HARRISON – Scott Hatch would like to repair the sometimes-contentious relationship between property owners and outdoor enthusiasts who like to hike, bike, snowmobile, hunt or pick blueberries on land they don’t own.
To help keep owners from posting their property and making a fortress of their patch of woods or field, Hatch is attempting to form a group called Citizens for Access that he says will foster better relations between landowners and land users.
Hatch is a dual-sport biker who likes to ride the trails on his motorcycle.
“As someone who recreates, I’m passionate about my hobby,” he said, but when he’s riding his bike in the forest, he’ll at times come across a No Trespassing sign.
“I come to a screeching halt and say, Now what?’ It’s an issue for me.”
He has approached the governor’s council on land and sportsmen relations, which advised him to start a pilot program in the Oxford Hills region, he said.
Hatch said the organization he envisions would maintain a 24-hour hot line for property owners to call in problems about people misusing their land.
After a complaint was made, local response teams across the state could respond to the dilemma.
“Classic example: Tires get dumped, but instead of getting angry and posting the land, you call the team,” said Hatch.
The team would clear the tires and calm the landowner, then take the refuse to the dump.
This will reinforce the bonds between the landowner and land user, and ideally keep more land open, said Hatch sitting in his restored barn in Harrison.
The 39-year-old rebuilds old barns for a living
To get Citizens for Access off the ground, Hatch has been presenting his plan to outdoor organizations, like snowmobile clubs.
He is requesting people at these meetings then volunteer to give their own presentations at other clubs.
He also hopes to send fliers to mailboxes around the state outlining his plan and asking for volunteers to give moral support by returning a nonbinding letter of interest, or even offer to join a response team or give a donation to the network.
It must be a grassroots effort, he said. “This needs to be citizens asking their neighbors for permission. It has to be about your neighbor helping your neighbor.”
Approaching the governor’s council was a means to give the nascent organization greater credibility, Hatch said. He plans to return to the council in March after he has launched the pilot program to show his findings.
At 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 26, at his Harrison home on Scribners Mills Road, Hatch will hold the first of two organizational meetings, he said. Anyone interested in keeping the outdoors accessible – from snowmobilers to leaf peepers, equestrians and bottle hunters – is invited.
A second meeting is set for 1 to 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 28
“Everywhere you go land is being broken up in smaller acreage as it’s sold,” Hatch said. “If we don’t start an organization like this now, we’re doomed.”
Comments are no longer available on this story