By June of this year, the trail cameras at Slade Town Forest were recording people on the new All-Persons Trail who hadn't come in from the parking lot. At the June 24 meeting of the Atkinson Conservation Commission, Vice Chair John Fournier reported entrants coming in from Pope Road and from an HOA. He asked for no-bicycle and no-e-bike signs at the gate and along Route 121, so riders would see the rule wherever they entered.
That's a new kind of problem for a trail whose opening event was held before the commission's October 2025 meeting. Through its first winter, spring and summer, the commission's agenda kept moving away from building the trail and toward managing it: who uses it, how they get in, and what they need once they're on it. If you've walked Slade since it opened, or you've been meaning to, it helps to know where that list stands now. In November, the state's deer seasons also shape every walk on Atkinson's conservation land.
What opened by October 2025
The commission refers to the project in its minutes as the Slade All-Persons Trails. According to the October 22, 2025 meeting minutes, Fournier reported that the opening event "could not have gone much better." Before the opening, crews compacted the trail surface, and it held up under wheelchairs, including electric ones. Commission member Nenart called it the largest turnout the commission had ever had for an event.
The grant budget came in under its ceiling. Fournier told the commission the grant had been closed out, and the trail was built for $48,701 of the $61,000 available. He also called it the largest All-Persons Trail in the state.
At that same meeting, the commission voted to ban bicycles and horses on the Slade Town Forest All-Persons Trails. Pentucket Bank will have a donor plaque at the outlook. And according to Chair Wainwright, Selectman Bob Worden said Casella would provide a dog waste station and empty it regularly.
When the town posted a notice on October 13, 2026 encouraging residents to explore its conservation trails, Slade came first on the list. The town notice called it the "ADA-Accessible Slade Forest Trail" and said it was designed to welcome all visitors.
The to-do list, meeting by meeting
The commission's own minutes show the progress, including the August 26, 2026 minutes where the trail was described as "getting a lot of use." Some items got done, a few kept coming back, and new ones were added once more people started using the trail.
| Meeting | What the commission recorded |
|---|---|
| October 22, 2025 | Opening event held; kiosk in progress; two benches approved; a 4-by-4 post identified to reuse for the gate; saplings growing into the trail still to clear |
| March 25, 2026 | Trail came through winter well; parking area needs regrading after plowing damage; spring list: gate, kiosk, donor plaques, benches, infill, hazardous-tree work |
| June 24, 2026 | Kiosk still to finish, donated by the Atkinson Women's Club; two more ADA-compliant benches to be requested; signs wanted at the gate and Route 121; trail maintenance needed |
| August 26, 2026 | Trail "getting a lot of use"; kiosk and gate still not done |
The kiosk and the gate show up at almost every meeting. Neither one makes the trail any easier to walk. Both are about the entrance: the kiosk is where visitors learn the rules, and the gate controls what can drive or ride in. The bench count also kept going up as visitors asked for places to sit. In October 2025, Fournier said many people had asked about benches. By June, he planned to ask for two more on top of the two already approved, and said they need to be ADA compliant.
The parking problem in March came from the same cause. A lot that gets plowed is a lot people use in winter, and the regrading went onto the spring list next to the trail work.
Why the entrances matter on this trail
A compacted surface that holds an electric wheelchair is also easy riding for a bike or e-bike, and that's why the bike ban matters here. The commission banned bicycles and horses on the All-Persons Trails at its October 2025 meeting. By June, as the June 24, 2026 minutes record, the camera footage showed that a sign at the main lot wasn't enough when people could walk in from Pope Road or the HOA side. Fournier's answer was more signs where those routes meet the property, plus the gate.
So if you're visiting with a bike rack on the car, leave the bike there. If you live near one of the side entrances, the rule is the same there as at the parking lot. The town's Trails and Lands page has maps, locations and directions for Slade and the other conservation properties.
Archery runs all month, with two gun seasons in turn
A walk on Atkinson's conservation land this month happens alongside hunting. New Hampshire Fish and Game's 2026 deer schedule for Wildlife Management Unit M looks like this from publish day on:
- Archery: open now, through December 15
- Muzzleloader, any deer: open now, through November 10
- Firearms, any deer: November 11 through November 22
- Firearms, antlered deer only: November 23 through December 6
Fish and Game advises hunters, hikers and everyone else outdoors to wear at least one article of blaze orange clothing.
Atkinson's own rules are stricter than the state's. According to the town's hunting FAQ, Town Meeting banned all hunting in 2000 on most town parcels that abut residential areas, after rifle rounds were fired into homes. In 2013, Town Meeting voted to allow bow hunting by permit from the Selectmen's Office. The FAQ also says rifles are banned for deer hunting throughout Rockingham County, and the Atkinson Conservation Commission has voted to ban rifle hunting for all species. The FAQ also says hunting is banned on any town land with recreational fields or inhabited buildings.
That FAQ is dated 2021. It says the Selectmen's Office and the town website keep an up-to-date map of the Town Forest lands with the hunting rules for each parcel. The FAQ also says a parcel may be closed temporarily for trail maintenance or forestry work, with "CLOSED, NO HUNTING" signs posted at the entrances.
This is a summary of public rules, not legal advice. If you hunt, or you're just wondering what's allowed behind your property line, check the current parcel map and Fish and Game's regulations directly.
Firearms season opens on Wednesday, November 11, which is Veterans Day. If you'd rather spend that day indoors, the Atkinson Historical Society lists a Veterans Day open house at the Kimball House Museum, 3 Academy Ave., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When you want more than the Slade trail
The town's October notice lists eight conservation trails:
- Slade Forest Conservation Area, the ADA-accessible trail
- Caroline Orr
- ACL Sawyer Trail
- ACL Woodlock Trail
- Crown Hill-Noyes Trail
- ACL South Sawmill Swamp Trail
- ACL North Sawmill Swamp Trail
- ACL Marshall Land Stickney Trail
Two of these are a very different walk from Slade. Crown Hill-Noyes covers two conservation parcels with old field roads and hiking and mountain-bike trails over rolling forested hills, past streams and 18th-century stone walls. Along the way you'll find a tri-town boundary marker and the Noyes rock shelter. The main trailhead, with parking, is off East Road, and there's a second entrance off Crown Hill Road. The town's map calls these trails dog-friendly, as long as dogs stay under their owners' control. The same map notes seasonal hunting on conservation lands, so the blaze orange advice applies here too.
Bikes are a real difference between the two. Crown Hill-Noyes is mapped for mountain biking, while Slade bans bicycles. If someone in your house wants to ride, Crown Hill-Noyes is the place.
The Ruth Marshall Forest and Stickney Trails are the longer outing. The town's map, dated November 2023, puts the property at about 100 acres with about 3.5 miles of trail.
The town's Crown Hill-Noyes trail map says wheeled motorized vehicles are prohibited on the trails, and that the Atkinson Conservation Commission sets the public-use rules and welcomes volunteers to help maintain the trails.
For more on how Atkinson's public life clusters along a few hundred feet of Academy Avenue, see our earlier look at the town's three busiest addresses. For a neighboring town that's also sorting out what its newest forest land means for walkers, see Danville's Town Forest this fall.
If you have a favorite Atkinson trail, or you'd like to know which conservation land sits closest to a street you're thinking about, I'm always happy to talk it through. A home's distance to a trailhead is something I check for clients, the same as commute times. You can reach me through Sonia Bramhall anytime. Let's Connect.
