
Protection of Trails When Logging City Land

The
City of Leominster is in the process of awarding logging contracts
to harvest wood on the city’s watershed land. This
practice benefits the city with revenue and provides a healthier
forest environment. However, commercial logging frequently has a
negative impact on recreational trails. Repairing and
maintaining these valuable recreational assets is currently done by
volunteers of the Leominster Trail Stewards and the Wachusett
Chapter of NEMBA. Hundreds of hours have been put in to
develop and maintain this trail network. The standard
DCR watershed practice is to establish a 50’ buffer zone on either
side of the trail and to carefully consider any trees to be
removed within this buffer to ensure that the trail corridor and
the character of the trail remain intact. This can best be
done through a joint site walk with representatives of the trail
community and the consultant forester.
We, the undersigned, are concerned residents and trail users who urge our leaders to act now to create a 50 foot buffer zone (on either side) during logging activities on Leominster’s recreational trails and to work with members of the Leominster Trail Stewards prior to marking areas for logging where trails exist.
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