Friday May 27, 2005
Vandals hit snowmobile trail network
By GORDON FRASER, Staff Writer
GILFORD —

The $500 reward for information leading to the capture of vandals who damaged the steel gates guarding trails on Belknap Mountain has jumped to $1,500 in the past week, as four-wheel drive enthusiasts and organizations have gotten involved.

In a May 21 story in The Citizen citing damage done to the trail network's infrastructure by four-wheel drive trucks, the Belknap Snowmobilers' Club, which has permission to use the land, offered a $500 reward for the names of those responsible.

Scott Hatch, president of the New England Association of 4WD Clubs, e-mailed the paper the following Tuesday and offered an additional $500 reward.

Hatch wrote, "I want you to know that there are lots of responsible four wheel drive users out there that respect and care for the rights of landowners."

The following day, Stephen Gallagher, president of the North East Willys Jeeps Organization, wrote that news of the vandalism was "disheartening." He went on to say, "Illegal wheeling is not only a detriment to our sport, (it) should ... not be tolerated."

Gallagher offered an additional $500 reward, setting the bounty at $1,500. He also offered to help the Belknap Snowmobilers' Club repair damage to the trails.

Greg Ellis, a Gilford-based four wheel drive enthusiast, also contacted The Citizen, explaining that he went four-wheeling in the trails around Belknap Mountain in the past, before the gates were put in. "I personally never leave anything out there," Ellis explained, "I take out what I take in."

Ellis went on to say that he was disappointed to hear about vandalism. He hopes that, with landowner permission, four-wheelers, snowmobilers, and other nature enthusiast who respect the land, can coexist.

Dave Glazier of the Belknap Snowmobilers' Club, the group that originally set the reward, said he was pleased to get such a positive response from four-wheel drive organizations.

"It made me feel pretty good," he said, "It just goes to show you that the majority of these people are decent."

Last year, the snowmobile club raised more than $3,000 and enlisted volunteer labor to build six steel gates, blocking the trails and preventing entry by large vehicles. They also invested in a culvert to help prevent washouts. But four of the six gates have been destroyed or otherwise rendered useless.

Glazier went out to close one of the gates about three weeks ago. He discovered that the crossbeams which would allow him to block the ingress had been stolen. He placed an order for two new crossbeams but, when he returned to install them, the gate had been torn apart.

Another gate had been cut with blow torches. Yet another had been ripped from the ground, presumably with trucks and chains.

A fourth gate was circumvented when someone blazed a road — more than wide enough for a large truck — around it.

The trails beyond those gates were rutted deeply and beer cans littered the area.

Glazier said that the vandals haven't stopped since The Citizen article. The remaining gates have not been affected, but more and more garbage is left in the woods, and trucks continue to score the trails.

"It's illegal," Glazier said, "(but) I guess these people really don't care."

Glazier worries that the landowners will close the land to everyone. The snowmobiler club has received permission to use the land, but the landowners can revoke that permission at any time.

"They're going to close the land off to everybody," Glazier said. He went on to explain that the land provides one of the major North/South corridor trails in the state.

Anyone with information about damage to the trails should contact the Belknap Snowmobilers' Club President John Ferguson at 528-3310.