ALBANY TOWNSHIP – Public comment is now being sought until May 18 on the White Mountain National Forest’s Four Ponds Integrated Resource Management Project in Albany and Mason townships.

The extensive proposal includes many changes in projects related to wildlife habitat; recreation, forest and fisheries management; watershed restoration; prescribed fire; and transportation.

These needs and opportunities exist at or near Crocker, Round and Broken Bridge ponds, and Patte Marsh, all of which are within the Pleasant and Crooked river watersheds.

According to the public comment package, habitats within the area include a mix of northern hardwoods, oak-pine, mixed woods, hemlock and spruce/fir with perennial and intermittent streams, small seeps and wetlands.

Terrain is moderately steep and ranges from 1,000 to 2,100 feet in elevation.

Recreational areas in the project area include Crocker Pond campground, dispersed campsites, ponds and marshes, and snowmobile and hiking trails. Field work identified harvest opportunities for the next 10 years that will promote the desired conditions for healthy forests while providing a mix of saw timber and pulp volume for local markets.

A need exists to maintain less common, intermediate shade-tolerant species such as oak and pine within stands by reducing mid-story, non-commercial size trees around mature oak and pine after shelter-wood tree harvesting.

To encourage growth and regeneration of softwoods in mixed wood and softwood stands, the forest service is proposing to remove non-commercial sized hardwood saplings within groups.

Forest work will allow the full array of tree species – including red spruce, balsam fir, hemlock, sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, red oak and white pine – to regenerate in canopy gaps within hardwood stands.

Selective timber harvesting will also improve wildlife habitat.

One of the recreation management goals is to provide a range of recreation opportunities to meet public demand for motorized, non-motorized, and developed and dispersed recreation.

The northern section of the Albany Notch Trail below the height-of-land will be abandoned since it parallels Albany Mountain Trail.

A portion of the Crocker Pond snowmobile trail where it intersects with Harriman Brook Road will be relocated to avoid travel through several poorly drained wet areas.

The permanent snowmobile trail from Crocker Pond Road and a portion of Patte Brook Road to the Sunken Pond Bypass Trail isn’t so permanent.

It is proposed for relocation to minimize dual use and not disrupt or hinder snowmobile passage through the project area during current and future harvest operations.

Capacity at Crocker Pond Campground is proposed for expansion to better meet public demand and use. Vehicle access at several existing campsites will also be improved.

In-stream wood will be added to create pool habitat in the East Branch of the Pleasant River and Miles, New England and Mosquito Pond brooks and their tributaries.

To maintain currently existing cold, deep-water habitat in Broken Bridge Pond and keep competing fish species from Patte Marsh out, the pond’s 1958 earthen barrier dam and spillway will be reconstructed.

The transportation system will also see changes.

Unnecessary roads will be allowed to grow over with grasses and trees, and culverts and bridges will be improved or replaced to prevent flooding and road washouts.

Prescribed burning is proposed for Farwell Mountain to regenerate suppressed blueberry and red pine, and in oak and pine stands to perpetuate northern red oak, white pine and oak-pine habitats.

There are many more proposals.

For a copy of the public comment package, go to http://tinyurl.com/d69852. For more information, call Gail Wigler at 603-466-2713.

Comments can be addressed to Katherine W. Stuart, 300 Glen Road, Gorham, N.H., faxed to Stuart’s attention at 603-466-2856, or sent to [email protected].