On Wednesday, the Executive Council will meet to decide the fate of Mount Sunapee’s exemplary and ancient forest community. Three amendments to the leased area of Mount Sunapee are being considered. One of the proposed amendments would create irreversible impacts to Mount Sunapee’s forests to expand skiing on the west side of Mount Sunapee.
Since 1998, in a series of reports, the state has documented these forests. The agency responsible for their evaluation has over the years recommended permanent protection of the 484-acre system enlarging the scope of the area covered each time a new study is done.
An integral part of this system is the area of ancient forest, which is dependent upon the surrounding forest to buffer it from irreparable damage. Mount Sunapee contains as much as 10 percent of all the known ancient forest in New Hampshire, and the great majority south of the White Mountains. The impact from developing a ski lift and trails in this area are permanent and will forever alter the character of this last vestige of wilderness in New Hampshire.
N.H. Fish and Game has identified this area as highest ranked in the state on its habitat ranking map.
Mount Sunapee State Park can be a place for both skiing and a reserve for the rarest of New Hampshire’s natural resources. The state as the steward of public lands in our name has a solemn responsibility to preserve that which is unique and irreplaceable.
Please email and call the Executive Council today and urge members to vote no on the west bowl amendment to the lease.
STEVE RUSSELL
Newbury
(The writer is president of Friends of Mount Sunapee.)