The following article appeared in the BackTalk section of the Valley News on Sunday, April 23rd 2006.

I moved to Dorchester 10 years ago, to a place where I could raise my daughters in peace and quiet. The farm I purchased is situated on six acres overlooking the south branch of the Baker River. On most afternoons in spring, summer and fall, I can sit on my porch and enjoy the setting sun and listen to the sound of water falling on the rounded stones in the riverbed. This soothing burble is punctuated by the calls of chickadees, nuthatches and an occasional hawk. The only repetitive noise is the infrequent thump of downy and pileated woodpeckers, looking for food, or announcing their territory. Most nights the only major sound is the call of the barred owl.

Much less frequently I hear a local car traveling up and down my groad. And there is the occasional gunshot from hunters or target shooters.

But mostly, it is quiet. The sounds of nature dominate the landscape and this neighborhood.

If you walk up the hill behind my house, as I do now and then, you climb several hundred feet to a ridge and some beautiful hollows that are filled with native wildflowers and bird cover. As I hike through these beautiful woodlands, a ruffed grouse shatters the silence with a roar as it flies off up the hillside. Just last fall, I came upon a mother bear and her cub enjoying a feast of blackberries where a former log landing had become overgrown.

Just beyond the ridge is the proposed site of the North American Training Lodge's (NATL) new training facility. The president and founder, William Gifford, describes the proposed facility as a shooting range for professionals, like Navy special warfare units. He has also described outdoor shooting at night without range lighting. Among the bullets they will be firing at the outdoor range is a .50 caliber BMG machine gun round, which, according to NATL's Vice President Ed Fashold, has a range of 6,500 meters. I was wondering just how far that is. Six thousand five hundred meters works out to 4.03 miles. So I took out my New Hampshire Gazetteer and drew a circle with a radius of 4.03 miles around NATL's proposed site near the end of Edgar Albert Road in Groton. It covers all of the surrounding valley here in Dorchester. In fact, all of River Road is within that bullet’s range. So is all of Hearst House Road, most of Streeter Woods Road and half of North Dorchester Road.

NATL's president and vice president say over and over that their facility will be safe, but unless they plan to build a covered firing range, with a bullet proof ceiling, our homes are definitely within range of the guns they will be firing. And if there is one thing I have learned in this life, it is that mistakes happen.

NATL also claims that we won't be disturbed by noise from their weapons and explosions because their facility will be in the center of 1,000 acres. But when asked at their presentations if they have done any sound engineering studies of their proposed site, Gifford said they haven't done any. If NATL has not done any sound studies to determine the actual impact of their activities at the proposed site, how do they know it won't disturb the surrounding residences?

As my neighbors know, these mountains do not absorb noise, they reflect it. Gunshots from across the valley echo several times before they die down. I cannot imagine what the sound from hundreds of thousands of military rounds will do to this quiet environment.

The rural character of our peaceful community is why we live here. The threat of losing our peaceful valley has brought communities together to save our way of life, and preserve the quiet natural setting that makes this part of New Hampshire a special place to live and work.

Valerie Michaud

The writer is a Dorchester resident and co-author of the field guide Wildflowers of the White Mountains. She is the secretary of Concerned Citizens for Regional Impact, which was formed to study the impact of the proposed North American Training Lodge.