Hartford
In Hartford, officials this week will consider the first-ever comprehensive management plan for its 432-acre town forest off Route 5 and Wright Reservoir Road.
In Bradford, the Selectboard recently voted unanimously to support continued development of a similar plan for the 507-acre forest that includes Wright’s Mountain and the Devil’s Den cave system in the town’s northwestern corner.
After a century of ownership, Hartford’s Town Forest Recreation Plan could pave the way for placing the land into a conservation easement, bolster signage and other trail amenities, and increase opportunities for education and small-scale eco-tourism.
It could also narrow and clarify town forest usage for hunters and mountain bikers.
The Hartford Conservation Commission is scheduled to review the 57-page draft plan today, and a public presentation is on the agenda for the Selectboard’s Wednesday evening meeting. Among the many “action steps” outlined in the plan are provisions to address longstanding concerns about the proliferation of unauthorized bike trails in the forest, which abuts the 142-acre Hurricane Wildlife Refuge.
The draft plan formalizes 12.5 miles of existing authorized trails, and also recommends a short-term step of establishing a process under which new trails could be proposed.
The “process will include ecological concerns and will provide all stakeholders and user groups an opportunity to propose new trails,” according to the plan.
It also recommends that an assessment of the trails done this summer be used “to guide the sustainability, repair, relocation or closing of certain trail segments.”
Questions to members of the Upper Valley Mountain Biking Association were referred to President Brian Riordan, who was not available for comment.
Public feedback sessions and surveys demonstrated that the Hartford community ranked ecological preservation as the most important concern, followed by recreation, ecological education, and logging.
“Overall, the committee felt that these key attributes and strategies should be aimed at preserving the forest, rather than turning it into a park,” according to the draft plan.
Other action steps in the Hartford plan include establishing a trail maintenance program with the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center, beefing up the forest’s digital presence online, and working with the Upper Valley Land Trust and the Vermont Land Trust to explore the pros and cons of a conservation easement on the land.
The Hartford plan was drafted by a consultant that worked with a steering group of community stakeholders, including members of the Conservation Commission, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance and the Hartford Parks and Recreation Department.
Similar steering groups are on parallel tracks all across the state, funded by grants from the Vermont Urban & Community Forestry Program.
Each plan touts the various health and economic benefits of the 167,000 acres of forests owned by 168 municipalities across the state. The plans cite research showing that the average American child spends only four to seven minutes per day enjoying unstructured outdoor play, as compared to six hours of screen time. They also list forest access as an important consideration for families seeking a new community to live in, and point to popular Vermont trail systems that generate tens of millions of dollars of economic activity, and provide hundreds of jobs, for their host communities.
Bradford Conservation Commission chairwoman Nancy Jones said the research that went into the Bradford plan support improving access to the Bradford town forest.
“It confirms what we felt, but weren’t sure there was support for,” she said. “We want to improve access by expanding two parking lots and making one of them, on Chase Hollow Road, open all winter.”
Jones said the Bradford plan also clearly identifies need for more signage, more recreational and educational events, and postings that explain the history of unique natural features like Devil’s Den, a grouping of small caves within a ravine.
She said the survey also showed logging as the area of least concern for Bradford stakeholders, which she said demonstrates a need for more education.
“This is my opinion now, but a lot of people don’t understand selective harvesting can improve wildlife habitat. The survey lets us know that we also need to have a little more focus on explaining and teaching about selective harvesting. It is a working forest.”
She said the next step for the Bradford Conservation Commission, which will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bradford Academy, is to recruit volunteers to help achieve the goals of the plan.
The Hartford Selectboard is scheduled to hear a public presentation on the Hartford plan during a meeting that begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the Hartford Town Hall.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.