I have no doubt that its purchase can be justified, but do you think the state agency that is buying it would actually not come to conclusion they need to buy it? The linked document is nice PR piece full of great buzzwords.
With respect to the viewshed protection the majority of the property appears to be shaded from view by Bald Mountain/Artists bluff. At least a portion along Rt 18 is visible from the Mittersill base private development so perhaps the state wants to protect the viewshed of the private landowners? Considering the major effort by the state to bring back Mittersill at no cost to the private landowners who had substantial investments at peril in properties at Mittersill this is potentially more rational. I expect few would argue that owning a home or condo at the base of defunct ski area compared to being at the base of functioning ski area is going to substantially increase its value. The Mittersill landowners were in this situation and the state of NH generously spent state money to rectify that situation so why not spend more to increase those private property values?
The only hiking trail remotely near the parcel is Artist Bluff trail which is a not connected to any trail network. This area is outside of the FS declaration boundary so any trail would have to be built and maintained by the state. Unless new policies are in place, I have not seen opening new hiking trails as a priority. Existing trails appear to maintained but that is about it. Far more likely would be some other type of trail. The only trails that the state appears actively encouraging to be built are snowmachine and ATV trails. It also could be used for cross country ski trails but I don't think the state is very active with cross country ski trails. Given the NE Facing slope, the most logical trail development is downhill skiing or a tubing park.
Future state park development on the flatter parts of the property and expand existing services is pretty broad. Going along with my prior post I speculated that there is already a plan in place for the future of this acquisition the state just elects not to tell the general public. There is quite a demand for the camper parking spaces at the base of Cannon so perhaps that is the anticipated expansion onto the flatter spots of the property? Given the lack of capital funding for even keeping existing state park infrastructure maintained unless the state leases it to private party, I don't see any development being done unless the Sunapee gravy train is tapped again and that would imply ski related development.
I do agree that it protects a watershed and seep habitat and if the state actively did forest management it may be good place to practice it. I really haven't seen the state actively managing existing small state owned forests in the north country but maybe they are planning to ramp up this effort substantially. I do agree the state does actively manage Nash Stream but the majority of the cuts up there appear to be revenue cuts utilizing existing older infrastructure in place. Wildlife management is pretty passive, just keep it from development and the wildlife manages itself.
IMHO, all of the attributes of the property are worth protecting but the state of late generally doesn't just buy land for just that reason, they normally let private entities like the nature conservancy or SPNHF step in if the goal is strictly conservation . There generally is an ulterior motive and given the desperate efforts to prop up Cannon and the given the proximity of the tract to Cannon its particularly easy to question what this ultimate agenda is.
The FS declaration boundary in this area is quite interesting, it definitely has a significant "jigsaw" pattern that I suspect had a reason in the past. This parcel nicely fills in a logical block of what should have been WMNF land by extending it up against Route 18. I expect the WMNF would have snapped it up in heartbeat except that it was outside the boundary. Given the land swap that occurred between the state and WMNF to get Mittersill previously maybe there is future land swap in the offing.