Since 1997, the Green Mountain Conservation Group, a non-profit charitable organization, has dedicated its efforts to natural resource conservation in the Ossipee Watershed. Through education, research, and advocacy, and land conservation, we strive to create an awareness and appreciation of our watershed's natural resources and encourage a commitment to protect them. Our guiding principle is to present objective information in a non-confrontational format enabling the public to make informed natural resource decisions.

The Ossipee Watershed is home to the largest stratified drift aquifer in New Hampshire.  This type of aquifer recharges faster than any other aquifer, but also allows pollution and contamination to be carried more rapidly into the underground water supply.  Therefore, conservation of the recharge lands is vital to the protection of drinking water supplies.  The Ossipee Watershed covers 47 square miles and receives drainage from a 330 square mile area.  It contains 82 lakes and ponds that cover about 9,400 acres, spread over 13 towns.  At its widest point the watershed extends approximately 29 miles east and west and about 23 miles north and south.  The Ossipee Watershed is one of New Hampshire's most rural areas but is under development pressure.  A study by the Office of State Planning, co-authored by The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and The Nature Conservancy, predicts that the population of Carroll County will increase 50% by 2020.

The Ossipee Watershed is part of the larger Saco River Basin that extends into Maine covering an area of approximately 1700 square miles and encompassing all or parts of 63 municipalities within the two states.  Water from the Ossipee Watershed flows into the Saco River, through Maine and into the Atlantic Ocean.  Elevations in the basin range from 6,288 feet, the Summit of Mount Washington, to sea level at the mouth of the Saco River in Saco and Biddeford, Maine.

               
  Mallard and Great Blue Heron at the Pine River Boat Launch off of Ossipee Lake on Rt. 25 in Ossipee