Weld rejects plan to gate Tumbledown access road
from the Morning Sentinel
Thursday, May 19, 2005
WELD -- The new owners of thousands of acres of woodland around
two popular Tumbledown Mountain hiking trails want to keep the
land open to hunting, fishing and snowmobiling but want to stop
the dumping, camping, campfires and keep out motorized vehicles.
A special town meeting vote this week soundly defeated a request
by the owners that the town gate a town-owned access road that
crosses their land and leads to Tumbledown and Little Jackson
Mountains. Webb Lake Woods Maine LLC, a limited partnership whose
principal shareholder is L.L.Bean heiress Linda Bean Folkers,
owns 2,200 acres in the area, part of 7,700 acres it purchased
when MeadWestvaco Corp. sold off its holdings last year in a
historic $2.5 million deal brokered by the state and non-profit
organizations.
The new landowners own both sides of Morgan Road, a narrow dirt
access road off Byron Road that links to Parker Ridge Trail and
Little Jackson Mountain Trail. Fed up with the rubbish, trail
erosion from traffic, sanitation problems, and campfires, Folkers
and her associates tried to get the town to close its section of
road to vehicles.
Residents Tuesday were angry and fearful that the new owners came
in and want to change the way the land has historically been
used. One man said Folkers should have been there herself to
assure the town of her intentions.
Others said the owners should have tried to find a solution
before pushing ahead with something as drastic as a gate.
"I suggest the landowners work with the Tumbledown
Conservation Alliance, state officials, Weld selectmen and the
people and come back at an annual town meeting with other
alternatives," said resident Neil Stinneford.
The town owns the first .84 miles of Morgan Road and the
partnership owns the next 1,400 feet that has an unofficial
lean-to and parking area. Those uses are now eliminated, the
landowner's representative, certified forester Steve Gettle, said
Wednesday. To emphasize the problems that started the
controversy, Gettle showed townspeople slides of rubbish dumped
in the various locations and badly eroded roads.
He said much of the trash has since been cleaned up.
He said the owners hope to create an easement that would give the
public continued access to the trails -- on foot. He also said a
long-term forest management plan is being prepared.
"I spoke to the owners (Tuesday) night and there are no hard
feelings about the vote. They want to work with the town going
forward," Gettle said. "They have no plans to develop
the land -- they have not done that with any other parcels they
own."
This summer, visitors will see changes. The badly eroded, private
end of Morgan Road will be restored and will be blocked off to
cars. The 13 fire pits on private property in the adjacent field
will be removed and campfires banned. Weld fire warden Jerry
Nearing on Wednesday confirmed the owners' intentions and said no
fire permits are to be issued for that area. He hoped the
publicity discourages people from challenging the new
restrictions.
"If the public knows, there is less likely to be an issue
and it will make is easier to enforce," he said.
Susan Stowell, the former owner of the property with her husband
Rand, said they had found people generally respected the land but
agreed a small minority ruined it for others.
On Wednesday, she said she knows Folkers and is confident she
will be a good steward of the land.
"I respect what Linda is doing in preventing the land from
being chopped up into small parcels. She wants to preserve it and
I applaud her for that," Stowell said. "I also respect
private property. She is aware that the land there has always
been used by the public and she knows they want to continue to
use it. I hope we can come to some resolve on this issue through
understanding and respect on both sides."
Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991
bjespersen@centralmaine.com