[CPEO-MEF] Town is closer to unifying its forest

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New Hampshire
Town is closer to unifying its forest
By Jesse J. DeConto
jdeconto@seacoastonline.com

PEASE INTERNATIONAL TRADEPORT - The town of Newington is taking a step
closer to reclaiming 69 acres of woods seized by the federal government
when Pease Air Force Base was built in 1952.

Newington selectmen will soon finalize a lease agreement that will
reunite what are currently two separate sections of the Newington Town
Forest. The perimeter fence of the former Air Force base divides the
bulk of the town forest from the 31 acres that remained with the town.

That fence will not go away while the town is a tenant, but the Board of
Selectmen will take over management of the forest, anticipating they’ll
become its owners once the Air Force relinquishes approximately 3,000
acres of tradeport land to the Pease Development Authority.

"The Air Force did a fine job of maintaining most of the forest," wrote
Newington selectmen’s Chairman Cosmas Iocovozzi in a letter to
Portsmouth City Manager John Bohenko. "However, roughly 10 acres became
the most contaminated hazardous waste site at Pease."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/01062003/news/6390.htm

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