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AUGUSTA — The state Bureau of Parks and Lands recently completed a five-year review of the Western Mountain Region plan that would allow development of new ATV routes in the Four Ponds and Richardson areas, as well as non-motorized trail in the Bradbury Mountain area.
The Western Mountain plan guides the management of the Mahoosuc, Richardson, Four Ponds and Bald Mountain public reserced land, as well as Grafton Notch and Rangeley Lakes State parks. The area comprises more than 66,400 acres of public property, mostly in Franklin and Oxford counties, but also in Somerset and Kennebec counties. The mandated five-year review is part of a 15-plan implemented in 2011 that helps update the plan advisory committee on progress in adopting elements of and amendments to the plan, according to a news release from the bureau.
The Western Mountains area amendments allow development of new ATV routes at the Four Ponds Unit, about 6,018 acres south of Four Ponds Mountain in Rangeley Plantation, and the Richardson Unit, about 18,484 acres west of Rangeley.
The bureau will collaborate with the trail proponents on final trail routes, construction and associated issues, the release said. Advisory committee members, area residents and bureau staff contributed to the review and amendments, it said.
Also reviewed by the bureau was the five-year plan for Bradbury Mountain State Park and Pineland Public Lands, comprising about 1, 800 acres in Pownal. The amendment allows development of a non-motorized trail on the Corridor Lands adjacent to the state park.
