Decision on fate of Thoreau Falls Bridge in Pemi Wilderness won’t happen until at least next fall

By DAVID BROOKS

Monitor staff



Last modified: 12/5/2015 10:57:07 PM

No decision will be made until next fall about a deteriorating footbridge in the the White Mountain National Forest whose fate has stirred a debate over the relative value of wilderness versus public access.



Jon Morrissey, U.S. Forest Service ranger for the Pemigewasset District, was scheduled to make a decision soon about whether to remove or replace the Thoreau Falls Bridge. The bridge, built in 1962, consists of a pair of 60-foot logs spanning the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River, and has long been a gateway into the heart of the Pemigewasset wilderness.



Dan Abbe, the dispersed recreation team supervisor in the Pemigewasset ranger district, said the level of debate from both sides raised during the “scoping process” led Morrissey to change the process.



“Jon decided that, primarily because of the concerns that were raised during the scoping process, it would be wise to move the decision to an environmental assessment,” Abbe said.



Abbe said an interdisciplinary team, with forest service specialists on technical, hydrological, biological, recreational and cultural resource matters, will issue reports by May. They will be used for a final environmental assessment by the fall of 2016.



Depending on public reaction, it will go into effect or be put before the supervisor of the White Mountain National Forest for a final decision, Abbe said.



The bridge is made of two huge trees between concrete abutments. The trees are likely Douglas firs brought in from the West Coast, Abbe said; extensive logging at the turn of the century means that few if any trees of that size existed in the White Mountains when it was built.



The bridge had been showing its age and was badly damaged by Hurricane Irene in 2011. It is posted for use by just one person at a time. Abbe and Morrissey have said that they do not want to leave it as is, for fear that it will collapse and hurt somebody.



The legal complication is that the bridge lies in the Pemigewasset Wilderness Area, created in 1984 when roughly 45,000 acres of the White Mountain National Forest between Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch were placed under the federal Wilderness Act, which is designed “to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.”



The Wilderness Act puts sharp constraints on human activity. The question is whether replacing the bridge – which probably involves a helicopter hauling in huge manufactured lumber spans, since no trees here are big enough to cross the river – follows the letter or the spirit of that act.



The issue has divided outdoor advocates: The Appalachian Mountain Club wants the bridge replaced because it’s virtually impossible to cross the river otherwise, especially in winter, while Wilderness Watch, a national group, wants it removed to protect one of the largest wilderness areas left in the Northeast.



Because the Thoreau Falls Bridge existed before the Wilderness Act, some argued it is exempt. The act also allows exceptions for safety or administrative reasons. A suspension bridge in the Dry River Wilderness Area in northeastern New Hampshire was rebuilt in 2009 for that reason.



However, a suspension bridge further downstream of the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River was not replaced after it was removed due to damage in 2010, nor was a nearby beam bridge over Black Brook. Both those decisions were made to preserve the area’s wilderness aspect.



Two non-bridge alternatives – putting stepping stones in the river or building a hand-operated cable car – are all but rejected, Abbe said.



The stepping stones would have safety and maintenance issues, while the cable car would be an entirely different type of construction that would likely violate the Wilderness Act.







(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313, dbrooks@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)





