Tribute planned for tree trimmers who died

BANGOR – The Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Commission Wednesday lent its support to a plan for memorializing the 14 foreign workers who died in a tragic accident on the waterway in September.

The student chapter of the Society of American Foresters at the University of Maine at Orono asked permission to locate a granite marker and a grove of trees at the proposed John’s Bridge canoe launch.

Several forestry students from the university had worked with the Guatemalan and Honduran men who died when their van skidded off the bridge into the water, said Dale Currier, a graduate student representing the SAF chapter at Wednesday’s meeting.

The students hope to plant a stand of native trees, one for each victim, as well as place a natural granite stone with a plaque naming each of the workers who died. Tom Morrison, director for the Bureau of Public Lands, called the idea “appropriate,” and members of the advisory commission expressed their approval, while raising concerns that a dangerous situation could be created if large numbers of visitors congregated on the bridge.

“Have you thought about this becoming a tourist destination?” asked commission member Linda Koski of Greenville. “People are drawn by some morbid curiosity to places where tragedy happened,” she said.

Sarah Medina, of the Seven Islands Land Co., that owns the land, responded that the bridge has already become somewhat of a shrine where people bring flowers and candles. A memorial set back away from the river might give them a safer place to honor the victims, she said.

“We can’t change the fact that this tragedy occurred at John’s Bridge. No matter what we do in terms of a memorial, people are going to come,” Medina said.