Claremont
On Monday evening, about 50 people, including a number of city officials, gathered at the end of Whitcomb Lane to hear a presentation by the city’s forestry consultant, Dennis McKenney, followed by questions and comments.
McKenney carefully explained the benefits of the harvest and how it would be conducted — specialized equipment with highly-skilled operators — but most seemed to have made up their minds beforehand, and a show of hands revealed that many remain strongly against the operation.
By the end of the roughly one-hour meeting, Mayor Charlene Lovett said the city would need a clear reason to move ahead, and if it does, it must find a balance to allay the concerns of residents.
Those concerns remain the same as they were in 2013: potential damage to roads and lawns, safety and increased water runoff after the trees, which are above the homes on a long hill, are removed. The logs would be loaded on trucks and taken down the narrow roads with a few right hand turns.
Resident Larry Brodeur said the roads are “just about intolerable” and he fears large trucks would damage them even more.
One resident suggested the logger pay to repair the roads.
Interim Public Works Director Scott Sweet said rebuilding several of the roads is in the city’s capital improvement plan and would be done in the next couple of years if the council appropriates the money, which is estimated at $200,000.
McKenney said the logging is done in the winter when the ground is frozen, minimizing damage.
On the issue of erosion, McKenney said that is already happening on the old logging trail and it would be wise to build some water bars to divert the flow in heavy rains.
“Regarding road construction, I’ll stand by our track record,” he said, pointing out that they have run thousands of tractor trailer loads of logs on small roads.
McKenney, with New England Forestry Consultants in Bennington, N.H., explained that he was hired to implement the city’s 2008 forest management plan and his proposal for the Arrowhead property follows that plan. He said the property, like much of land in Claremont, was logged 40 or 50 years ago and now there are a considerable number of mature trees that would be of value as timber, pulp or chips.
But some said that the city-owned land was more like a park than a forest and harvesting trees and some revenue for the city was not worth ruining the experience for hikers and others.
Resident Ernest Montenegro, who does not live in the neighborhood but walks in the forest, said he worries about a repeat of what happened in Moody Park, when a logging operation drastically changed the park’s heavily wooded appearance, to the dismay of many.
“I would hate to see that happen here,” Montenegro said. “I don’t think any amount of money is worth destroying these woods.”
The discussion also touched on the economics with an estimated revenue from the harvest of about $47,000.
“I can’t comprehend why you would do it when damage to three or four roads would far exceed the revenue,” resident Bill Dexter said. “The economics just don’t make sense.”
A suggestion that the logs be dragged down the face of Arrowhead where the ski area is located would make the sale of the timber “marginal at best and perhaps not viable at all,” because of the distance, McKenney said.
City Manager Guy Santagate said the city was not doing it to make money but to improve the health of the forest. Santagate said he was sold on the project because he believed it would improve the forest’s health.
“If it doesn’t make it healthier, leave it alone,” Santagate said.
McKenney said the city could decide to leave the land as it is and there was no imperative that something be done. The old trees would eventually die or fall, replaced by new ones, he said.
“We don’t need to do anything there,” he said.
McKenney said he would not proceed any further until he gets a clear direction from the City Council.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com