New Castle buys the Back Channel Islands

New Castle’s Back Channel Islands harbor an array of majestic bird species. Terns, blue herons and kingfishers can be found among the small islands’ huckleberry bushes, white pines and black oaks. Even deer occasionally make their way to the islands. And people can, too, walking across an old rock dam at low tide.

The town recently purchased the collection of three isles—Birch Island, Long Rock Island and Mill Island—which are visible from Route 1B and accessible from the end of Laurel Lane and Bosun’s Hill. The purchase agreement guarantees the scenic islands will be conserved as pristine wildlife areas, open to the public for recreational uses, but closed to any type of development.

To Linda Ball, chair of the New Castle Open Space Committee, the islands are precious landmarks for the town.

“When you drive across the causeway into New Castle, it just takes your breath away when you look over and see the islands, whether it’s high tide or low tide,” Ball said. “It’s just part of what makes New Castle so beautiful.”

Residents have enjoyed kayaking, swimming, picking berries and exploring around the Back Channel Islands for several generations, Ball added. “It’s sort of part of the culture. Residents who’ve lived here for their whole life remember playing there as children.”

The Open Space Committee identified the islands as a top conservation priority during its 2005 natural resources inventory. The previous owners had been generous about letting people use the islands, but when the property went up for sale, Ball and others worried that whoever bought it might have other ideas.

In the fall of 2009, the Open Space Committee and the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire proposed to buy and permanently protect the islands. The Board of Selectmen held public hearings on the issue and voters filed two separate petitions. The first proposed that residents vote on the purchase during the annual Town Meeting in May 2010. The second recommended pushing that vote up to a Special Town Meeting before the proposed purchase was to close by Dec. 31.

The meeting was held on Dec. 1, and more than 200 residents attended, voting overwhelmingly to approve the expenditure of $150,000. The Southeast Land Trust had to raise an additional $37,000 in private funding, which it did by soliciting contributions from more than 70 area families. New Castle closed on the property on Dec. 30.

Of the $187,000 spent to acquire the land, $160,000 covered the actual purchase price. Part of the remaining $27,000 was used to cover transaction fees, while the remainder has been placed in a fund to make sure the property is supervised in perpetuity. According to Ball, stewards will conduct annual walkthroughs of the islands to make sure they are conserved appropriately.

There are many islands in New Castle’s Back Channel, but these three are unique in that they are accessible by foot. A historic tidal mill dam, which once supported Ritson’s Grist Mill, connects the islands to the mainland, forming a small swimming area and creating a visible walking path at low tide.

Traveling by foot, the first accessible island is Birch Island, the smallest of the three. From there, nature viewers can continue to the larger, connected Long Rock and Mill islands. The three islands total about two acres of land.

While residents are welcome to take a dip, have a picnic or walk along the islands’ rocky shores, the conservation easement prohibits any commercial, residential or industrial uses. The town cannot even install playground equipment or picnic shelters.
“The whole idea is that the people of the town may have access to it, but it’s more of a passive access,” Ball said. “We want the islands to continue to have this undisturbed natural vegetation.”

For more information about the Back Channel Islands and the effort to conserve them, check out the blog at conservetheislands.wordpress.com.