by Gary Samuels
Later this spring the Piscataquog Land Conservancy will accept a conservation easement from the Town of Deering on four town-owned properties totaling about ninety acres. Three of the lots are in the central part of town on the northeastern side of Deering Reservoir. The reservoir, also known as Deering Lake, forms the source of the North Branch of the Piscataquog River. The three properties comprise about 25 acres and include approximately 1,800 feet of frontage on two streams that empty directly into the reservoir. The fourth lot to be protected by the new easement comprises 65 acres at the western end of Deering in the Contoocook River watershed. Once the conservation easement is completed later this spring, PLC will have protected about 270 acres in Deering.
The town of Deering was first settled by Europeans in the late 18th century, and the three central lots to be protected by the PLC easement are in one of the earliest settled sections of town. The best known of these is Gregg Hill, named after the early family that built their homestead on what is one of the highest points in town. The 1,300-foot hill overlooks two of the parcels to be protected by the PLC easement, which locals lump together as the “Gregg Hill lot.” The property hosted one of the earliest rope tow ski hills in the state, remaining in operation until 1960.
The former ski slope is now a meadow, replete with blueberries and wildflowers. The southerly view from the top of the slope takes in the historic town hall building in Deering’s center, Deering Reservoir and, in the near distance, Crotched Mountain, with Rose Mountain on the horizon. Deering’s Conservation Commission is in the process of developing a pollinator garden with walking paths on the Gregg Hill lot, making of it a recreational and educational “destination” in central Deering.
The third of the central Deering lots to be protected by PLC easement lies across NH Rt 149 from the Gregg Hill lot and is known locally as one of the Carew lots. Approximately 740 feet of another unnamed stream runs through a deep, steep-sided gorge into a wetland and then into Deering Lake. This land was purchased by the town in 2008 with the intention that it would be conserved, a wish that will be fulfilled by PLC’s conservation easement.
The fourth parcel in the PLC conservation easement comprises about 65 acres that drains directly into the Contoocook River, making it the fifth property in the Contoocook watershed to be protected by PLC. The parcel is in an area of western Deering formerly known as ‘the Long Woods’ and is named for Edward Ferris, Jr., who donated the land to the town of Deering for conservation purposes in 2005. The Ferris tract contains 57 acres of habitat-rich forested peatland and is part of a larger corridor of conserved forest that is nearly five miles long and spans two watersheds.
Gary Samuels of Deering is a member of PLC’s Board of Trustees and Land Protection Committee
