The Great Bog is one of the three largest freshwater wetlands in the New Hampshire seacoast. There are over 900 unfragmented acres that contain and surround the Great Bog. About 600 of these acres is within the Pickering Brook watershed that drains to Great Bay and the remainder are in the Sagamore Creek Watershed which drains to Little Harbor. The City of Portsmouth owns 194 of these acres and New Hampshire Fish and Game Department has recently purchased a large land area to the north.
The watershed area of the Great Bog is over 1,800 acres and includes residential, light industrial, commercial and open space lands. Storm water from these upland areas can impact water quality in the bog and fragmentation threatens the quality of the remaining habitat. In 2005, the Seacoast Land Trust was awarded funding through the New Hampshire Estuaries Project and the New Hampshire Corporate Wetlands Fund to develop a management plan for the Great Bog.
Photo © Bill Truslow Photography
Project completion included assembling a large stakeholder committee, facilitating committee meetings, data collection and plan development. After a comprehensive review of natural communities, water resources and recreational areas, the committee designated management units. The committee then worked to develop management actions for each management unit. Ms. Truslow prepared the final management plan in cooperation with Peter Britz, Environmental Planner for the City of Portsmouth.
Client/Collaborators
- Seacoast Land Trust
- City of Portsmouth, NH
Services Provided
- Resource Planning and Management