AMHERST — The Conservation Commission is considering opening more conservation land to hunting as the panel continues revising its land-use policy and regulations.
As the commission begins to look at contents of a 53-page draft that spells out how conservation land is used and how the public can access it, time is being spent on evaluating properties where hunting is allowed, and those onto which hunting could be expanded.
The discussions this summer come more than a year after a land-use subcommittee of the commission had suggested placing significant limitations on hunting, with regulations more similar to what exists on conservation land in Northampton.
Now, though, the commission appears to be ready to go beyond the six sites where hunting has traditionally been allowed, which include Podick, a 62-acre site off Sunderland Road, the nearby 29-acre Katherine Cole, a portion of the 55-acre Atkins Flats on South East Street and much of the Lawrence Swamp in South Amherst. Other sites where hunting is allowed include Simmons Farm and parcels on the Holyoke Range.
In early July, Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek presented sites where the commission could allow additional opportunities for hunting, providing details about each of these locations, and why staff were suggesting that they might be appropriate for hunting.
Among those are the 23-acre Szala parcel, located between Podick and Katherine Cole, a 7.7-acre parcel off Meadow Street, with sufficient setback from the former auction barn and Route 116, and the 4.3-acre Parsons Knoll, which is away from roads and houses.
Also being considered are the Cushman Brook and Haskins Meadow in East Amherst, the 60-acre Patterson land between East Pleasant and North East streets, the 89.2-acre Brickyard and the 42-acre Plum Brook, as well as Upper Fort River, a 13-acre site just to the north of Brickyard and the Sweet Alice conservation area, a 90-plus-acre site that abuts the Mount Holyoke Range. A portion of the Sweet Alice site is used as the headquarters for Kestrel Land Trust.
If the commission decides hunting should be allowed on these parcels, then it could also set various rules associated with the activity. The current rules, for instance, mandate hunters stay 150 feet away from the Norwottuck Rail Trail and any paved road.
The subcommittee, in its “Hunting on Amherst’s Conservation Lands Alternatives,” had suggested increasing the distance to 500 feet from any of the 140 miles of trails in town, citing a rising number of walkers — a change that would have made almost all conservation land off-limits to hunters. The subcommittee also suggested limiting the species that could be hunted to deer, turkey, pheasant and rabbit.
All changes to land use will be subject to a public hearing, likely in September, and there will be opportunity for community feedback.
Other discussions will focus on whether conservation areas are open 24 hours a day, or only dawn to dusk, and whether camping should be allowed on any of the sites.
Ziomek said he expects the hunting regulations to be wrapped up in the next couple of meetings so they will be ready for the hearing.
