April 27, 2011
Edith Tucker
Coos County Democrat

PITTSBURG — There is no quick fix for securing state approval for establishing a 10-to-12-mile-long connector route on state-owned gravel roads through the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Working Forest in Pittsburg and Clarksville.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recommended that the proposed legislation (SB107) to look into the effectiveness of the existing coarse and fine filter criteria that governs the establishment of ATV and trail bike trails on state-owned lands be referred to a study committee, reported Trails Bureau chief Chris Gamache on Saturday morning to members of the Headwaters Working Forest Citizens Advisory Committee.

The Senate adopted the recommendation that a committee of three senators and three House members report their findings and any recommendations on Nov. 1. The House is expected to pass the bill as amended.

Al Edelstein, vice president of the Great North Woods Riders ATV Club, and trail administrator Warren Chase are keen to be able to connect up to existing ATV trails on Bayroot forestlands in Errol and Millsfield that also connect to the trail systems in Jericho State Park in Berlin and in Success, an Unincorporated Place.

Gamache and Steve Weber, chief of the state Fish and Game's Wildlife Division, would like to see more flexibility embodied in any legislation controlling the establishment of ATV and trail bike trails on all state-owned lands. They say that the language now in statute was only intended to be used as in-house guideline and not as rigid requirements that have had the effect of keeping ATVs off nearly all existing gravel roads or trails on state-owned forests, parks, and rail corridors.

“We’d like to be able to tailor the criteria to on-the-ground situations,” Weber explained. He would favor repealing the legislation and making the coarse and fine filters an in-house policy.

Headwaters Committee chairman Burnham “Bing” Judd of Pittsburg, who also serves on the board of selectmen and is a county commissioner, said that Pittsburg desperately needs the economic boost that an ATV connector trail would provide it. ”This town needs something for business,” Judd said. At Judd’s suggestion, the Advisory Committee unanimously voted to invite the study committee to hold a meeting in Pittsburg to get a first-hand look at the town’s successful program of allowing ATVs to travel on some town roads at 10 m.p.h. to gain access to ATV trails. ATVs cannot, however, travel on the two state highways in town.

Even if the legislature does vote in its 2012 session to change the criteria governing ATV trails on state-owned lands, the Recreational Use Management Plan would have to be adopted, and the fee owner — Heartwood Forestland Fund VI, timberland investment fund TIMO) managed by The Forestland Group (TFG) —consulted.

Lyme Timber sold its interest in the Headwaters property in 2009, but the working forest conservation easement “runs with the land,” and The Forestland Group manages the 145,000-acre property under the terms and conditions defined in that easement.

The Department of Resources and Economic Development does not expect to need to complete a full revision of its public access and recreation management plan, due on July 2012. It does not plan to hire a consultant and will propose amendments based on a public use survey for which it will use vehicle counters and temporary staff to assist with survey and date collection.

Plan revisions will be on the agenda of the next Citizens Advisory Committee, likely on Saturday, Oct. 29.

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