Above is the spur trail closure to the Buck Rub Pub in Pittsburg. Paula Tracy photo
By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
PITTSBURG – A torrential rain storm in Coos and parts of Grafton counties July 10 left an estimated $9.1 million in damage to roads, bridges and infrastructure, including the economic life blood of the area, its OHRV trails.
State officials are scrambling to get help to make repairs before the snow falls for snowmobile season while business owners worry.
Jude Marquis owns The Buck Rub Pub in Pittsburg and remembers all too well the same date in 2023, like a scene from the movie “Groundhog Day” where a similar storm caused damage that cut the OHRV trail access to her business.
That same trail is now closed with damage from the most recent storm.
Marquis said when looking back at ledgers from past years, she lost 41 percent of her revenue from the storm after the 2023 loss of access to the trail.
Now, she said, the money the state pledged to repair those trails damaged in 2023 has not been received yet by the Great North Woods Riders, an ATV/OHRV club who would do the work. While some repairs have been done, it is all compounded by the new damage July 10. There are only three or four months left in the construction season before the snow flies.
And she charged, the community is being treated unfairly by the state and has a petition circulating.
In a letter associated with a petition to state leaders, Marquis said “the businesses in Pittsburg, NH need your help.
“The State of New Hampshire (Department of Natural and Cultural Resources) has recently denied a request from the Great North Woods Riders to extend the OHRV season through Columbus Day weekend.
“The proposal to extend the season has already been voted on and approved by the Town of Pittsburg Selectmen and the landowner…The only entity holding up our ability to extend the season through Columbus Day weekend is the state of New Hampshire DNCR.
“Pittsburg is the ONLY town in the entire state of New Hampshire that the DNCR has denied the request to extend the OHRV season through Columbus Day weekend. This is unfair and unjust.
“Our neighboring towns in the North Country from Colebrook to Errol, Berlin and Gorham all flourish and prosper after Oct 1 with OHRV guests over the busy Columbus Day weekend. These guests are allowed to ride all through the North Country, patronizing businesses in every town, yet they are not allowed to enter Pittsburg NH or patronize any of our small businesses.”
Through the petition she said, “we are requesting your help and support to get Pittsburg’s OHRV season extended through Columbus Day weekend for the 2024 season.”
On Wednesday, after meeting with the state’s Governor and Executive Council at the Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart said she was looking into the matters presented as they relate to the closures, the lack of funding reaching the clubs and the extent of the damage to the trail systems and would get back to InDepthNH.org.
The number of trail miles impacted in the state’s more than 7,000 miles of trails is not yet assessed but is being assessed, officials said.
Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, a Wakefield Republican who represents the North Country, pressed Commissioner Stewart on the issue related to the funding for past trail damage and delays while Bill Cass, commissioner of the Department of Transportation, said the most recent damage was adding up to $9.1 million or more in damage for that one storm due to the main routes in the North Country being impacted, but also trail and infrastructure used by OHRVs, including snowmobiles.
Drive toward Lancaster now on Route 3 and expect to stop for at least 10 minutes as work is being done to the road that was torn off on the right side heading down from Weeks State Park into Lancaster.
And other areas of extreme erosion of the roadsides are evident all the way to the Canadian border.
At a press briefing after the Executive Council meeting, Gov. Chris Sununu said federal officials are in the region now helping to assess the damage.
“The damage was extensive, there is no doubt about it,” said Sununu, noting federal officials are on the ground doing their assessments on all the public lands and storm impacts that would all be built into the disaster declaration that will be needed for him to move forward with a request.
He said Commissioner Cass’ assessment of $9 million in damages is “a pretty hefty sum” and believes that would all qualify for federal assistance.
“That process can take time. It always has…it is very frustrating at times,” Sununu said but it is not just New Hampshire and things are moving as fast as possible.
He said a goal will be to get as many trails back working for the winter tourist season in the Great North Woods.
Cass said DOT is dealing with the state infrastructure impacts to the Connecticut River Valley.
In an interview after the council meeting, Cass said “we had a lot of washouts in that area, including Route 3 from the Lancaster area north.” Another area impacted was Dalton.
Cass said there is a little difference between roads and trails in that Route 135 and Route 3 are federal aid eligible so instead of going through FEMA they will go through the Federal Highway Emergency Relief Fund.
“But it also hinges on the same Presidential Emergency Declaration,” he said which the governor must issue, Cass said.
He said officials from the Highway Safety Emergency Management are in the North Country consolidating cost estimates and they have to pull all the information together in support of such a declaration to back up the governor’s potential request.
Stewart said she would prefer to get accurate information from her department’s bureau of trails on the extent of damage to the system before she spoke, but indicated that the money for the trail damage from 2023 is in the pipeline to be distributed.
Meanwhile, the Fish and Game Department is sounding the alarm that there may be a major health safety issue if people ignore warnings and try to access the 25,000-acre Connecticut Lakes Natural Area at the very top of the state, between Third and Second Connecticut Lakes.
The area is closed and will remain unavailable to the public until further notice.
“Over 11 miles of roadways have been disturbed, and some 20 stream crossings were severely eroded or destroyed,” according to a news release issued earlier this week.
“Preliminary estimates put the repair costs at almost $900,000, and Fish and Game staffing resources and funding are limited to effectively repair the damage in the immediate future,” it added.
“East Inlet Road after the gated closure and two-tenths of a mile prior to the East Inlet Cartop Launch, Scott Bog Spur Road, Beaman North Road, and Ingersoll Brook Road are closed to vehicle traffic until further notice. The probability that these thoroughfares will be prepared for snowmobile travel this winter is very low. In the coming weeks, the roads that access the South Bay Bog and Indian Stream sections of the CLNA will be further evaluated to develop prioritized work plans. As a result, additional road closures may occur.”
John Sojka, state lands habitat biologist for NH Fish and Game in Lancaster, said he is very concerned about safety issues if people ignore signs and warnings or somehow find themselves this winter in the CLNA where stream erosion and trail damage are significant.
In an interview outside his office on Tuesday he said that this was at least a 100-year flood that occurred on the evening of July 10.
“Pittsburg got five to six inches of rain overnight and that just led to most woods roads just being destroyed,” Sojka said.
His focus was the natural area and the snowmobile trail that uses East Inlet and Beaman North Road.
“I’d be surprised if that could open this year just because of the number of bridges and stream crossings that are currently washed out and severely damaged. It’s pretty devastating. We had 25-foot bridges just disappear overnight and there are pieces down stream. It is some of the worst stuff I’ve ever seen,” Sojka said.