Future of Success Township Forum

[peakbagger]

FYI to those with an interest in the area north of the Mahoosucs.

"Community Forum on
The Future of Success Township
Hosted by the
Androscoggin Valley Chamber of Commerce
The Conservation Fund
Mahoosuc Initiative
Appalachian Mountain Club

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 from 6-9 pm
at the White Mountains Community College "


For those who arent aware, Success is an unorganized township in NH that has never has any residents (except possibly some hardy soul with a camp on Success Pond). It was owned for over a 100 years by Brown company or its successors before the majority of it was eventually sold to JR Dillon, a logging firm which has been systematically cutting any merchantable tree off the land. For those who have been hiking the access trails from the North of the AT, they are aware of the amount of cutting that has taken place.

There is currently an effort to purchase the 5 miles of frontage on the AT and some high altitude land, which is the longest stretch of the AT north of the Smokies without a public or private road. The rights to purchase the remaining property in the township (with the exception of a couple of inholdings), may be granted as part of the AT purchase but there are other interested parties including the NH National Guard for use as a mobile rocket training area.

If you are interested and in the area, it might be worth attending. This is part of what will be a long term effort to establish what the use of the area will be in the future. Given the extent of logging, it probably will not remain as viable timberland. It is outside the declaration boundary of the WMNF, so it is probably not a viable addition to the forest without significant congressional action.

 

[RoySwkr]

It is outside the declaration boundary of the WMNF, so it is probably not a viable addition to the forest without significant congressional action.

I disagree, the boundary was to allow the FS to purchase land without a specific appropriation but most purchases are now specifically approved so they can be anywhere. If all the timber is cut, it can probably be acquired cheaply just like most of the original WMNF

 

[kltilton]

Thanks for the heads-up. I may be interested in checking this out.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Peakbagger-"For those who arent aware, Success is an unorganized township in NH that has never has any residents (except possibly some hardy soul with a camp on Success Pond)."

Apparently there were 2 residents for the 2000 census. Years ago (30?) my brother lived there and I believe he was there long enough to become a resident.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I disagree, the boundary was to allow the FS to purchase land without a specific appropriation but most purchases are now specifically approved so they can be anywhere. If all the timber is cut, it can probably be acquired cheaply just like most of the original WMNF

Also Roy, the Weeks Law states that land may be acquired to protect the navigation of waters, hence the extensive stream crossings we see on our climbs. I do know that Congress did appropriate from 1911 to 1921 a consistent amount of money to acquire land. Good to know of other changes the USFS has done for my studies.

Regards,

RW

 

[arghman]

I've got some connections to former WMNF employees who know about this stuff. My understanding (which may be incorrect) is that the WMNF administers all the AT corridor lands in NH, but they may still be considered US Park Service land and are not part of the WMNF proper.

 

[cushetunk]

I'd suggest that anyone attending the meeting read about the Champion Lands Project, which offers a public-private partnership model for conserving cut-over working forest. I'd be surprised if it isn't on the minds of the people who are thinking big for the future of the Mahoosuc region.

 

[slowmo68]

Nh National guard mobile rocket what? Man that is very crazy sounding indeed. What the hell would that be all about? Will we be hiking in the Mahoosucs to the sounds of explosions and whistling rockets holy crap!!!!! Please say it isn't so! I love the Mahoosucs and can't even fathom the idea of this at all.

 

[Arthur Dent]

Slomo68-"Will we be hiking in the Mahoosucs to the sounds of explosions and whistling rockets holy crap!!!!! "

Seems I remember some time ago hiking somewhere on the A.T. in ME and seeing a sign warning about unexploded squibs from maneuvers held in the area.

On the northern Long Trail I've heard them testing wing mounted machine guns that fire something like 3000 rounds per minute. Sometimes in Georgia hikers can run into rangers day or night.

 

[peakbagger]

It was reported that the national guard is very interested in buying the area for a training grounds. Some of the local guard units are being shifted to mobile rocket launcher units and thats what they want to train with. I expect that the area would be used for multiple training missions as there arent a lot of training options in the area. Success is good place for this type of training in that there is an extensive internal road infrastructure and not a lot of human neighbors. I could speculate that at least part of the training would involve making loud noises on a frequent basis. There are limited access points to the area which makes securing it easier. There are two major inholdings, Success Pond and the AVRRD landfill, along Success pond road, so one can hope that access is maintained to the public to the trails, but that would open up a lot of internal access to the parcel which would make securing the area more difficult.

About the only "good thing" is that the AT tends to run on the south side of the ridge until Success Mountain so some of it will be sheltered. Unfortunately once it gets to Mt Carlo, its a ridge line hike until Full Goose.

Having hiked on the AT in PA in the Peters Mountain Wilderness when a simulated A10 attack was occuring at the adjoining military base, I can assure you that any pretense of being in a wilderness area was significantly impacted by planes flying at treetop level and firing their gatling guns.

 

[slowmo68]

Man I hope this NH guard thing falls apart. I can't even imagine hiking up on the ridge around Goose eye and hearing explosions and having low flying planes buzzing through. This is a nice remote area of the mountains away from the crowds and buzz of other parts of NH and ME. I wonder if the explosions will be able to be heard in Grafton Notch? This is really driving me nuts to even think this could happen.Can't hey shoot their damn rockets in a field or a sandpit somewhere or better yet forget shooting them at all. I can't believe more people aren't talking about this after all it is just about located on the AT, but hey mention putting up a couple of windmills and o yeah that will generate all sorts of feedback. I have never been close up to a windmill but I would think they would be a lot more silent than exploding rockets and planes firing machine guns.

 

[kltilton]

Did anyone attend the meeting? I was hoping to go but was at the wrong end of the state at the time.

 

[Vermonster]

Did anyone attend the meeting? I was hoping to go but was at the wrong end of the state at the time.

I could not attend, but there is a good write-up in the BDS:
http://www.laconiadailysun.com/BerlinPDF/2009/7/3B.pdf

VT