Chocorua Lake Conservancy (CLC) is a nonprofit land trust founded in 1968. CLC owns and manages 800 acres of conservation land across 17 properties, and protects 2,500 additional acres through perpetual conservation covenants and easements on over 100 properties.
Our main areas of focus include:
Land Conservation & Forest Protection: We protect the scenic and natural resources of the Chocorua Lake Basin and surrounding area, and conduct and model sustainable forestry operations.
Lake Protection: Through monitoring and other activities, we protect the pristine water quality of Chocorua Lake, the Chocorua River, and other tributaries.
Lake Access: We are committed to providing local residents and occasional visitors with free, convenient, attractive public access to Chocorua Lake.
Trail Access: We facilitate access to and maintain trails on Mount Chocorua, Mount Paugus, and nearby conservation lands.
Education & Outreach: We offer events throughout the year to encourage people of all ages to enjoy Chocorua Lake and the trails that surround it, to learn more about the natural world we’re part of, to engage in active stewardship with us, and to have fun with friends and neighbors while doing all these things.
The area around Chocorua Lake provides a widely diverse and rich fungal habitat. Ever wonder about the hundreds of miles of mycelium beneath our feet, of which we see only the fruiting bodies? Or which mushrooms are poisonous or edible?
We’ll meet in the Grove by Chocorua Lake, near the Narrows Bridge at the end of Chocorua Lake Road.
Who took care of baby Zeus? Why does Casseopeaia have to spend half her time upside down? Who might the Greater Bear and Lesser Bear represent? And how can we find all these constellations, and stories, in the myriad stars above us?
Chocorua Lake Conservancy is seeking an enthusiastic, motivated Outreach Coordinator to become a critical member of our team.
We had an encouraging start to the 2024 nesting season as the loons were successful this year in choosing a high and dry nesting area on the shoreline of the lake.
A volunteer opportunity for people who love to canoe on Chocorua Lake!
The spring wildflowers will come and go in their ephemeral way, but if you walk out into the woods and fields regularly all through the growing season, you will always find something blooming, growing, changing, fruiting, or sending seeds into the world, and some of these resources may help you to learn more about them.
CLC and the Loon Protection Committee got together this spring to install a loon nesting platform on Chocorua Lake, a “loon nest raft” built and donated by the LPC.
The Chocorua Mountain Club (CMC) Trails Committee of Chocorua Lake Conservancy (CLC) hosted its annual Trail Clearing Day on May 11, with 41 participants including volunteers, CLC staff, and U.S. Forest Service Trail Crew members from the USFS Saco Ranger District.
Want to learn more about Bird Language? Check out our resource list here.
We are delighted to welcome Galen Kilbride as our 2024 Seasonal Land Steward.
We had an amazing, first-ever CLC & Green Mountain Conservation Group (GMCG) Big Night Salamander Brigade with a total of 156 amphibians crossing Washington Hill Road while we were out.
In my university studies about bees, we are encouraged to share the following information gleaned from current research as of 2024 from the EPA website and the National Pesticide Information Center.
Banner: Kristina Folcik. Other photos: Juno Lamb