This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
In the nearly 50 years David Minton has lived in Warner, he has hiked and hunted all over Mount Kearsarge.
Minton believes the landmark is one of the few places left in the area where people can still be in tune with the wilderness. Humans, he said, have a responsibility to protect nature, and he sees it as his responsibility to protect Mount Kearsarge.
A proposed bike trail along the mountain, he believes, would only spoil the landscape.
“To many people of Warner, Mount Kearsarge is really a sanctuary,” Minton said. “It’s an area to be left alone and not promoted and exploited for more of this ruinous activity like single-track mountain biking, putting people in conflict with the wildlife and the area’s natural resources.”
Some other Warner residents share his concerns about everything from disrupting wildlife to pedestrian and rider safety to the potential for creating “spider trails.” At town meeting, voters will evaluate an advisory warrant article asking the state to consider residents’ worries before approving any more work on the bike trail.
The multi-use trail is proposed to run three miles and 1,300 vertical feet between the entrance to Rollins State Park and the summit parking lot, which could be one of the steepest and longest trails in the region.
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Nicholas Holmes, secretary of the central New Hampshire chapter of the New England Mountain Biking Association, which proposed the trail, countered that the many successful trails the association has built across the state drive people to encounter nature.
“We’re building it because it’s such a unique place, and it would provide such a wonderful experience to riders of all abilities,” he said.
When Nancy Martin first heard about the proposed trail three years ago, she thought it was a “terrible idea.” Martin, a longtime Warner resident and chair of the town’s conservation commission, shared concerns about rider safety, saying that accidents are bound to happen considering how steep the trail has been described to be.
She said the town is expecting to incur an additional $100,000 in ambulance costs next year, and she worries the bike trail could saddle taxpayers with additional expenses.
“We are very concerned about the safety of it, and especially the impact that will have on Warner residents when they have to be responsible for the accidents and emergencies,” she said.
Resident Jackie Germain also had many concerns, including “spider trails,” or off-shoots from main path, that she worries could travel into private property.
What frustrates Germain most, though, is residents’ inability to communicate their thoughts to the team behind the trail proposal.
The town’s conservation commission met with representatives from the state three years ago, but have not had the chance to provide feedback on the trail since then, according to Martin.
“There were a lot of concerns about, ‘What’s the due diligence that has been done to make sure that this is safe and sound for not only hikers but for the bikers themselves, but also for the animals, for the plants, for the soil?'” Germain asked. “That never kind of happened.”
Benjamin Kramer is one of a few Warner residents who helped the Mountain Biking Association put in an application for the trail. He said the team is getting a wildlife ecologist to survey the land and developing an emergency evacuation plan for the mountain. They will also have a walking tour of the site once the snow melts.
Kramer said he hears his neighbors’ concerns and hopes that the warrant article discussion at town meeting can assure people that the project will be both manageable and sustainable for the town.
“This is a very important process where everybody should feel like that their thoughts and expertise is being heard,” Kramer said. “The town of Warner, they take a particular pride in how they want to have nature be respected, and this is part of the process. I think it’s a way that the town of Warner is expressing that they want to make certain that this trail is above and beyond.”
Holmes said the Biking Association’s plan brings the trail close to the road, making it easy for first responders to access in case of an accident. The trail will also avoid wetlands to limit erosion.
The process is in flux, according to Holmes, and the organization will rely on the state’s suggestions moving forward.
“This is a preliminary draft, a rough draft, a concept plan. It is not the final plan,” he said.
Minton said a lot of Granite Staters love the woods but may not know the extent of the biodiversity they contain. He believes putting in a biking trail, any biking trail, would be an overuse of the land.
“We’re loving our wildland to death,” he said. “Why can’t Mount Kearsarge, this one little holdout in central New Hampshire, this one little hold out of wilderness, why can’t it be left alone? Let’s not kill it.”
