By John McCausland

The dean of the seminary I attended (I’m an Episcopal priest) had a saying: “these things don’t just happen.” He’d pronounce it at every event, the prelude to a long recitation of thank you’s for all the work behind the scenes that made the event possible. I thought of the dean’s saying when I was asked to write about my years of involvement with the Piscataquog Land Conservancy. I first learned of what was then the Piscataquog Watershed Association, or PWA, in 1997. My wife and I had just moved to Weare from Chicago and we wanted to learn about our new community, especially the woods, old farms, rivers and mountains that had attracted us to rural New Hampshire.

The Piscataquog Land Conservancy is pleased to announce that we have signed a purchase and sale agreement to acquire 205 acres of ecologically-rich forest and pristine wetlands bordering our Ferrin Pond Preserve in Weare. Located almost a mile into the woods from the nearest paved road and containing almost 23 acres of wetlands and 4,700 feet of frontage on Barlett Brook, the land is a hidden jewel.