By late spring-early summer of 2006, land clearing for the latest Waterford development was well underway. The land in question, which could have served as a valuable "animal corridor" between undeveloped land in Hooksett and the TNC Preserve, as well as an area frequented by large mammals, became another victim of Waterford's assault on the natural world.
By late summer-early fall, Hillcrest Terrace Retirement Community, once surrounded by forested areas of great natural beauty, was now surrounded by completed and partially completed buildings, the construction of a road that was essentially an extension of Countryside Boulevard, and areas where large scale deforestation and blasting was in progress.
The blasting procedures are necessary because the Hackett Hill soils are extremely thin and inappropriate for any type of development. Unfortunately this type of operation is occurring in many other areas besides Hackett Hill and is clearly "changing the face of New England." Of special concern in this particular instance is the likely disturbance of the hydrology of the area - a happening which may have tragic results. The rare swamplands in the Preserve are probably highly dependent upon the existing hydrological conditions - and in time may degrade as a result of this extreme disturbance.
The extent of the deforestation-blasting operations is shown in two photographs below that were taken in late summer of 2006.
By the spring of 2007, the "Neighbors at Woodland Pond" construction was on its way to completion. Ironically, the complex is advertised as "adjacent to a 600 acre Nature Preserve." This Web site, which is devoted to preservation of the natural world, is not an appropriate location to display photographs of the overly-elaborate residential area that has been constructed. However individuals with the financial resources to locate in such surroundings should be forever mindful of an important fact - their wealth has contributed to the destruction of an area that should have rightfully been annexed to the Preserve.