GNP may halt ‘double trouble’ white-water trips

MILLINOCKET – “Double trouble” rafting on the Penobscot River may be in trouble.

For years, white-water rafting outfitters have offered tours that run the challenging upper gorge of the Penobscot’s West Branch twice, avoiding dead water downstream, as a “more extreme” option for return rafters.

But Great Northern Paper Co., which owns all the land where rafting companies enter and depart from the river, wants to see the practice stopped.

A new resource protection plan being considered by Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission would ban “double trouble” rafting on the West Branch except on days when the water is extremely high or extremely low, making some portions of the river, and therefore a full river run, dangerous. LURC regulates development in the state’s unorganized territories.

Several Penobscot River rafting companies attended a public hearing at Baxter State Park Headquarters on Wednesday night to oppose the plan, which governs the management of Great Northern land on either bank of the river. The land is also protected by a conservation easement held by the Maine Department of Conservation.

Dan Corcoran of Great Northern said that “extreme rafting trips” don’t represent the traditional uses of the Penobscot permitted under the easement. “It goes beyond the traditional uses of the river and begins to get into a circus-type atmosphere,” he said.

Rafting outfitters argued that restrictions on double trips would harm Maine’s $15 million rafting business.

The northern portion of the West Branch, an area beginning at Ripogenus Dam and including the Class 5 Cribworks rapids, is the most technically difficult white water in Maine.

“This would hurt the entire Maine rafting industry,” said Brock Sainsburg, assistant Penobscot River manager for North Country Rivers, one of the area’s largest outfitters. “A multiple trip is the only way we can offer that next step. [If Maine doesn’t offer them] people will just go to West Virginia or New York for the extreme river runs.”

Corcoran defended his company’s rafting policies Wednesday night, saying the “double trouble” trips increase bus traffic on the dangerous northwestern portion of the Golden Road, a private logging way owned by Great Northern Paper.

“That section of the Golden Road is winding. It has less sight distance and greater liability exposure,” Corcoran said.

But rafting company representatives argued that double trips require less driving than certain full-river trips where the rafts do the southern portion of the river first because of state requirements that seek to alleviate crowding. Those trips have a greater environmental impact than the double trips, which stick to the northern part of the river.

“[On double trips] we’re doing less miles on the river and our buses are doing a lot less driving on the roads,” said Jeremy Hargreaves, Penobscot River manager for North Country Rivers.

And the rafting industry has always respected “gentlemen’s agreements” to limit double trips in hopes of protecting the river, said David Weatherbee of the New England Outdoor Center, another large outfitter. The center only sponsored 20 such trips last summer, and none were scheduled on the peak July and August weekends.

LURC commissioners called the plan a compromise, pointing out that Big Ambejackmockamus Falls, also known as Big A, is not a legal access point for the river, although rafting companies have used the spot to take out their boats for years. Great Northern has offered to concede the use of Big A if rafting companies agree to restrictions on “double trouble” trips.

The paper company also has agreed to grant exemptions allowing double trips on either the upper or lower portion of the river on days when high or low water makes some portions of the river dangerous.

Rafting outfitters called the approach “unrealistic.”

LURC commissioners indicated they felt there had been a communication breakdown between Great Northern and the rafting outfitters, and declined to become involved in the debate. Ultimately, the resource protection plan is in Great Northern’s hands, they said.

“The landowner is trying to make a compromise – it’s up to them. It’s their prerogative,” said Edward Laverty a commissioner from Medford.

The commission will accept written comments about the plan, which is available upon request and is posted on the commission’s Web site, until Friday, Oct. 21. Comments should be sent to Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, 22 State House Station, Augusta 04333-0022 or to fred.todd@state.me.us.