CLCF
The Mission of the Chocorua Lake Conservation Foundation (CLCF) is to “preserve and protect the natural resources of the Chocorua Lake watershed through conservation practices, land protection, easements, and maintenance of lands for public use.”
History: The Chocorua Lake Association (CLA) and Chocorua Lake Conservation Foundation (CLCF) were formed in 1969 to fulfill the vision of the first summer visitors who came to Chocorua in the latter part of the 19th century – the idea that, in creating their summer residences, they should not encroach upon the natural beauty and splendor of this lovely lake and valley. For a hundred years, the lake dwellers followed that tradition. But in the 1960s, it was becoming clear that there were new and serious pressures for commercial development and for “second use” building. It was then that a foresighted group of summer residents decided that they should formalize many of the long-standing but unstated practices into binding safeguards for the Chocorua Basin. So the CLA and CLCF were born.
Update: The CLCF holds 75 perpetual conservation easements on properties in the Chocorua Lake basin of New Hampshire. Properties subject to the conservation easements are owned by about 60 different landowners. The majority of the easements originated in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s; in most cases, the property subject to the conservation easement is still owned by members of the family which created it. The CLCF is empowered to enforce the terms of these conservation covenants. The CLCF receives donations of lands for conservation and manages the trails and timber growth. It also maintains a reserve fund from annual contributions from donors to help the CLA in some projects and to deal with occasional crises, like purchasing unprotected but important parcels of land that come up for sale and placing conservation easements on them.
