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UPDATE September 10, 2007:
ATV use at the Mile Slip Town Forest is prohibited until the provisions of the town ordinance regulating conservation land have been accomplished.

04-18-07 Mile Slip Town Forest is still closed to motorized vehicles. Many, many hours and funds from DRED have been expended on repair of the trails and several water crossings have been built. There is still work to do before the trails open this summer. If you wish to help get the trail open, please contact us at 672-1070 or via : email. For the trail to reopen it is critical we have sufficient ATV riders to take turns on patrol. Contact us or NHATV Club to see how you can participate.
A public hearing was held in May of 2006 to hear testimony and determine a course of action to address complaints concerning wetland infractions, noise, trespassing and off trail activity on the part of OHRV using the town forest.

Decisions from the May 11, 2006 Public Hearing:
The main issues that were discussed: wetland crossings without DES permits, noise near homes, vehicles going off designated trails and vehicles going on to private property.

The Conservation Commission decided that before the trails are reopened to ATV's:
  1. The wetland crossings will be permitted by DES and constructed.
  2. The parking lot for vehicles bringing in ATV's will be relocated to an area away from homes.
  3. Rules will be posted. One, possibly two, kiosks will be constructed with rules and maps of designated trails.
  4. Patrols will be scheduled for education of riders and reporting of infractions.
  5. The property will be open to ATV's from the weekend before Memorial Day (pending an inspection to determine that the trails are dry) and will close on November 1.

Speed limits will also be posted.
No decision was made at this time as to whether or not to restrict hours that the property is open to ATV's and whether or not to close to ATV's on one day of the weekends.

The Mile Slip Town Forest - Background

Milford is a delightful, small New England town with a beautiful down-town, old and new residential neighborhoods, commercial and industrial workplaces, farm fields and forest lands. To maintain the character of our town we must be ever vigilant. We have all seen how once wooded, country roads have sprouted homes. Where once you could take a walk in the woods or enjoy a quiet country drive, we now have rows of houses.

We welcome our new neighbors but if we don't actively preserve some areas for hiking, hunting, mountain biking, snow mobiles, horseback riding and cross-country skiing or just a walk in the woods with the family, the wild places will soon be gone forever. We can not and do not want to buy up every large vacant parcel in town, but today we have an opportunity to preserve a unique area of Milford.

The Mile Slip is as close to wilderness as you can get in Milford. This area has many natural resource features in addition to being a great place to recreate. Wildlife heavily use this part of town. It connects to protected and undeveloped lands in Brookline, Mason and Wilton.

On March 8, 2005 the 75% of citizens voting in Milford agreed to purchase this 452 acre parcel. The vote was 2009 'YES' and 669 'no', 75% of the vote was yes. The closing on the property was August 24th of 2005.

There was a meeting between the Milford Conservation Commission, the NH ATV Club and interested citizens on Oct. 3, 2005 which went very well. There was no one at the meeting expressing any opposition. The commission showed a large map of the the existing conditions in the area. A USGS map of Milford was also available to help folks understand the location of the property relative to downtown. Rick Lacourse introduced members of NHATV and they each in turn explained their duties and gave an overview of the club, its history and activities. Rick then told the audience that the NH ATV Club would agree to 'adopt' the Mile Slip trails, plan and coordinate trail work and also apply for grants for any material needed [ie culverts, gravel, lumber for wetland crossings, information kiosk] only if there is sufficient support from the town in the form of volunteers. There was enough support at the meeting for the club to agree to proceed. More volunteers are needed not only for trail construction and repair but also to be trained for trail patrol.

Interested citizens may do one of 3 things, join the NH ATV Club and specifically mention Mile Slip, Milford or give your name and contact information to the Conservation Commission at 672-1070 or email the Commission's Office

Some of the information used to support the purchase of this 452 acres included a trail map used on the first public hike held on Nov. 14, 2004, property location map, cost comparison graph and photos