Our new manual is intended for planning boards, conservation commissions, smaller land trusts, other community leaders and citizen activists. 

It contains over 70 techniques and strategies, and 98 pages of information including "how-to", methods of funding, NH communities using these techniques, references to sources,  and much more. 

In addition to producing the manual, the Community Conservation Project has presented the slide show, The Dollars and Sense of Open Space, a total of eighty-six times. We have updated the original slide show as new information has become available. By now, the show has been seen by more then 2200 people from at least two thirds of the 234 towns in the state. We continue to field requests for additional iterations of the slide show.

Towns all over the state that have learned from the slide show have taken action to protect more land in open space. For instance, Bow voted at town meeting in 1998 to bond $1.7 million to purchase 761 acres of open space to protect wildlife habitat, an aquifer and as a buffer against the costs of further residential development. Many towns have created or added to their conservation fund, through land use change taxes in Andover, Brookline, Walpole, Warner, and Windham, through town surplus funds in Lee, through line item allocations in New London and through capital reserve funds in Kingston. New cost of community services studies are helping people better understand the economic value of their open space in Alton, Groton, Lyme, Meredith, Sutton and (nearing completion) Andover. Many other towns have reemphasized the importance of open space in new or updated town master plans. We also believe our Community Conservation Project was an element in the successful passage of the state's new Land and Community Heritage Investment Program.

 A facsimile of the Executive Summary from the book is shown below along with a listing of contents.

A Listing of the Main Headings from the Table of Contents. 
There are over 80 sub topics on 98 pages!

Acknowledgements                                                                                              

Executive Summary                                                                                           

Introduction    (i.e.)                                                                                                    
    A. Dollars and Sense of Open Space
    B. Land Use Change
    C. Biodiversity
    D. Sustainability and Land Capability
    C. Open Space Defined

II. How to Get Started

III. Community Awareness Techniques

IV. Voluntary Open Space Conservation Techniques

V. Money for Open Space Conservation

VI. Planning and Zoning Techniques for Open Space Conservation

VII. Incentive-Based Techniques for Open Space Conservation

VIII. How To Get Finished

Appendix A Published Information About Open Space Techniques

Appendix B New Hampshire Towns Protecting Open Space with Techniques in the Manual

Appendix C Techniques Used to Conserve Open Space in New Hampshire Communities (Summary Listing)

Appendix D Organizations that Can Help

Order the Manual now - You may call in your credit card order (603) 224-5953, or print the form and send it in with a check.

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