Allagash access plan garners broad support Governor to put forth River Drivers pact today

BANGOR – Gov. John Baldacci likely will not support the proposed development of a parking lot and trail for canoe access to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway at John’s Bridge that his predecessor pushed during his tenure.

Instead, the governor is expected to announce this morning he favors a plan included in a 12-point “River Drivers Agreement” drafted during an invitation-only summit last weekend in Millinocket. The plan was presented to members of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Advisory Council meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The compromise, suggested by Deputy Conservation Commissioner Karin Tilberg, would formalize the status quo. During the spring and fall, fishermen would be allowed to unload their canoes on the road to the bridge and then park their cars in a nearby clearing alongside the logging road.

Though John’s Bridge is not an official access point, anglers have traditionally used the bridge as a more direct means of getting to Churchill and Eagle lakes. The bridge crosses a thoroughfare between the two lakes.

Under the draft agreement, free stickers would be distributed to anglers by request, but the department would not advertise John’s Bridge as an official access point. The stickers would entitle fishermen only to day use at the bridge during May and September.

George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and one of the most vocal advocates of the proposed canoe launch, said Tuesday he was satisfied with the new plan. Smith was one of 22 “stakeholders” who drafted, then unanimously approved the agreement.

“We can do what we’ve always been doing,” he said.

The agreement also includes plans to improve the existing boat launch at Indian Stream and the road into the Churchill Dam to discourage the use of John’s Bridge.

Finally, the plan calls for cooperation between the Departments of Conservation and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to improve wild fisheries in the waterway.

Those who opposed Gov. Angus King’s plan for a parking lot and canoe launch near John’s Bridge also have given their OK to the compromise. Cathy Johnson, representing the Natural Resources Council of Maine, signed the agreement.

The council, which advises the commissioner, took no action after hearing reports on the summit Tuesday. None of the council members seeing the agreement for the first time made any comment during the public meeting.

The draft recommendations also include:

?Allowing canoe access only to the camp site at Cunliffe Depot.

?Allowing vehicle access at Ramsey Ledge, a traditional picnic spot for locals, in combination with road closure south of the ledge (with landowner approval).

?Hiring a landscape architect to consult on screening campsites with vegetation.

?Developing additional fall-back campsites for busy times, and rotating use of campsites so they can be rehabilitated.

?Undertaking a carrying capacity analysis and considering a registration system to stagger entrance into the waterway.

?Creating a historical and cultural component of the waterway, perhaps with the reconstruction of historic buildings.

?Purchasing land to develop a new permanent takeout site in Allagash.

There has been heated debate over the John’s Bridge site for several years. It has become a symbol of the debate over the purpose of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway that dates back several decades.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Advisory Council, Tilberg, Conservation Commissioner Pat McGowan, and the five council members who participated in the weekend summit praised one another’s civility during the two-day debate.

“Obviously, no one got everything they wanted out of the experience,” Johnson told her fellow council members. “It was really the first time that we all were able to engage and talk in a way that seemed honest.”

Tuesday, McGowan deflected praise to Baldacci who, though not present during the summit, is expected to endorse the outcome at a press conference at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning in the State House Hall of Flags.