Townsend Conservation Commission votes to partner with new Trails Alliance nonprofit

TOWNSEND -- April 8, 2026, Townsend Conservation Commission unanimously backs new Trails Alliance and snowmobile partnership in wide-ranging April 8 meeting. The commission voted four times unanimously to partner with the Townsend Trails Alliance, a newly formed 501(c)(3) led by Patrick Kwanczyk and Ron Sears, to issue a letter of support for the Lunenburg Snow Riders' rail trail outreach, to invite the Native Fish Coalition to assess Squannacook River health, and to continue a septic Notice of Intent at Zero Workline Road to April 22. Justin Baer of the Lunenburg Snow Riders, which operates roughly 70 miles of groomed trails, told the commission he personally logged 124 hours of grooming in Willard Brook and Pearl Brook State Park this past winter and warned that an MBTA lease clause barring motorized vehicles could "disconnect Townsend State Forest" from the regional snowmobile network if the rail trail is extended to the New Hampshire border. A joint session with the Cemetery and Parks Commission featured commissioners Robert Therrien and John Barrett arguing that an ongoing engineering study of Adams Dam is "not looking at both sides" and that recreational swimming holes and river CO2 levels deserve equal weight alongside fisheries goals.