Help Get the Wild River Bridge Replaced

[DougBates]

Several years ago Hurricane Irene damaged the footbridge over the Wild River, near the Wild River Campground in the Evans Notch. Eventually, the Forest Service removed this bridge, deciding not to replace it. The bridge is not in a Wilderness Area. As the Wild River is difficult to ford, the loss of this bridge largely prevents access to the Moriah Brook Trail.

I've written to both of my NH senators, Shaheen and Hassan about getting this footbridge replaced, and I've gotten positive responses of interest from their offices. The rationale for replacing the bridge is that due to Covid our trail system is being used much more heavily, and these hikers are likely to continue hiking after Covid is over. We consequently need to preserve the accessibility of our trails. Meanwhile, also due to Covid, unemployment is high and the Federal government is interested in stimulus spending on infrastructure.

If more people were to contact Shaheen and Hassan expressing interest in getting the Wild River bridge replaced we may be able to get this prioritized. I urge everyone living in NH reading this to write to Shaheen and Hassan about the need to replace this bridge. If you live in Maine, you might wish to write your representatives, too, as the bridge is near the Maine border and its loss affects Maine tourism, too.

 

[egilbe]

I'd be happy if they cleaned up the mess from the old bridge removal.

 

[peakbagger]

I dont hold out much hope. I did intervene in writing on the Thoreau Falls bridge and it was obvious that Shaheen and Ayotte just gave it a proper political wave and let it drop. The FS then extended the permit period and justified tearing it out anyhow. As I posted last year the FS had stated that the wild river bridge wasn't needed as it was low use and the Highwater trail provided an alternative. Of course the Highwater trail was severely damaged due to flooding and doesn't exist in some areas but that is just details. The goal is to get rid of backcountry infrastructure so it cant be rebuilt. If they leave a mess it eventually becomes historic.

 

[DougBates]

The Wild River bridge was not in the backcountry. It was next to a campground and not in a Wilderness area.

Before Covid I had little hope of getting this bridge replaced, too, but the situation has changed due to Covid. There's interest now in infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy and the Whites have been swamped with hikers. If the public shows interest in this project it could be picked up as part of the stimulus spending.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Last trip out of there this fall some jackhole had me parked in on Sunday afternoon. If the goal of rebuilding the bridge is to attract more people to that area from other spots in the Whites then the parking infrastructure should also be part of it.