2025: A Year of Change!

As 2025 comes to an end, CCCD begins settling down into the shorter winter days and cozy nights. Just as the natural world does, we enter the winter months with the intentions of pausing and reflecting, so that we can move forward into all that 2026 has in store. With the approaching holidays, we celebrate all we have accomplished and reflect on all that has been.

Every December, our team gathers to look back and plan for the year ahead, so we’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on the year behind! While we look forward to all that 2026 will bring, we also recognize how big a year 2025 has been for CCCD, with several big and exciting changes. Through it all, we continued our ongoing conservation efforts and programming.

We celebrated 18 years of dedication from former District Manager, Amanda Littleton, as she transitioned into her new role as Executive Director at the Monadnock Conservancy. Throughout her tenure, she has provided outstanding leadership in natural resources conservation, local food system development and has supported our region’s working landscapes.

We celebrated the transition of Benée Hershon from her previous role as Community Engagement Director to the new District Manager! 2025 was a big year for Benée, as she learned and grew into her new role. She has continued the incredible work of the Conservation District, as well as started to make her mark as District Manager.

In 2025, we continued our work as a team of three by hiring a new Community Engagement and Communications Coordinator, Nina Branwen, this summer! Ellinore Todd Long also celebrated her one year working as Administrative Coordinator at CCCD!

In 2025, alongside partner organizations, we hosted 23 workshops and events! Over 700 participants engaged in our educational programming! Workshops included turtle conservation, wildlife stewardship, soil health conservation, and CCCD's Annual Celebration!

2025 was a big year for turtles! In the spring, we announced the development of a regional turtle conservation initiative. Partners collaborating on the effort are the NH Association of Conservation Commissions (NHACC), the Harris Center for Conservation Education, the New Hampshire Fish & Game Department, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the NH Department of Environmental Services, and Moosewood Ecological. Together, we were able to help plan and host three free educational workshops, focused on threats to statewide turtle habitat, a turtle wildlife rescue volunteer training, and a live native turtle demonstration. We look forward to continuing workshops in 2026, and sharing results from our ecological assessment of regional turtle populations and threats. This data will be utilized to inform infrastructure improvements and existing statewide research.

In 2025, CCCD continued our five grant programs.

• NH Conservation Districts Climate Resilience Grant

In partnership with the other New Hampshire County Conservation Districts, we offer the Climate Resilience Grant. The purpose of this grant is to improve the resilience of NH farms in the face of extreme weather events and a changing climate. Since 2022, the NH Conservation Districts Climate Resilience Grant has distributed 135 grant awards for a total of $1,052,000 invested in New Hampshire Farms.

• Monadnock Food Co-op Farm Fund

The Monadnock Food Co-op Farm Fund’s mission is to support local farmers in increasing sustainable food production and wholesale sales to contribute to a thriving local farm economy. Three grant awards totaling $32,000 were made in 2025. 

• Conservation Opportunity Fund Program

CCCD offers a Conservation Opportunity Fund Grant program for landowners and stewards of small tracts of land in Cheshire County interested in improving the wildlife habitat on their property. In 2025, the CCCD awarded $12,000 across 7 projects.

• NH Farm Future Fund

The NH Farm Future Fund provides funding for farm viability planning in concert with the conservation of important agricultural soils. This program leverages the singular opportunity of putting a conservation easement on existing farmland as a way to invest in the future viability of farm businesses in New Hampshire. 2025 was the sixth grant round, and a total of $60,000 was awarded to conserve 3 NH farms, for a total of 589 acres conserved!

•  Jeffrey P. Smith Farm Camp Scholarships

 In 2025, 17 Cheshire County youth were awarded scholarships to attend summer farm camp through the Jeffrey P. Smith Farm Camp Scholarship Program. 

CCCD successfully celebrated 80 years at our Annual Celebration. It was an honor to celebrate all that has been done over the last 80 years of conservation work in Cheshire County! The 2025 Annual Report is now available for viewing.

Thank you to all of you, our supporters, partners, and farmers! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from CCCD!