(2002) IT IS PROPOSED TO EXTEND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY'S HACKETT HILL PROPERTY VIA DOT MITIGATION FUNDS

A widening of I-93 from Salem to Manchester has necessitated substantial wetlands impacts and to compensate for these "environmental insults" mitigation funds will be made available to cities and towns located alongside the highway, or possibly to other areas where land conservation is needed. The EPA and the NH Department of Transportation are currently considering how the funds will be allocated.

It is unknown whether or not Manchester will be the beneficiary of part of these funds, and if so, whether or not the funds would be used to extend the Hackett Hill ecological preserve. On June 27, the UL reported that Jeff Brillhart, project manager for the DOT , said Hackett Hill had been added to its list of potential conservation projects at the encouragement of the EPA, the Sierra Club, the Manchester Conservation Commission and The Nature Conservancy. However, in general, the DOT favors the selection of mitigation areas which will suffer from "primary impacts" of the road-widening.

On Sept 6, 2002 EPA Regional Administrator Robert Varney sent a letter to DOT Commissioner Carol Murray. EPA studies indicate that 40,000 people will move into towns in Southern NH as a result of the I-93 widening. Varney's letter identified certain ecologically sensitive areas in this region which could suffer from the population increases. He noted they should be designated as mitigation areas since they will receive "secondary impacts" from the highway project. He also stressed that a rail transportation system should accompany the highway widening.

The EPA's list included Hackett Hill, where it was proposed that 100 acres of conservation land be chosen as one of the environmentally important mitigation areas. The state's leading environmental groups - the Conservation Law Foundation, the NH Sierra Club, the NH Audubon Society, NH PIRG, and the Society for the Protection of NH Forests have united to support Varney's proposals.

The EPA noted that information available at a NASA Web Site titled Urban Sprawl: the Big Picture supports its position of "secondary impacts." On November 10, 2002, the Boston Globe published an article describing how Chester, NH will be affected by the widening. The Conservation Law Foundation Web Site provides detailed information on the I-93 issue.

The DOT has made available I-93 Project Information which includes a link to its draft Environmental Impact Statement. Public hearings on the DEIS were held on Nov 12 and Nov 14, 2002 at Salem and Manchester, NH, respectively. At the Nov.14 hearing, testimony by Pat Mattson as a representative of the Sierra Club and the "Hackett Hill Neighbors" concerned two specific parcels of land on Hackett Hill that appear on the DOT's map of mitigation areas. She explained why these parcels, that would extend the Nature Conservancy's Preserve, fit the criteria for the "100 acres of environmentally sensitive land" designated by the EPA.

Also speaking in support of the concept of secondary mitigation was Laura Deming, Senior Wildlife Biologist, Audubon Society of NH(ASNH.) ASNH was part of a group which had recently completed a study funded by the USEPA. It concerned ecologically-significant areas that the expansion of I-93 might affect.

It was possible to submit additional information to the DOT (and EPA) up through December 16, 2002. The NH Sierra Club supplemented the brief verbal testimony given on Nov 1 with much more information about the location and status of the two lots recommended for selection as mitigation areas. The two lots, Lot 1 (available for sale) and Lot 17 (slated for development) can be seen on Tax Map 766 that appears on this Web site.