Woodland Heritage Trail Corridor Management Plan North Country Scenic Byways Council Draft for Public Hearing on August 25, 2015 Prepared by the North Country Council in partnership with the North Country Scenic Byways Council With funding from the Federal Highway Administration through the National Scenic Byways Program Administered by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation The preparation of this plan has been financed in part through a grant from the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1 The Trail…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Support…………..……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11 Byway Resources…………………………………………………………………………………………… 13 Table 1. Resources that Support the Intrinsic Qualities of the Byway………………. 17 Table 2. Land Use and Major Conservation Areas Along Woodland Heritage Trail 19 Table 3. Summary of Land Use Regulations and Plans……....……………………………. 22 Table 4. Traffic Volume Trends………………………………………..………………………………. 28 Implementation Strategy………………………………………………………………………………... 33 Table 5 Goals and Implementation Matrix for the s Woodland Heritage Trail………37 The following components of the plan can be downloaded from www.NCCouncil.org on the North Country Scenic Byways page: Appendix A Inventory Maps Appendix B Land Use Maps Appendix C Traffic Maps Photo credits: Tara Bamford, North Country Council Woodland Heritage Trail Introduction Residents and visitors to New Hampshire’s North Country are fortunate to be able to enjoy two national Scenic Byways - the Connecticut River Byway and White Mountain Trail (includes Kancamagus Highway) - and four state Scenic Byways - River Heritage Trail, Presidential Range Trail, Woodland Heritage Trail, and Moose Path Trail. This plan examines resources, land use and traffic safety on the Woodland Heritage Trail and makes recommendations for continued stewardship of the intrinsic values of this state Scenic Byway. The Woodland Heritage Trail was formally designated in 1994 by the NH Scenic & Cultural Byways Council. The original route is shown in green in the map to the right. At that time, the newly created national Scenic Byways program encouraged recognition of important scenic and cultural corridors via state and possible national byway designation. The national program also provided incentives for designated byways via a national Scenic Byways funding program that funded enhancements of byway facilities for the benefit of the byway users. In the North Country, both the Kancamagus-White Mountain Trail and Connecticut River Byway received national designation and funding for important visitor amenities. As part of the state and national designation process, North Country Council, the regional planning commission serving the northern third of New Hampshire, created a North Country Scenic Byways Council, comprised of representation from byway interests around the region. The purpose of this Council was management of the many designated byways in the region. The Council produced a guidebook to the five North Country Scenic Byways called “Northern Journeys” and participated in planning and obtaining funding for visitor amenities on the White Mountain Trail. 1 While there was much interest in obtaining funding for potential Identified minimum requirements for designated byways. improvements to byways in an era of extremely limited roadway Developed a formal process for de-designation of improvement funding – New Hampshire saw an average of designated byways per the governing state statutes. $500,000 per year in Scenic Byway program funds from 1992-2012 Shifted focus of the program from a non-traditional highway funding program to a recognized brand. - there was little attention to planning and management activities related to designated byways in New Hampshire. In fact, a corridor Several of those changes impact the Woodland Heritage Trail. management plan had only been developed for one of the five Specifically, the NH Scenic & Cultural Byways Council byways in the North Country region - the White Mountain Trail. communicated the following requirements to North Country (The Connecticut River Byway lies partially within the North Council in early 2014: Country Region and has also had a Corridor Management Plan which is overseen by the Connecticut River Byway Council.) A Corridor Advisory Committee is appointed, an annual meeting is held and officers are elected. Per the adopted Recognizing the importance of scenic byways to the region and the Rules of Procedure, all designated byways must have a many local community goals that can be furthered with scenic designated body that at a minimum: byway stewardship, the North Country Scenic Byways Council o Has representation from all of the communities and began working with North Country Council and NHDOT to obtain interests along the designated byway. funding for corridor management plans for the other four North o Meets at least annually to discuss the byway and Country Scenic Byways in 2010. Over several years, funding was review current and future plans. arranged to develop corridor management plans for all four state o Has a designated point of contact that has been identified to the NH State Scenic Byways Coordinator. Scenic Byways in the North Country. This plan represents the efforts on 1 of those 4 corridors, and will It is the intent of the NH Scenic & Cultural Byways Council that these advisory committees are responsible for the be the first Corridor Management Plan developed for the byway in development, adoption; revision and implementation of the 21 year history of the Woodland Heritage Trail. adopted corridor management plans for the designated The NH Scenic Byways program has also changed over the last 22+ corridors, and will serve as the central point of communication for the designated corridors to all years. The years 2010-2014 saw significant changes to the interested parties regarding the designated byway. program. During that period, the NH Scenic & Cultural Byways Program has: Corridor Management Plans for each of the identified byways are adopted and forwarded to the NH Scenic & Formally adopted bylaws and rules of procedure. Cultural Byways Program Coordinator. While there are Developed the first required biennial report on the minimum requirements for corridor management plans program for the governor and legislature. 2 identified in the Rules of Procedure, the LPA (Local Public Byway award – North Country Council has re-instituted the North Agency) requirements that come with the source of Country Scenic Byways Council with new membership, and has funding used to complete this plan exceed the minimum completed this Corridor Management Plan. requirements. The North Country Scenic Byways Council has recommended These requirements were imposed as the North Country Scenic changes to the existing byway due to the evolving understanding Byways Council had not met in 2012 or 2013 and the former and appreciation these designated byways have in the North make-up of the Council focused only on the White Mountain Trail. Country and beyond. These changes are addressed throughout In addition, a corridor management plan had never been the plan. developed for this corridor. As a result of the federal Scenic 3 Woodland Heritage Trail The Trail Proposed Route This corridor management plan proposes that the northeast corner of the loop formed by the Woodland Heritage Trail be relocated. One highway segment - NH 110 from Berlin to West Milan - is proposed for elimination from this byway. Three highway segments are proposed for addition to the Woodland Heritage Trail. These are shown in blue and are: NH 16 from Berlin to Milan, NH 110B1 from Milan to NH 110 A, and NH 110A from NH 110 B to West Milan. NH 16 from Gorham to Milan is part of the Moose Path Trail so byway designation is not needed for NH 16 from Berlin to Milan. Byway designation would be needed for NH 110 B and NH 110 A. This change would make this portion of the byway more consistent with the heritage theme. The Northern Forest Heritage Park in on NH 16 north of the junction with NH 110. From numerous points on NH 16 north of downtown Berlin one can see the boom piers in the Androscoggin that were used for the historic log drives. NH 110 B is the access to Milan Hill State Park which features a fire tower where one can view the expansive Northern Forest. The Nansen cross country ski trails, an important component of the region’s winter recreation system, are also located at the park. The Woodland Heritage Trail would form a loop approximately 70 miles long beginning at the intersection of NH 16 north and US 2 west in Gorham, head north on NH 16 through Berlin (a portion of the Moose Path Trail state byway, northwest on NH 110B and west on NH110A and NH 110 to Groveton, south on US 3 to Lancaster (a portion of the Connecticut River National Scenic Byway) and east on US 2 to Gorham ( a portion of the Presidential Range Trail state byway). 1 Mislabeled 110A on this NHDOT Scenic Byways map. 4 Description The Woodland Heritage Trail begins at the intersection of NH 16 north and US 2 west in Gorham. A short distance east on NH 16/US 2 is the town common with an information kiosk with panels displaying information about the history of this former center for commerce, an information booth, playground, and bandstand. Adjacent to the common is the railroad museum in the Gorham Grand Trunk Railroad depot, and important element in the history of commerce. There is plenty of parking at the common and one block away on Exchange Street, providing visitors access to Gorham’s downtown via sidewalks on both sides of the road. The downtown offers a variety of visitor services, including churches, stores, lodging, restaurants, gas and banks. Logging trucks and logging operations are common sights throughout the Woodland Heritage Trail. 5 Heading north toward Berlin NH 16 is a commercial area with two small accesses to the Androscoggin River on the right.