The New England Chapter’s New Hampshire State Leadership Team recently submitted final comments on Bear Brook State Park’s revised management plan.
At nearly 10,000 acres, Bear Brook State Park is one of the largest state parks in New Hampshire. In 2019, the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources initiated a revision of the park’s management plan, which was last updated in 1994. Members from BHA’s NH State Leadership Team participated in several public meetings during the process.
The meetings were led by a steering committee made up of representatives from the four towns in which the park sits and major park user groups such as hunters, mountain bikers, snowmobilers, equestrian users, the forest products industry and several others. Input from the steering committee and public comments informed the technical team that was tasked with actually writing the plan. The tech team included subject-matter experts from the DNCR-Parks and Recreation and Fish and Game Department.
In October 2019, NH BHA’s State Leadership Team submitted comments on the 2019 draft of the plan, and on April 30, 2021, it submitted additional comments on the 2021 draft. The comments were primarily centered around supporting access for hunting and angling, maximizing trail-less areas of the park, minimizing effects of trails on wildlife and the backcountry experience, maintaining the integrity of wildlife habitat, and developing a partnership with the park.
New Hampshire's technical team will review and integrate public comments into the Bear Brook Management Plan as they see fit, and will finalize the plan in the coming months.
The New Hampshire SLT's comments on the 2021 draft can be found below or by following this link.
Find more information about joining the New England Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Chapter here.
About New England BHA Chapter
New England BHA is a voice for the sporting community in New England that values solitude, silence, clean and free flowing rivers, and habitat for large, wide-ranging wildlife.