Please note if you are visiting Zealand Falls Hut during the winter of 2007 there will be active logging operations along the Zealand Rd. As usual the road will be gated to the public at Rt. 302, and parking is at the winter parking lot on the north side of Route 302. The trip into the the hut is approximately 6.3 miles. However, the road will be plowed, and logging trucks will be carrying loads out. The timber harvesting will take place in a number of lots accessed from the Zealand Rd. The first operations will be at the end of the road around the summer trailhead. As lots are cut operations will move down the road, and thus the amount of road plowed is likely to decrease.
For hut guests and day visitors to the Zealand Valley these winter operations will necessitate a road walk before strapping on skis. The Spruce Goose Ski Trail, a much more rugged trail, will be open AT TIMES for skiing. At other times it will be closed as it crosses lots which will have active logging. The U.S. Forest Service is planning to post signs indicating closure dates.
The bridge just past the Sugarloaf parking lot (where the road turns to dirt) will be a bottleneck, with trucks, snowmobiles and skiers/hikers all sharing the trail. Just after the bridge the snowmobile trail splits off. However, all backcountry users should keep an ear out for logging trucks, and stand well to the side as they pass.
The timber contracts are owned by Rumford Paper, and the logging contractor is Hicks Logging of Jefferson, NH. The pulp logs (softwood) will be trucked to the Rumford Mill and made into paper. The saw logs (mostly hardwood) will be sent to Henniker Hardwood Products in southern NH. This company makes shipping pallets and mills wood for furniture makers. USFS foresters make the decision on which lots are to be cut, based on the age and health of the forest. Of the 800,000 acres in the White Mtn. National Forest about 280,000 acres are open for timber harvest.
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