The Monadnock Conservancy, in collaboration with the children of Diane and John Schott, has accepted the donation of 216 acres of forest and wetlands in Francestown that will be known as the Kermit A. Schott Forest Preserve.

The property includes 1,400 feet of shoreline on Shattuck Pond – the last remaining unprotected corner of the pond – and 45 acres of wetlands, much of which borders the west side of Pleasant Pond Road. The land also connects and enlarges to more than 1,000 acres a major block of previously conserved land, and nearly the entire property is classified as top-tier wildlife habitat by the New Hampshire Wildlife Action Plan.

Diane Schott was a former president of the Monadnock Conservancy’s board of trustees, and she and John were both defenders of the land in the region. While they were living, they worked with the conservancy to find the best solution to conserve their Francestown property in honor of their son Kermit, who died in 2010. After Diane and John died, their surviving children executed their parents’ plan to donate the land to the conservancy.