TITLE XIX-A
FORESTRY

CHAPTER 227-M
COMMUNITY HERITAGE INVESTMENT PROGRAM

Section 227-M:2

    227-M:2 Definitions. –
In this chapter:
I. "Authority" means the New Hampshire land and community heritage investment authority.
II. "Board" means the board of directors of the New Hampshire land and community heritage investment authority.
III. "Building" means a construction made by humans and created to shelter human activity.
IV. "Easement interests" means conservation, historic preservation, or scenic easements, development rights, or any other similar protective interest in real property held in perpetuity, or a term easement that is held for a specific period of time and not in perpetuity as part of a farm viability program.
V. "Eligible resource" means a natural, cultural, or historical resource including archaeological sites; historic buildings and structures which house cultural events and programs; historic properties including buildings and structures; historic and cultural lands and features; ecologically significant lands; existing and potential public water supply lands; farmland; forestland; habitat for rare species or important wildlife; wildlife corridors and habitat strongholds as defined in RSA 207:1; lands for recreation; riverine, lake, estuarine, and ocean shorelands; scenic areas and viewsheds; and wetlands and associated uplands.
V-a. "Farm viability program" means a program overseen by an eligible applicant under RSA 227-M:8, I that preserves farmland:
(a) By enhancing the long-term viability of farms, principally through assistance in business plan development and implementation; and
(b) By requiring term easements on farms participating in such a program and receiving assistance funded through this chapter.
VI. "Monitoring" means the regular and systematic gathering of information about a resource asset to identify changes to the property over time to ensure that it is being used in accordance with any easement interest restrictions or other legal obligations entered into under this chapter.
VII. "Resource asset" means the lands, buildings, structures, and other physical assets or the easement interests in the lands, buildings, structures, and other physical assets that comprise the real property of an eligible resource.
VIII. "Stewardship" means planning for and taking the necessary actions over the long term to successfully preserve and protect the natural, cultural, or historical value of a resource asset. Such actions include, as applicable, managing the resource asset in accordance with all legal obligations entered into under this chapter, performing regular maintenance and upkeep, providing for necessary monitoring, educating or informing those that might negatively impact upon the resource asset about the need and/or legal obligation to protect and preserve it, paying tax or in-lieu-of tax obligations, obtaining liability insurance, and securing sufficient levels of financial resources to carry out all such necessary actions.

Source. 2000, 245:1. 2006, 39:1. 2008, 136:1, 2, eff. Aug. 5, 2008. 2019, 243:7, eff. Sept. 10, 2019.