First Mountain at Center of Photo
The Mahoosuc Mountain Range, which is a northeast continuation of New Hampshire's Presidential Range, is made up of a series of 3,000 to 4,000 foot peaks starting at the northeast side of the Androscoggin River at Gorham, New Hampshire and ending at the summit of Old Speck (4180 ft) in Maine. The range extends 17 miles by direct compass course, but a traverse of the range by foot-path entails thirty miles of hiking. The Mahoosuc Trail/Appalachian Trail passes over each of the highest summits in the range over its course.
The Mahoosuc Range is a very rugged, road-less area noted for its high elevation bogs. Speck Pond, southwest of Old Speck summit, is the highest lake in Maine and the mountain summit is ranked as the state's third highest peak. Except for logging activity by the lumber companies, the area has remained predominately wilderness just as it was in pre-colonial days. The Abenaki Indians entered the range only to hunt game and, even after settlement by the white settlers, the upland remained wild while only the intervale land along the Androscoggin River saw development.
"Eastern Old Growth Forests", published by Island Press, indicates that the Mahoosuc Range near the Maine-New Hampshire border contains 2,444 acres of "old growth" forest consisting of uncut subalpine balsam fir. The high alpine forests were usually the last to be harvested by man, yet the extreme environment and natural disturbance regime limits the age and size of a natural forest, even one unspoiled by man's actions.
The Mahoosuc Trail through this range is intersected by a number of AMC side trails, most of which originate in the Androscoggin River Valley at North Road in Shelburne. The blue blaze of the Mahoosuc Trail is replaced with the white blaze of the Appalachian Trail (AT) at its intersection with the Centennial Trail. The most difficult mile of the 2,000 mile AT is found at the Mahoosuc Notch, shortly after the trail enters into Maine.
In January, 2001, Maine’s Department of Conservation's Bureau of Parks and Lands designated 13 tracts, including 9,974 acres of the 27,000 acre Mahoosuc Public Reserve, as Maine's first ecological reserves. The ecological reserves will protect natural ecosystems that are relatively undisturbed and retain native plant and animal communities in their natural condition. These ecological reserves will serve as benchmarks for comparison with managed lands, maintain habitats, and provide opportunities for education, monitoring and research.
The ecological reserve legislation allows research, education and non-motorized recreation activities to continue and permits traditional recreational uses including hunting, fishing, hiking and other compatible activities. Use of existing snowmobile and ATV trails may continue if impacts to the ecological values are minimal. Commercial mining, timber harvesting, and commercial sand and gravel excavation are uses that the legislation deemed incompatible with the purposes of the ecological reserves and are not allowed. Prior to this designation, approximately one-half of the Maine Mahoosuc Public Reserve Lands were managed for timber production and will continue to be so managed.
Unfortunately, new owners acquired the commercial timberlands on the north and south slopes of the Mahoosucs in the New Hampshire section in the year 2004. A Maine logger purchased all of the northern section in Success Township and has undertaken extensive cutting on those lands. Most New Hampshire agencies and organizations that monitor forestry practices have agreed that the cutting there is not sustainable and will have a severe impact on the future of that forest. The new owner of the Mahoosuc lands on the south side of the Mahoosucs is an anonymous investor group that is represented by Wagner Forest Management. Heavy cutting is also occurring on those lands, but at a more sustainable rate. It is likely that most of the timberland on both sides of the Mahoosucs will be back on the market soon and perhaps it is time for these lands to come into public ownership to insure responsible stewardship of the forest for the long term.
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