Moose Mountain Tapped for Forest Service Protection
WASHINGTON—Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) said in a statement Tuesday that New Hampshire’s Moose Mountain forest legacy project is a “land conservation priority” and that he will work hard to ensure final passage of the $1 million that President Bush has earmarked for the project in his fiscal 2004 budget.
“Preserving Moose Mountain … under the Forest Legacy Program will help protect a valuable forest corridor and preserve the head of the Piscataqua Watershed, which feeds into the Great Bay National Estuary,” Sununu said. “The land also provides the opportunity for a wide range of recreational activities, including hunting, trapping, cross-country skiing and hiking.”
The Forest Legacy Program works to expand private forest areas that are already protected, encourage traditional forest uses, and protect further large blocks of forest land and the wildlife habitats within that land. Under the program, over 2,081 acres of Moose Mountain forest in Brookfield and Middleton, N.H., would be protected from development.
The Forest Legacy Program involves a partnership between the states and the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Forest Service. It also includes local governments, foresters and interested landowners in its decision-making process.
The Forest Service relies on the highest priorities of individual state assessments in determining which projects are included in the program. According to Deirdre Raimo, a Forest Service official based in Durham, New Hampshire committees have done a thorough job of persuading the Forest Service to include Moose in the legacy program.
“They’ve been very good about assessing and getting these types of projects closed,” she said in an interview.
The Moose Mountain lands straddle Brookfield and Middleton. The more than 2,081 acres that would be preserved would join a nationally significant stretch of forest that extends from the northern areas of New York across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. According to the Forest Service’s website, the entire stretch encompasses 26 million acres, and 16 projects have thus far protected over 83,000 acres of forest land. Future and proposed projects, including Moose Mountain, would add another 675,000 acres.
“I have supported the Forest Legacy throughout my service in Congress,” Sununu said. “I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that [Moose Mountain] gets this necessary funding.”
Published in Foster’s Daily Democrat, in New Hampshire.
