Hanover Conservancy

10/01/2026

Join us for the 2026 edition of Hawk Watch at Balch Hill! We'll be up at the summit on Saturday, October 3, from 11 am to 1 pm, taking in the glorious fall views, cool breezes, and watching for migrating hawks making their way south for winter. This event will be led by local birders David Merker and Gail McPeek.

This family-friendly event is suitable for nature-lovers of all ages. Bring your own binoculars if you have them, but loaner pairs will be available for those without. For more information, visit www.hanoverconservancy.org/events

09/24/2026

YOU'RE INVITED! We'd love to see you at our annual Community Celebration on Sunday, October 4, from 12-2pm. From noon to 1, we'll socialize with a potluck-style lunch. Bring your favorite dish to share -- or just yourself, we'll have plenty of food to go around! Mix and mingle with fellow members of the community, and enjoy lawn games, family nature activities, and great conversation.

At 1pm, we'll have an update on Hanover Conservancy's conservation success over the past year with brief remarks from the Conservancy's board and staff, including project updates, major accomplishments, volunteer recognition, and more. Conservancy members will also vote on new board nominations, as well as proposed updates to our bylaws. Then, you can join one of several group activities, including a group mountain bike ride, a guided relational forest walk, and more!

Thank you for being a part of this fantastic conservation community! We look forward to celebrating with you soon. All are welcome to attend the event, so please feel free to invite your friends, family, and neighbors as well. More information at www.hanoverconservancy.org/events

09/21/2026

It's time to break out your blaze orange! We are now in hunting season, which runs until December 15. Our trails are multi-use, so remember to be safe and add a piece of blaze orange clothing to your outfit and your furry friend's. In case you forgot, we also have orange vests at our trailheads that you can borrow for your hike and then return to the trailhead kiosk. Find property-specific hunting information at our website: www.hanoverconservancy.org

09/15/2026

Check out this cool event put on by our partners at Grafton County Conservation District and Upper Valley Trails Alliance! Many people go into maintaining the great trails we have in our area. Make sure to register if you're able to attend :)

Hit the trail with us for an opportunity to meet a network of local Lyme landowners collaborating to form a cohesive trail system!

Learn about trail maintenance, local resources, and the story of how a network can be created and maintained to provide the community outdoors enjoyment, with minimal impact on the environment. 🍂

There will be an optional opportunity to continue the conversation at lunch afterward!

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4jBeddPQPJ5pyXkB9HV6Ul65diGbCiIBl0YB9NwSJSQjwrg/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=115773359620572601489

09/15/2026

There's no invasive plant removal drop-in session this week! We are both headed to Denver for the annual Land Trust Alliance Rally and look forward to learning from other land trust professionals at this great conference. Join us next Wednesday, September 23, from 2-4pm for an invasive plant removal drop-in session at Balch Hill. Stay up to date with all our events at www.hanoverconservancy.org/events

09/11/2026

We've begun work on a Forest Stand Improvement project at Mayor-Niles Forest, off of Iby Road in Hanover! Working with a forester, we identified trees to prioritize for long-term health and growth, which are marked with pink-and-black striped tape. To promote the health of these trees, we are cutting the surrounding trees to open up the canopy. All the cut material is left on-site to create habitat diversity. What may look like a messy pile of brush to you is actually a luxury log cabin to some creatures! Many creatures rely on cover habitat to provide safety from predators, and the decomposing trees also provide carbon storage and return nutrients to the soil. Plus, the increased sunlight means that the next flush of forest growth will be even healthier than what was cut! We'll continue working on this project through the rest of the month. If you want to get involved or learn more, email [email protected]

09/01/2026

Local fisherman Thomas Ames Jr., author of Hatch Guide to New England Streams, will lead a guided walk on essential insects in New England freshwater on Saturday, September 12, from 2-4pm. Thomas spends a significant amount of his time fishing on the Ottauquechee and White Rivers, and is a seasoned angler on a long list of local streams. He serves as Education Chair for the Upper Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Thank you to our partners at the Upper Valley Food Coop and Trout Unlimited for coming together to organize this tour of the Mink Brook Nature Preserve! Register for this event at https://www.hanoverconservancy.org/event/aquatic-entomology-at-mink-brook/ and email [email protected] for more information.

08/20/2026

Our Reading Nature book club in partnership with the Howe Library continues this fall with the theme: Books for a Changing Climate, four (comparatively optimistic) books about how to feel and act during this time of unprecedented climate change. We will meet on the second Thursdays of the month from 6-7pm at the Aldrich Room in the Howe Library, with a Zoom option available as well. **No library card is needed to borrow a book club book, and you don't even need to be a Hanover resident! We will be discussing our first book, What If We Get It Right? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, on Thursday, September 10, 6-7pm. Find more information at thehowe.org/events

08/11/2026

Help us reroute a wet section of hiking trail adjacent to the AT corridor in Hanover this Friday, August 14 starting at 9am! We will be rerouting about 500 feet of the General’s Trail on our Black Bear Glen property at Moose Mountain. Tasks include cutting branches and small trees, digging out the trail tread, and brushing in the old trail route. For more information, email [email protected]

08/10/2026

Hanover has many special trails, and we encourage you to explore them this summer! There are fifteen trails with destination markers throughout the town, and if you hike at least six of them, you can enter a raffle to win prizes from local businesses! Can you complete the challenge?

These family-friendly hikes are a great introduction to Hanover’s natural landscape for people of most ability levels. Registration is free, and all maps are available online at https://www.hanoverconservancy.org/hanover-trails-challenge/. You will also find the Hanover Trails Challenge checklist at that link. Email completed checklists to [email protected] for a chance to win raffle prizes from local businesses like King Arthur Baking Company, Still North Books, and the Nugget Theater. Raffle prizes will be drawn at Hanover's FallFest on Friday, September 25.

For questions or more information, email [email protected]