Management Plans for Western Maine State Properties

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
"The resource allocations for the Mahoosuc Unit will incorporate a
100 foot no-cut buffer on either side of the Appalachian Trail and all
official side trails, and the Grafton Loop Trail
. A remote recreation
allocation with Visual Class I treatment is the dominant allocation for
an additional 400 feet along either side beyond the no-cut buffer
(where trails are not already within the Ecological Reserve or
Backcountry Non-mechanized allocations). This ensures that where
forest management occurs close to these trails hikers will not be able
to readily discern signs of forest harvesting, and harvesting will be
timed to have the least impact on trail users. For timber
management areas viewed at a distance from hiking trails, public
roads, scenic overlooks, and other recreational features, a Visual
Class II treatment will be applied."

Part of that is already gone by. The last time I did the Eastern Loop of the GNLT, one of the abutting landowners had already harvested timber right up to the trail. I have no idea how they plan on enforcing that since its all private property. Some of the landowners are less than friendly.
 
The plan only applies to state lands, if its private property then the plan does not apply. One of the trade offs with trying to create a big loop on a mix of ownerships is if there is attempt to put restrictions on private land than the private owners can just close it down. There can also be subsequent changes in ownership of the land. The original owner may have been more amenable to a hiking trail. There were also some sections that allowed hiking only, no camping and no doubt various hikers elected not to respect those restrictions. I think there is more state land on the west side of the loop than the east side.
 
Top