A new handicap-accessible trail opens Thursday in a rare forest in Ossipee – the first such trail the Nature Conservancy has built in the state.
The walking trail runs through the nonprofit’s Ossipee Pine Barrens and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Conservancy spokesman Jim O’Brien says this means it isn’t too hilly, and is covered in stone dust that's navigable by wheelchairs or even strollers.
“We will be providing everybody, regardless of how they get about, the ability to go out and experience in this instance a very unique part of New Hampshire’s ecology,” he says.
The pitch-pine and scrub-oak forest is one of the last of its kind in the state. It depends on periodic wildfires to survive, and is home to several threatened species.
O’Brien says the conservancy is planning its next accessible trail for the Manchester Cedar Swamp next year.