TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2012
VOL. 21 NO. 5
BERLIN, N.H.
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Strange Spring in Tuckerman Ravine
This couple enjoying the May-like weather on Mount Washington.
BY TOM EASTMAN THE CONWAY DAILY SUN
MOUNT WASHINGTON — Despite this past week’s recordbreaking temperatures and the meltdown’s impact on snow conditions, the spring ski season goes on in the famed ski bowl of Tuckerman Ravine, with the best skiing to be had in Left Gully and Hillman’s Highway as of Friday. How long it will all last is the question. “It’s unusual, I would say, as I have
Spring skiing in Tuckerman Ravine is great, but how long will it last?
never seen it this bare in my 22 years as a snow ranger. It’s more like May than March,” said the U.S. Forest Service’s lead Mount Washington snow ranger Chris Joosen Friday. It was yet another sunny but cooler and more windy day in the ravine, which was showing undermined snow, crevasses opening up, and dangers of falling ice — especially above the Lunch Rocks area, a popular gathering spot for spectators in the past, but a spot that snow rangers have dissuaded the public from using in
recent years because of the proclivity of boxcar-sized chunks breaking hurtling down from above there on the right side of the bowl. “We’re went through an obvious warm spell this week,,” said Joosen, who like his fellow snow rangers is based out of the Androscoggin District in Gorham, “but April and May in the high mountains are weather producers and we could still see more snow. If this warm weather continues, then yes, we would have a melt-out earlier than normal. We’ve already seen it
start to get colder and the refreeze happened [Thursday] night, and it’s supposed to be colder this weekend. That slows down the deterioration level. The season is not over.” Changing use patterns Use patterns have changed in the ravine over the course of Joosen’s 22-year career. He says use is not declining — it’s just that now it is more dispersed, as back-country skiers now head up there throughout the winter to enjoy see STRANGE page 5
Burton and Gallus call for public Gorham PD to step up meeting on Umbagog Refuge ordinance enforcement BY MELISSA GRIMA
BY BARBARA TETREAULT THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
BERLIN – Executive Councilor Raymond Burton and state Senator John Gallus are inviting the entire N.H. Congressional delegation and U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine to a June 23 public meeting in Errol to discuss local concerns about the Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge. The pair are also calling for the formation of an Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge Citizens Advisory Committee and endorsing a request by the Coos County Commissioners for a four year moratorium on additional federal land
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purchases in the county’s unincorporated places. Burton and Gallus met Saturday with Errol resident Bob Lord who presented the two officials with about 700 signatures on a petition to stop any future growth of the refuge. The petition charges the refuge has evolved into a “federal land grab” that is taking thousands of acres of land off the local tax rolls and threatening traditional uses such as hunting and snowmobiling. Meeting in Gallus’ office, Lord questioned the refuge’s purchase of the 156-acre Big Island earlier this month for $1 million. He noted the see UMBAGOG page 6 Buying or Selling Real Estate?
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THE BERLIN DAILY SUN
GORHAM — While the town continues to look at whether or not the ordinance against the use of engine brakes for tractor trailers should be revisited, police have decided to increase enforcement. “In response to continued complaints concerning the use of engine brakes in the Town of Gorham, the Gorham Police Department
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has developed an enforcement plan to address the issue,” said Chief of Police PJ Cyr in a weekend press release. “In the near future the Department plans to deploy uniformed and ‘undercover’ enforcement patrols to ensure trucks traveling through town are complying with the speed limit, the engine brake ordinance and equipment requirements.” see ENFORCEMENT page 8
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