Nature Conservancy urges Manchester to keep Cedar Swamp in conservation zoning, seeks 200‑foot buffer for innovation district

Representatives of The Nature Conservancy told the Manchester Conservation Commission on March 27 that proposed revisions to the city’s land-use code could undercut long-standing protections for the Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve and asked the commission to support two steps: retain a conservation zoning district for the preserve and adopt a 200-foot limited‑use buffer along the edge of the proposed Innovation District.

Jim O’Brien, deputy state director for The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire, Joanne Glove, Southern New Hampshire Stewards ecologist, and Ally Snell, community and partnerships manager, described the 640‑acre Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve as the largest conserved parcel in the city and an ecological hotspot for Atlantic white cedar and giant rhododendron. The conservancy said the preserve was acquired and transferred under a settlement involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NHDES in 1999 as a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) tied to Clean Water Act enforcement; as plaintiff settlement terms, the city had obligations related to…