BRADFORD, Vermont (STPNS) -- PIERMONT–“We’re going to be fighting,” was Piermont Conservation Commission chair Helga Mueller’s response to a state proposal to give up its park on Lake Tarleton.

The 48-acre state park, featuring a sandy beach and including a house and barn, was established on Aug. 19, 1999 at the conclusion of a massive effort by conservation organizations, state and federal agencies and private individuals over the previous decade to preserve 5,000 acres around Lake Tarleton.

“We fought for it–it must stay public,” said Mueller.



Lake Tarleton and Bedell Bridge in Haverhill are among 27 state parks cited as “underperforming” in the New Hampshire Parks and Recreation’s recently released draft Strategic and Capital Development Plan. These parks are recommended for transfer, disposal or partnership arrangements over the next 10 years.

The state park system is almost entirely self-funded through attendance fees and, for years, has deferred maintenance of its 68 parks in order to balance its budget. The 10-year plan proposes to cut the number of sites by a third so maintenance and capital improvements can be more tightly focused on those that most meet certain core criteria.

One of the proposed strategic plan recommendations is to “challenge communities and other partners to assist the Division in determining appropriate management strategies for Category C properties, the 27 “underperforming” parks. Another is to “conduct a competitive analysis to determine market placement.”

The main drawing card of Piermont’s Lake Tarleton state park is its sandy beach, the only swimming access in town. With a New Hampshire Fish and Game boat launch nearby and a 315-acre lake ideal for swimming, fishing and boating, the beach is a popular spot in the summer. The park is unstaffed and open year-round at no charge, and, according to Mueller, has never been maintained by the state.

For the past four years, the park has been cared for by Lake Tarleton’s only year-round residents, Joyce and George Tompkins. They contracted with the state in 2005 to maintain the park and barn in exchange for use of the barn for their horses. The contract runs through 2011.

According to Joyce Tompkins, she and her husband rake the beach at the beginning of the season, remove debris after storms, keep the parking lot and beach clean and tidy, and check the porta-potty daily during the summer.

“This morning, I spent an hour picking up goose droppings on the beach,” she said. “We have a real vested interest in keeping the place nice.”

Community-wide interest in Lake Tarleton is reflected in the active Lake Host program in which volunteers welcome boaters and check their boats for invasive weeds. Volunteers also test the lake’s water quality three times a year and keep a sharp eye out for weeds–thus far, no invasive weeds have been found in the lake.

The house in the park was originally saved to be a visitor’s center with a focus on conservation, but it has been closed up for lack of funds. Tompkins said she was recommending that the state remove it to reduce costs.

A decade after helping to conserve 5,000 acres in Benton, Warren and Piermont, Mueller said, “I’d hate to give up even 48 acres, especially with the beach. If all else fails, the town might want to take it over,” she added. All three Piermont Selectboard members have indicated their interest in keeping the park intact and open to the public.

The 38-acre Bedell Bridge park stands alone between Route 10 and the Connecticut River. It is the site of an historic two-span timber-truss covered bridge between Haverhill Corner to Newbury. The bridge was built in 1868 and served as a key link on the route between Concord, NH and Montpelier, VT.

Former Haverhill Historical Society chair Shirley Cobb remembers crossing the bridge in her father’s car in the 1940s and 50s. The bridge was later closed and, in the 1970s, Cobb was a member of the committee trying to save the bridge.

They hired Milton Graton of Ashland, NH who finished rehabilitating the bridge in November, 1978. Cobb recalls watching them the previous January when an ice jam enabled them to jack up the bridge from the ice to work on it.

The Bedell Bridge was rededicated in the summer of 1979–just in time for a sudden wind to destroy it. Cobb remembers the day well and the shock of learning that the bridge was gone. She had helped prepare for a wedding scheduled to take place in the bridge that night, and the rehearsal was underway when the “horrible windstorm” came up.

“A freak of nature put the bridge in the river,” she said. Everyone got out in time, but all that remains of the Bedell Bridge now are its sturdy abutments.

The park provides river access for picnicking, fishing and boating and includes a Fish and Game boat launch. It is not staffed, and there is no charge.

The Division of Parks and Recreation will accept public comment on its Strategic and Capital Development Plan up to July 11. Comments may be sent by fax to (603)271-3553, by email to johanna.lyons@dred.state.nh.us, or by mail to PO Box 1856, Concord, NH 03302. The plan can be found at www.nhstateparks.org.