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View Full Version : Green Mountain NF planning meetings for area South of Rt 9



Cosmo
09-26-2013, 19:47
The Green Mountain National Forest will be holding public meetings for the South of Route 9 Integrated Resource Project. See meeting schedule below.

This is the area between Bennington and North Adams and includes the LT/AT. Much of this land was added to the Forest within the past 5 years, particularly at the southern end. There are lots of different users from hikers to hunters to 4-wheel drive enthusiasts. For decades, there has been no comprehensive plan for managing these lands. Although completely unregulated for the most part, the area is largely undisturbed away from roads. There is a lot of ATV and Snowmobile use that occasionally impacts the AT, so some oversight of that use might be beneficial (if there were ever resources to do it).

Once concern of mine is three inholdings of land belonging to the North Adams watershed near County Rd that have come up for sale recently. The AT/LT passes through these tracts and one includes the Seth Warner shelter. The Trail and Shelter area do have easements, but it would be in the best interests of the Trail (in my opinion) if these tracts became part of the GMNF. Because of road access they could definitely be logged or possibly developed for camps. Regardless of the eventual ownership, the Shelter may eventually moved further from County Rd, once the project rises to the top of GMC's que.

My friend Dave calls these kinds of meetings "sausage making" (as in something you really don't want to see being made). It does sometimes get a little tedious as everyone vies for their piece of the pie (to continue the food riff). I suspect the AT is going to do pretty well, but if you hike the other trails (The Dome, Broad Brook Trail) or access the area via County Rd you may want to make your voice heard.

Here are the meeting dates and locations:

Green Mountain National Forest
South of Route 9 Integrated Resource Project
COLLABORATION MEETINGS on project INVENTORY WORK and POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES

All Meetings will be from 6:30 to 9:00 PM

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013
AT THE STAMFORD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2013
AT THE POWNAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2013
AT THE READSBORO SCHOOL

Cosmo