The White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) is a federally managed forest contained within the White Mountains in the northeastern United States. It was established in 1918 as a result of the Weeks Act of 1911; federal acquisition of land had already begun in 1914. It has a total area of 750,852 acres (3,039 km2) (1,225 sq mi). Most of the WMNF is in New Hampshire; a small part (about 5.65% of the forest) is in the neighboring state of Maine. While often casually referred to as a park, this is a National Forest, used not only for hiking, camping, and skiing, but for logging and other limited commercial purposes. The WMNF is the only National Forest located in either New Hampshire or Maine. Most of the major peaks over 4,000 feet high for peak-bagging in New Hampshire are located in the National Forest. Over 100 miles (160 km) of the Appalachian Trail traverses the White Mountain National Forest. In descending order of land area the forest lies in parts of Grafton, Coos, Carroll, and Oxford counties. (Oxford County is the only one that is in Maine.)
The Forest Supervisor's office is located in Campton, and there are three ranger districts: the Pemigewasset District, with offices in Plymouth; the Androscoggin District, based in Gorham; and the Saco District, based in Conway. Furthermore, there are several visitor centers, including those located at Lincoln, Campton (off Interstate 93), and Lincoln Woods (on the Kancamagus Highway), and the Evans Notch Information Center, located in Bethel, Maine.
The National Forest consists of three discontinuous areas. The area to the west of Franconia Notch (a narrow north-south valley primarily within a state park) consists of the regions surrounding Cannon Mountain, Kinsman Mountain, and Mount Moosilauke (though the majority of Moosilauke is privately owned). The main body of the National Forest includes the Presidential Range and many other ranges - most notably, the Franconia, Twin, Bond, Sandwich, Willey, and Carter-Moriah ranges. An exclave of the Forest lies to the north of U.S. Route 2 in Stark and Randolph, New Hampshire.
Six designated Federal Wilderness Areas exist within the Forest: the 27,380-acre (110.8 km2) Presidential Range/Dry River Wilderness, the 5,552-acre (22.47 km2) Great Gulf Wilderness, the 45,000-acre (180 km2) Pemigewasset Wilderness, the 35,800-acre (145 km2) Sandwich Range Wilderness, the 12,000-acre (49 km2) Caribou/Speckled Mountain Wilderness, and the 23,700-acre (96 km2) Wild River Wilderness. These areas are protected from logging and commercial industries and are used solely for recreational and scientific purposes. They were formed under the Federal Wilderness Protection Act of 1984, and its amendments. The New England Wilderness Protection Act of 2006 increased the Sandwich Range Wilderness to its present size and created the Wild River Wilderness area.
Because of its beauty, its proximity to major metropolitan areas, its 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of hiking trails, 23 campgrounds, and the presence of a large number of ski areas within or near its boundaries, the WMNF is one of the most visited outdoor recreation sites east of the Mississippi.
Famous quotes containing the words white, mountain, national and/or forest:
“Less smooth than her Skin and less white than her breast
Was this pollisht stone beneath which she lyes prest
Stop, Reader, and Sigh while thou thinkst on the rest
With a just trim of Virtue her Soul was endu’d
Not affectedly Pious nor secretly lewd,
She cut even between the Cocquet and the Prude.”
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721)
“The mountain pushed us off her knees.
And now her lap is full of trees.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Any honest examination of the national life proves how far we are from the standard of human freedom with which we began. The recovery of this standard demands of everyone who loves this country a hard look at himself, for the greatest achievments must begin somewhere, and they always begin with the person. If we are not capable of this examination, we may yet become one of the most distinguished and monumental failures in the history of nations.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“The partridge and the rabbit are still sure to thrive, like true natives of the soil, whatever revolutions occur. If the forest is cut off, the sprouts and bushes which spring up afford them concealment, and they become more numerous than ever. That must be a poor country indeed that does not support a hare. Our woods teem with them both.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)