And the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department concluded that there were too many bears in the Grafton area. In 2015, they set a goal to reduce the population by 34 percent from 2013 levels. It could take ten years to achieve that goal. Babiarz told me that he was not sure how much longer Grafton’s fire department can last, relying as it does on a shrinking group of volunteers to massage a few more months of service out of each vehicle and piece of equipment.
