By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

WELD – Representatives for landowner and L. L. Bean granddaughter Linda Bean Folkers have requested the town put a gate at the end of an access road to trail heads for Tumbledown and Little Jackson mountains.

Folkers recently bought 8,000 acres of forested land in Weld as the result of bankruptcy of former landowners United Timber Corp.

According minutes of a selectmen’s meeting last week, Steve Gettle, a forester representing Folkers’ company, Lake Webb Woods, Maine LLC, told selectmen the company was “concerned with the amount of trash that has been left at the end of Morgan Road.”

The company owns the land on both sides of the seasonal dirt road that provides access to two hiking trails to the top of Tumbledown and Little Jackson Mountains. Gettle asked selectmen to consider installing a gate at the beginning of the town road where it intersects with Byron Road to stop problems with campers and partygoers who leave trash and have unpermitted fires.

On Monday night, selectmen drafted two articles for a special town meeting to be held at 7 p.m. May 17 to determine the fate of the road.

According to Nancy Stowell, chairwoman of the selectmen, the gate would prevent motor vehicles on the road but would not interfere with hikers.

Bean and her company have no intention of barring access to hikers, she said by telephone Monday. The gate would require people to park 0.84 miles away from the start of Parker Ridge and Little Jackson Mountain trails.

Stowell estimated the popular hiking area has 50 to 150 people on a typical summer weekend. There are no outhouses or bathroom facilities in the area and garbage is strewn everywhere. It’s a sanitation issue, she said.

“She (Folkers) has a right to protect her land,” she said.

She also said Folkers has no intention of developing the land, though attempts to reach Folkers to verify this were unsuccessful Monday.

Deputy Fire Warden Jerry Nering said Gettle notified fire wardens that they are not to issue any campfire permits for the land until further notice. People have traditionally camped with campfires there and Nering was concerned that they would simply find another nearby spot to camp. It is a grave concern for the Fire Department, the wardens and the fire service, he said.

Selectmen voted unanimously on two articles for the warrant.

Article 1 will read, “To see if the town will vote to take no action on the Morgan Road until it can explore all the ramifications of change.” Article 2 will read, “To see if the town will vote to close access to the Morgan Road to motorized vehicles by gating the road at the intersection of Byron Road to allow foot traffic.”

Joe Webster suggested voters get assurances from Folkers that the land would remain open for public use before voting on the issue.

“We need assurances from the landowner,” agreed Nering.

There was discussion about whether to postpone the meeting, though Stowell was reluctant to do so, saying the landowner was particularly concerned with the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

But others felt there might be reason to wait.

“We don’t have to do anything just because someone came to a meeting saying we own this now and we want something done,” said Joan Braun.

“It does get trashed and gets way overused,” Dawn Girardin, a member of Tumbledown Conservation Alliance, said in a telephone interview Monday. The group was instrumental in the state’s recent acquisition of the mountains’ ridgelines. But, she said, she would not support a gate across the road.

“People are deservedly skeptical that it’s not going to be developed,” she said. “Houses have been going up all over the place and someone’s making a lot of money but not people in Weld.”

Conrad Heeschen of the alliance said one of the group’s priorities for a long time has been to acquire the land for the state.

“We recognize there are management issues there and I don’t know how they’d be resolved,” he said.