PARIS — Selectmen voted Tuesday to close part of the Cornwall Nature Preserve to hunting.

In a 4-0 vote, selectmen voted to allow hunting only on the south side of the white trail, the main trail that runs through the preserve.

The idea came from Board of Selectmen Chairman Ted Kurtz, who said the area south of the trail gave hunters about 85 acres. Hikers could walk the other 55 acres without worrying about running into hunters, he said.

“The paramount consideration is safety,” Kurtz said. “We don’t want hikers in the hospital or hunters in jail.” He referred to the 2006 accidental death of a Paris woman who was shot by a hunter. “We don’t need a repeat.”

At the Sept. 26 meeting of the board, the town held a public hearing on whether to continue allowing hunting in the preserve after several residents reported hunters intimidating them by firing guns in the air last year.

Many hunters and nonhunters supported some sort of restriction to allow hunters and hikers to share the preserve while preventing future confrontations and keeping hikers safe.

On Tuesday, selectmen discussed banning rifles or banning guns completely and allowing only bow hunting, as Selectman Jean Smart suggested. In the end, they decided on dividing the preserve.

“If the Cornwall family had deeded to the town a 55-acre parcel exclusively for hikers, the entire town, and specifically the hikers, would have been thrilled,” Kurtz said. “If the Cornwall family had deeded to the town an 85-acre parcel exclusively for hunters, the entire town and especially the hunters would have been thrilled.”

He said the original deed was too vague to determine whether Alice Cornwall intended to allow or ban hunting.

Town Manager Phil Tarr expressed concern the rule may be hard for residents to understand and hard to enforce. Selectmen ruled the town should put signs on trees along the white trail explaining the division of the preserve to inform hunters and warn hikers.

Selectman Kenneth West first proposed allowing only hunting with shotguns. He said that as a hunter, he didn’t like dividing the land. However, “as a servant of this town,” West said, the decision made sense.

Selectmen voted for the measure 4-0. Selectman Ryan Lorrain was not present.

The town will post signs at the entrance and along the white trail.

treaves@sunjournal.com