

Conservation Group negotiated this deal, which also

includes the Behr Farm in the heart of Tamworth

Village and the Butcher land in Whiteface Intervale.

For all the details from GMCG, see the special

complexity. Karl also explained that the easement

protects this land forever against development. Like

the Helen Steele Farm/GMCG easement, the Behr

easement does not stipulate that the field be kept

open. WPA members should have little to worry about

in this regard however, as the Behrs’ commitment to

that field has been demonstrated again and again

every mowing season for two generations.

**************

Ian & Janet Cooke are in the process of making an

trail passes through lies largely in this tract.

Since Federal acquisition of hundreds of tracts of

private land to create the eastern National Forests

began in 1911 under the Weeks Act, the legal

procedures have been designed to produce an airtight

result. This assures that the ownership of the National

Forests by the people is inviolable. Unfortunately for the Cookes, who simply wanted to make a

straightforward donation, the process, now nearing completion (let us hope!), has gone on for two years,

requiring site visits from WMNF land experts, a survey, mapping, submission of the subdivision for

approval by the Sandwich Planning Board, examination of the land for toxic wastes, et cetera, et cetera.

“Red Fox 4" by Andrew Thompson

See this image in full color and much more at

wildlightimages.com

PRESERVATION PROGRESS - CONTINUED

Ruth Moscovitch and Vinton Thompson have purchased Nancy Stearns’s home and lands north of the

Wonalancet River. This is the Bradbury Jewell House, the only property in Wonalancet on the National

Register. When, after much thought, Nancy decided to sell her home, her primary goal was to find worthy

Unfortunately, Ruth and Vinton are not available for comment right now, as they are in Borneo collecting

spittlebugs – the objects of Vinton’s professional work.

The Wonalancet community will be relieved to learn that we will not lose Nancy in this process. She will

be moving only a few hundred feet, to a new home appropriately scaled for earth-friendly living. Nancy

writes: “I think it's safe to say that by the time The Irregular goes out, ground will have been broken on my

ridge. We were indeed in the design phase for months. Thank heavens we're there now, and

groundbreaking is scheduled for this upcoming week. Yes, it is a small environmental footprint - active

and passive solar for electricity and heat, backed up for the latter only by a small woodstove. The

fabulous southern exposure, plus R-30 insulation, makes this a very tight little place. I have deliberated

long over a fireplace, and finally let it go -- full of ambience but no rationality for energy-conscious design.

bread is gastronomically and scientifically interesting because it is made with local sourdough cultures,

rather than commercial yeast. Bob Streeter’s yogurt is some of the best-tasting yogurt I have eaten since I

was a kid.

Besides serving up better eating, the local food movement benefits the environment. Here are specifics

from Jack Waldron: “Last Fall we began delivering Peg Loughran's Brick Oven Bread and Bob Streeter's

Raw Milk and Yogurt to Wonalancet homes every Wednesday afternoon. People sign up for Peg's

Breadshare program and/or Bob's monthly milk programs. Our motivation was to reduce the carbon

footprint associated with everyone driving to Peg's and Bob's. The current route stretches from the Albee's

in the east to the Read's in the west. If you would like sign up call Peg (323-2368), Bob (323-2392), or

Jack Waldron (323-8913). Peg and Bob also sell their food products at the Tamworth Farmer's Market

brink of bankruptcy and struggling to maintain basic services, there is little hope for this project in the

foreseeable future. [see Concord Monitor 18 July 2009]

With their dues notices this year members received a printout of their information from the WPA

database. In this anxious age of ever-increasing security fears, members may legitimately wonder how it

serves the preservation activities of WPA to keep this information. We use the contact information to keep

also enables the Board to respond to preservation opportunities and other situations, and to get in touch

The NH Historical Society has received a large collection of Arthur

Walden/Chinook memorabilia from a kennel owner in Maine. This

prompted the Society to make a place in the Museum of NH History

for an ongoing display, which includes photos, a Chinook Kennels

by- means “secondary, subsidiary,” especially since bylaw can mean “a secondary law.” It is possible that by-,

as in byway, has influenced bylaw in the sense “secondary law”; however, bylaw existed long before the sense

in question. The word is first recorded in 1283 with the meaning “a body of customs or regulations, as of a

village, manor, religious organization, or sect.” By- in this word comes from Old Norse, as may the word bylaw,

and is related to if not identical with the element -by in the names of many places, such as Whitby, where

Scandinavians settled when they invaded England during the early Middle Ages. We get the sense of this -by if

we compare the related word, entered as byr in the standard dictionary of Old Icelandic, meaning “a town or