Georgetown Closing

[PB]

Please attend if possible -

DCR SETS PUBLIC MEETING TO EXPLAIN

THE CLOSING OF GEORGETOWN-ROWLEY STATE FOREST TO OHV USE


The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will hold a public meeting at Georgetown Middle/High School on Monday, April 23, at 7 p.m. to discuss the agency's decision to close Georgetown Rowley State Forest to all off-highway vehicles (OHVs). The school is at 11 Winter St. in Georgetown.


Gary Briere, chief of DCR's Bureau of Recreation, will describe the 18-month public process that was held to develop the criteria used to guide the agency's decision and the results of the analysis at Georgetown. The presentation will also cover DCR's ongoing efforts to provide environmentally sustainable and safe trails for motorized trail recreation users.


Representatives of the Massachusetts Environmental Police will outline enforcement plans for the state forest and other regional properties.


For more than a year, a working group composed of state officials, environmentalists, scientists, and trail riders met to develp new criteria to determine whether state properties could withstand OHV use. The criteria include the amount of wetlands on the property, the proximity of OHV trails to neighboring homes, and whether the property contains important plant or animal habitats.


The criteria were then applied to all nine state forests where OHV use had traditionally been allowed. Although eight forests passed the test, Georgetown-Rowley did not. The forest was found to contain extensive wetlands as well as an important habitat for an animal species protected under the state's Endangered Species Act that is likely to be harmed by continued motorized trail recreation. Also, OHV trails are prohibitively close to neighboring homes. Therefore, OHV use is no longer permitted at Georgetown-Rowley

[ChR1s]

"Representatives of the Massachusetts Environmental Police will outline enforcement plans for the state forest and other regional properties."


And so it begins. kick ass. No moneis for trails, but we can pay MSP overtime to keep Mr. & Mrs. McMansion within their comfort zone.

[beet]

Join CT no place to ride.

[beet]

We had a blast on years past. A few years back pre paved WP, I was on the trail & it runs along a river with brown stone cliffs, so I go up a nice hill that I had been up 1000 times & end up in a McMansion BY univited to the picnik!
& The hill sucked going down!