Upper Saco Valley Land Trust

A little can go a long way when we gather together and give. For 25 years, you have helped USVLT protect and conserve our landscape for farming, forestry, public recreation, scenic enjoyment and wildlife habitat.

During NH Gives, every dollar donated will be tripled up to $5,000 - thanks to two anonymous donors.

Will you consider a gift to the many special places in our Valley?

Our Mission...

...is to preserve the ecological systems and cultural values of the Upper Saco River Valley. We will provide for the continued well-being and availability of land for farming, forestry, recreation, and education, as well as for land remaining in its natural state, benefiting natural and human communities.

We seek to achieve our mission through the forging and fostering of partnerships for land conservation, and through respectful stewardship, while being mindful of our heritage, our place, and our vision and responsibility for the future.

We conserve lands for farming, forestry, public recreation, scenic enjoyment and wildlife habitat. We protect these resources primarily through the use of conservation easements, which are non-development agreements granted in perpetuity by private landowners to qualified organizations such as USVLT. Beyond holding conservation easements, USVLT also owns several lands “in fee” within our 11-town service area.

We're in the business of connecting people to the land that sustains them. By engaging deeply with our community, we want to ensure that USVLT will be here "for the long haul" - just like all of the thousands of acres of land that we've protected, in perpetuity.

Who We Are

The Upper Saco Valley Land Trust preserves land for community benefit in the Mount Washington Valley of New Hampshire and Western Maine. In 20 years, we've helped to conserve over 12,000 acres of habitat lands, farmland, and forest land, and we've also safeguarded over 16 miles of river frontage along the Saco River and its tributaries. We also actively advocate for local agriculture so that our family-scale farms can survive into the future, and we also ensure our drinking water aquifers remain pristine through community outreach, resulting in local groundwater protection ordinances. In total, our work protects the amazing and varied landscape of the Mount Washington Valley - from lowland fertile valleys to alpine peaks - and ensures that that landscape will remain pristine for generations to come. Please support our work with a donation today.