WINDHAM — The state's plans for Hamilton Falls were soundly panned Thursday evening by residents who said the plans could ultimately degrade the area's natural and special beauty. It was standing room only at the Windham Meeting House Thursday evening, but most of the people left after they learned the state's process would be an "open house" rather than a public meeting on the three-tiered master plan for the remote 125-foot cascading waterfall on Cobb Brook, which is located in Jamaica but close to the Windham town line. People said they wanted to ask questions, and hear what their neighbors had to say.
Jeff Dube, a landscape architect with the state's consulting firm VhB of Burlington relented and let some resident speak for about 15 minutes, but he said he wanted residents to put their concerns in writing on poster boards in four different locations in the room. But many left once they learned there wasn't going to be an open discussion of the various scenarios, which could include building new trails, viewing platforms and more parking. Few people left comments on Dube's poster boards, and those that were, were largely critical of the plan.
Hamilton Falls is a state "natural area," and thus has special wilderness protections. In addition, Cobb Brook is a Class A watershed, which includes more protections. The master plan outlines three scenarios: high use, moderate use and low use, with low use appearing to be the most popular, with residents voicing concern that if the state builds infrastructure, more people will come and use it.
There is a three-mile biking and hiking trail from the park to the waterfall, but many people use West Windham Road to reach the waterfall. The state's plan wants more people to use the Jamaica State Park trail, which is currently blocked because of a landslide. The waterfall has been owned by the state of Vermont since 1979, when The Nature Conservancy turned it over to the state.
In turn, the Nature Conservancy had received it in 1979 from the Conservation Society of Southern Vermont, which had purchased it from Margaret and David Newton in 1972. The Newtons had bought it in 1933. Many Newton family members, who still live near the falls, spoke out during the brief public portion of the open house, saying the proposed master plan does not follow the special protections of a state natural area.
It's not a state recreation area, it's a natural area, they said. Those who were allowed to speak on Thursday said the temporary pandemic era problem that the master plan purported to address no longer exists. Several people pointed out there were no cars at the Falls on the Fourth of July.
Charlie Peck of Jamaica said the state's plans do not follow the Windham town plan for Hamilton Falls, and he urged the state's planners to go back to the drawing board. The state says it wants to address residents' concerns about people blocking the West Windham Road because there isn't much off-road parking, and the inherent danger that exists, in particular in the middle pool of the falls. Residents said cutting a new trail through the old-growth pine and hemlock forest would add to the erosion problem, and run counter to the natural area goals.
And creating more parking would only attract problem behavior, residents said. The state plan notes that 12 people have died at Hamilton Falls. The last death occurred in 2016, when an out-of-state teenager, 17, slipped and fell about 100 feet from the top pool into the middle pool.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, there was a problem, residents said, but the crowded conditions from 2020 no longer exist and they said the steps taken by the state to alleviate those problems worked, including having a ranger at the Falls on the weekends, and putting up signs about parking. And while the Falls can be dangerous, there have only been two deaths there in the past 20 years, said Ilana Newton of Jamaica. Another person mentioned that during the 1970s and '80s, it was a much more dangerous place.
A petition on Change.org about opposing many of the state's proposals for Hamilton Falls had about 200 signatures Friday, with more than 80 people signing on Friday alone. The Windham Select Board has gone on record opposing most of the proposals, saying it would endorse the "low impact" option, and it urged the state to put its resources into reopening the state park trail.
"The Windham Select Board values, very highly, the natural beauty and awe-inspiring features of Hamilton Falls. The Board believes Hamilton Falls is a fragile Natural Area that should be left to be enjoyed in as undisturbed a state as possible and will only support a proposed management scenario that places the integrity and most natural state of this resource as the top priorities in any proposed management plan," stated a July 16 letter, addressed to Dube. Dube said the public comment period on the plan is open until Aug.
18, and then the state will come up with a preferred approach to managing the falls area. For information about submitting comments on the plan, https://fpr.vermont.
gov/jamaica-state-park.
