By Jodi Wolfe
Staff Writer

The first step has been approved to keep ATV trails out of Bear Brook State Park.

More than a week after the State Senate Environment and Wildlife Committee's recommended not to pass a bill to construct All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) trails, the Senate passed the bill on Thursday, March 31, with a last-minute amendment.

Senate Bill 121, proposed by Sen. Bob Flanders R-Antrim, calls for the construction of ATV trails at state parks. The bill also calls for the trails to not pass within 400 feet of wells supplying public water and to take away local authority in approving site plans for off highway recreational vehicles on private property. However, the lastminute amendment would allow local governing bodies to review and approve ATV trails in towns with more than 45 percent of contiguous state park land. Bear Brook State Park encompasses 51 percent of Allenstown.

The exception is only for state parks, not federal parks, said Flanders.

"It would give selectmen control as to whether or not they want trails on it," said Allenstown Selectman Sandra McKenney.

However, the bill might not be good for the other parts of the state where a state park doesn't take up more than 45 percent of the town, she said.

"We think it's a good compromise," said Flanders, who worked on the amendment with Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED), Sen. Jack Barnes, RRaymond, and other ATV trail advocates.

A date for a hearing with the House of Representatives has not been set.

"I'm happy, but I'm nervous too," McKenney said. "The House could take it out."

McKenney expects to see another bill that would call for the ATV trails to be a further distance from wellheads.

McKenney and other Allenstown residents have been fighting this bill since 2002.

Last year, a bill to construct trails went into interim study after a typo was made regarding the distance between ATV trails and wellheads. Last year's Senate Bill 349 stated that there must be a distance of 4,000 feet between the wellhead and the ATV trails, but DRED actually meant to say 400 feet. The bill was then voted down and now reappeared as SB 121.

The state has increased ATV registration in hopes of using the money to build the trails, but this bill must pass first, said Flanders.

Many Allenstown residents attended the March 22 Environment and Wildlife Committee hearing and spoke against the bill.

During the hearing, Rep. John Alger R-Rumney, who also sponsored the bill, suggested that the bill exempt Bear Brook State Park.

While the southern part of the state would prefer not to see ATVers, they bring business and tourism to the northern part of the state, he said.

Barnes, who represents Allenstown, said he didn't think it was constitutional to have a bill that exempts part of the state.

"I'm not so sure we want to be picking out place they want and don't want," said Barnes, who is also on the committee. "I don't think it's constitutional."