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Bear Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary

73 Acres
2 Miles of Trails
Hebron, NH

The 73-acre Bear Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, located on the north side of Bear Mountain, is a relatively rugged forested property with some fairly steep slopes. The trail gains 600 feet in elevation from its start on West Shore Road (elevation 640 feet) to the highest point on the Sanctuary (elevation 1,240 feet), where there are views of Newfound Lake through the treetops. Although the Sanctuary is generally closed-canopy mixed forest, the effects from the changes in altitude can be seen in tree species composition as one walks up the trail: for example, there is a noticeable increase in Red Spruce and Balsam Fir at higher elevations. The Sanctuary was donated to Audubon in 1999 by Jon McKee and Joan Belden, both summer residents of Hebron. The property had been purchased 30 years earlier by McKee and his business partner, Rod Belden, for the purpose of creating a modest five-home development. Sensitive to the increase in development in the Newfound Lake area, McKee and Belden decided to forego their plans in favor of protecting the property as open space. They chose to donate the property to NH Audubon because the organization protects other land in the area.