On April 5, 2001, 350 acres of the Hackett Hill Property was officially set aside as an "ecological preserve" to be overseen by The Nature Conservancy. The protected acreage includes the Atlantic white cedar and black gum swamps for which the property is best known. Governor Shaheen made the official dedication at a ceremony held on the Hackett Hill property. Other speakers included representatives from the NHDES, regional EPA, NH Chapter of TNC, and Manchester's mayor, Bob Baines.
The "Preserve" came into being as
part of a 1999 Compliance
Order between the City
of Manchester and
the EPA and DES. The protection of the swamp-containing portions of
the 833 acre Hackett Hill property was mandated nearly simultaneously
with the announced purchase of the land by the City. However the
mandate also permitted the City to develop the remainder of the
property. The master plan for this development revealed that
multi-storied buildings, parking lots and roads would be located in
close proximity to the Preserve. (see Stage-wise Development
Map.) Furthermore the planned
development would involve large-scale deforestation and massive
habitat loss.
Despite the permission of extensive
development south and east of the Preserve, the 1999 Compliance Order
called for the purchase of land north and west of the Hackett
Hill property
which would extend the "protected" area. This land, also to be
overseen by The Nature Conservancy, can be seen on on the 1999
Preserve-Development
Map, which accompanied the
Compliance Order. It is identified here as Area P2.
A large swamp located in the P2 area extends into the Preserve. This swamp which contains red maples, giant rhodododendrons and black gums, is nearly contiguous with the Preserve swamp where the Atlantic white cedars-giant rhododendron associations are located. These swamps share the same watershed, which extends from the P2 area into the Preserve. In addition the P2 area, which was reported to be 246 acres in size on the Preserve-Development Map, contains another large swamp - a red maple swamp - with a huge watershed which in part is located within the Preserve, but even extends beyond the P2 area.
The "P2" land to the northwest of the property was not available for immediate purchase at the time of the signing of the Compliance Order in 1999. Most of this land, designated on the Preserve-Development map as "Alliance Resource" property, was known to be owned by Optima Health - a coalition of Manchester's two major hospitals - The Elliot Hospital and Catholic Medical Center. The hospitals have since agree to disaffiliate and are now are operating independently of each other.
As part of the disaffiliation, a plan was drawn up to consolidate and reconfigure the Optima Health land. Six lots were to be created by a reconfiguration of an existing nine lots. Two of the lots could conceivably be purchased by the City. The Pichette property, which comprises 69 acres to the west of the Preserve, was also considered to be a likely City purchase. (It had been included in the area designated as P2.)
A December 7, 2000 public hearing of the City's Planning Board was held on the subdivision and the plan to reconfigure the lots was presented by officials from Elliot Hospital and Catholic Medical Center. It was noted that the two hospitals would equally own the six lot property under the name of the newly-created Hackett Hill Real Estate Development Co.LLC (with the exception of Lot 16, which would be owned by only CMC/Alliance Resources.)
A tax map which
showed the Initial Optima Health Land
Subdivision Plan was 
presented at the meeting by Alliance
Resources. It showed the location and size of the proposed lots and
their lot numbers, as well as the numbers of the lots from which they
were derived. The larger of the two lots considered for purchase by
the City, Lot 15, was shown to be a 142 acre lot located between the
Preserve and Countryside Boulevard. The other, Lot 17, was a
pie-shaped18 acre parcel south of Countryside Boulevard. (Both lots
are within the P2 area on the Preserve-Development map.) It was noted
that Lot 17 might be reconfigured.
A number of residents of the area then voiced their opinions of the plan. There was considerable concern about the likely sale of the remaining lots to residential developers, and the effects of the development on the environment and area traffic. However the meeting was intended only to consider the specifics of the subdivision plan, so these concerns were not discussed at length.
The plan was not initially approved
by the Planning Board which recommended a 
reconfiguration of Lot 17. However at a January 25, 2001
meeting of the Planning Board, the application to consolidate the
properties and subdivide this acreage into six lots was resubmitted
by Alliance Resource, Inc. The tax map which showed the Final Optima Health Land
Subdivision Plan was
presented at this time. It showed a changed configuration of Lot 17
and the Planning Board granted its approval of the revised
plan.
A grant application for funds for the purchase of 150 acres of conservation land, seemingly to extend the Preserve, was submitted by the City of Manchester to the state's LCHIP program. Recently, the "Round 1 LCHIP grant recepients were announced. Manchester received a $75,000 grant from the program. However the City's total project cost was cited as $2,050,000.
PRESERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT NORTH OF THE HACKETT HILL PROPERTY