JAY – Members of the Jay High School Envirothon Team gave selectmen an overview of their findings on recreation and its impact on natural resources.

One recommendation of the team is to limit hunting on the 200 or so acres known as the Jay Recreation Area, while the town’s Recreation Committee is recommending banning hunting from the area that stretches from behind the schools to Route 133.

Students have been working on developing a management plan for the recreation area since the fall of 2006.

Selectmen approved ideas the group came up with for the Jay Outdoor Education Project in 2007. Those include building a butterfly garden, amphitheater, multi-use trail system, timber cutting technique demos, wildlife observation hut or tower, sledding/snow tube trail, picnic areas and improving the project adventure court.

Rob Taylor, a Jay resident, teacher, coach of the Envirothon Team and chairman of the rec committee, team members Max Couture and Devin Rose spoke on the analysis the team did on the projects in the management plan, which include a multi-use trail system.

Among students’ findings are that wildlife will be affected through snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle use along with other habitat destruction. The soil will be affected through compaction and erosion, which will induce poor drainage and alteration of soil consistency among other soil changes. There is also forest and aquatics impacts, team members found.

Taylor said the team’s recommendation is to curb the negative effects by the use of best management practices for protecting each natural resource.

Those include trails having water bars to stop erosion, student Devin Rose said.

Max Couture, another student, reviewed the team’s findings on hunting, which is that clear boundaries are determined and safety zones are clearly marked.

Hunting is illegal within 300 feet of a residential dwelling and 500 feet of school property, Couture said.

Rose said they are also recommending hunting be limited to shotguns, bows and crossbows.

The team is also recommending that all-terrain vehicle use be limited to marked trails or that they be banned.

Couture said another idea for the land is to put in a pond to create a water source and stock it with fish.

Taylor said there is a permitting process that they would need to go through but that project is down the road a while.

Taylor added that the team took the analysis and their recommendations to the town’s Recreation Committee.

On the issue of hunting, the committee is recommending banning hunting, Taylor said.

The committee thinks it’s something that should be looked at, Taylor said, since there will be education programs going on.

Regardless of the decision selectmen make on hunting, Taylor said, there should be marked safety zones.

Selectmen also heard from John Dunton of Wilton, who told them he plans to build 12 picnic tables and benches for the recreation area as his Eagle project.