Group seeks water trail support

GREENVILLE – Organizers hope that by the year 2005, there will be a managed and maintained canoe trail that links the watersheds of northern New England and the Adirondacks.

Although portions of the 740-mile water trail already have been mapped and are being maintained, there is still much work to be done to complete the trail.

“It’s a work in progress,” Rob Center, executive director of the Vermont-based Northern Forest Canoe Trail, said Monday.

“Our mission is to work with the landowners; we’re not in the business of buying land,” he said, hoping to distance his not-for-profit group from an organization trying to create a national park in northern Maine.

Center was in Greenville last week to find a local organization willing to maintain the segment of trail from Greenville north to Umbazooksus Stream in Township 6 Range 13. He said he expected that the request would be presented to the Natural Resources Education Center next month.

“In many northern communities, the rivers play lesser roles than they once did,” Center said. The trail will help the rivers regain their place as the heart of the towns along the trial, he said. “We’re celebrating the patterns of development and economy within the northern forest.”

The trail will help build awareness of and support for the health of the watersheds, improve river access, encourage canoe and kayak travel and recreation, highlight the history of the Northeast as it developed through river travel, create new educational opportunities for students of all levels, stimulate economic development, and enhance the sense of place in northern communities, according to Center.

Center said that those using the waterways would be encouraged to spend time within a community to fully appreciate its history, both past and present. The concept behind the trail is to acquaint visitors to the northern forest region and for them to understand the diversity of the forest from region to region.

“We’re trying to just highlight and make it a heritage component as much as a recreational trail,” he said.

In cooperation with the NFCT, the 10 sponsor organizations representing the 45 communities through which the canoe trail passes, will research the proposed route in their regions, determine portages, access points and camping options, and meet with landowners to obtain permission for use of their property to access points, for portages and for primitive campsites. The local sponsors also will maintain the trail, from signs to privies, and work with local historical societies and ecologists to compile a cultural and natural history of the river through their region.

One of those sponsors, the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, already has mapped the waterway in its region. And the town of Fort Kent is working on the Allagash to Fort Kent route, according to Center.

Center said his organization is printing maps of the trails that will include local histories, and tidbits about plants and animals indigenous to the regions.

The NFCT does have some grant money available to local sponsors to help fund projects along the trail. Center said these funds were part of a federal grant the organization received this year.

The fund-raising goal for the entire trail project is $1 million, of which $300,000 has been contributed from individuals, foundations, corporations and the federal government.