Building on the initial outreach to conservation commissions conducted during the NH Setting SAIL project, UNH Cooperative Extension and NH Sea Grant staff provided supplemental outreach and technical assistance to help interested Conservation Commissions understand and use the 2016 Land Conservation Priorities for the Protection of Coastal Water Resources conservation plan (“Coastal Water Resources Plan”). The Coastal Water Resources Plan is intended to help coastal zone municipalities identify land conservation opportunity areas that provide multiple benefits to coastal water resources and communities, including pollutant attenuation and removal, flood storage and risk mitigation, and public water supply.

UNHCE and NHSG collaborated with partners at The Nature Conservancy to produce town-specific maps and then facilitated discussions about how the information could be used. The Conservation Commissions in Hampton Falls, Dover, and Barrington are incorporating the information into their natural resources inventories and/or land conservation criteria, which will inform future conservation planning efforts and serve as a model for how other communities can use this information.