Officials eye letters on changes to forest management plan

LACONIA, N.H. – And you thought Santa was getting all the wish lists this season.

White Mountain National Forest officials are sorting through a mountain of letters, as thousands offered comments on proposed changes to the forest management plan.

Friday was the last day to submit comment on the proposal, which will revise the way the forest is used for the next 15 years. The government’s preference would expand the amount of wilderness areas by 34,000 acres and keep logging the forest at current levels.

The plan sets the use allocation for the 794,000 acres of federal land in New Hampshire and Maine. About 5,800 groups or individuals sent comments.

Thomas Giles, who is leading the team analyzing the comments, says it will be at least February before they can make some judgment on what people told them. They hope to come up with another draft of the plan by summer.

The issue that brought out the most comment was whether summer motorized recreation should be allowed, Giles said. The forest service’s preferred alternative is to not allow ATV use in the forest for the next 15 years. There are now no ATV trails in the forest.

There also has been a lot of comment on wilderness proposals. Most of the responses have been positive, although the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association said they would like to see some changes, including more timber harvesting.