Weld Landowner restricts access
Landowner Linda Bean Folkers decided to take
action by erecting barriers and tearing down a decades-old Boy Scout shelter
after a town vote to gate a road was denied
By Sheila McMillan
The Franklin Journal (
WELD--Tumbledown hikers may be wearing L.L.Bean
boots, but they may not feel welcome on property owned by his grand-daughter,
Linda Bean Folkers.
Folkers, the new owner of
more than 7,000 acres at the base of Parker Ridge and Little Jackson trails of
Tumbledown Mountain, which includes a field that has been used as a camping
site for as long as anyone can remember, has taken action against a recent
102-0 "no" vote by Weld residents to her proposed road discontinuance
so she could erect a gate across Morgan Road. Folkers hired a crew before
Memorial Day weekend to tear down a lean-to used for decades by area Boy Scouts
and piled sand and ditch barriers on logging roads as well as along the left
side of the town-owned
"The landowner is
perfectly within her right to do what she has done, and I hope that people
won't test it," said Weld resident Neil Stinneford, "But at the same
time I feel sad because well over 50 years--that I know of--of tradition is
going down the tubes."
Another resident Mike Graham
agrees that it is Folkers's right.
"It's her property and
on her property she can do whatever she wants, though I don't think it's the
best P.R.," he said.
Partying, trash, illegal
campfires as well as trees being cut down to fuel those fires, are what has
driven Folkers to put an end to hikers camping in her field, though the
Stowells, previous owners of the property, said at the recent public hearing
they didn't experience that many problems there in the 25 years they owned it.
At the public hearing held May 17, Weld residents did offer to organize a
volunteer effort to keep the area clean.
Forester Jay Bernard of the
Maine Forestry Service and stationed in Weld, said they have been called in to
police the area and points out that Folkers is not denying access to the
trailheads.
"She is just saying that
people will have to park on the road and walk in to the trails," Bernard
said. "No motorized vehicles or camping will be allowed in the field anymore."
The town voted 102-0 to take
no action on the question of discontinuing the
Bernard said the Forestry
Service will patrol the area looking for violators because it is something they
would normally do anyway. Any other violations they find will be passed on to
the Franklin County Sheriff's Department for follow-up.
"Our focus is resource
protection of the forest," Bernard said. "But we refer other types of
violations to the appropriate agencies, in this case, the Sheriff's Department.
So, if we see someone trespassing we will be obliged to report it. We always
hope for voluntary compliance." He added that many people traditionally
come from far away to hike these trails and camp in that field, and they may
arrive unaware of the new rules, but they'll have to change their plans once
they get there.
Weld residents expressed
shock when they realized what had been done on Folkers' property since the
public hearing since several groups, including Folkers' representative,
forester Steve Gettle, said they would get together to work out a solution that
would include regular clean-up in the area.
As for the removal of the
lean-to torn down by Folkers, at least one Weld Boy Scout, Alex Nering, 17,
said he thinks it is a shame. Nering, who is a recent Eagle Scout, said some of
his best times growing up were had at the Boy Scout's annual camp-out at that
lean-to.
"I can't imagine that
younger kids coming up through the scouts are not going to be able to do
that," he said.