Hearing tonight will discuss rules effecting use of Allagash

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Vacations, I find, are great for relaxing with family and loved ones, enjoying the great outdoors … and falling hopelessly behind in your work.

Of course, there’s more to life than work … even if your work revolves around heading into the woods and having fun, like mine does most every day. Therefore, (most times) I don’t lose much sleep when my appointed time to “vacate” arrives.

Today, however, I find that a week well-spent (for me) may mean that some of you don’t get the advance notice you need for an important event.

Before giving you the details, I apologize for dropping this information (which was passed along to my empty desk early last week) on you at the last moment.

Hopefully the “better late than never” credo holds true here, and you’re able to make some use of it, no matter how short the advance notice.

Here goes: Tonight, the Maine Department of Conservation’s Bureau of Parks and Lands will hold a public hearing to discuss a number of proposed rules that will affect those who use the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

The hearing will be held from 7-9 p.m. at the Black Bear Inn and Conference Center in Orono.

Now, without the chance to study these proposed rules in depth, I’m not going to advocate, nor oppose any of them in today’s column. I will, however, point out that passage of the rules in question may be quite noticeable to many who’ve regularly headed to the Allagash to recreate in the past.

Karin Tilberg, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Conservation, said the proposals have emerged from a variety of sources over a period of years.

“There’s nothing in here that should affect the traditional hunting and fishing enthusiasts in a substantive way,” Tilberg said.

According to the rule-making proposal filed by the Department of Conservation, “The rules for public recreational use of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway are being amended to rephrase certain rules to make the intent clearer and the wording consistent with ‘core rules’ for the other lands in the bureau’s jurisdiction; and to adopt new rules to ensure proper management of the Waterway as a result of staff recommendations, certain policies of the management plan adopted in 1999, and recent agreements concerning access reached among stakeholders and others at the River Driver’s Retreat.”

The rule-making fact sheet lists the following amendments to existing rules:

. Allow access for day use at John’s Bridge limited to the months of May and September, with parking outside the restricted zone;

. Require registration by persons staying overnight on the watercourse;

. Close the Umsaskis Thoroughfare parking area and Cunliffe campsite to vehicle camping;

. Limit camping in July and August to three nights;

. Limit the number of annual trips authorized oversized groups can make;

. Prohibit diving from bridges and dams;

. Prohibit multiple running of Chase Rapids by the same person on the same day;

. Prohibit the use of access trails closed and posted by the Bureau;

. Prohibit the use of chain saws on the watercourse;

. Prohibit ice shacks on Allagash Lake;

. Prohibit weapons in the Restricted Zone from May to September, except when being transported across it.

Despite the long laundry list of rules, Tilberg said the actual changes wouldn’t be as drastic as they might seem.

“This is not a sweeping set of changes,” she said. “This is more a modest set of proposals.”

Tilberg said she hopes people take the opportunity to attend the hearing, or to take advantage of the public comment provision of the rule-making proposal by making further comment before Aug. 29.

“[The hearing] is an opportunity for people to comment,” Tilberg said. “The department will consider the comments, and the comment period will be open after the hearing. We will certainly welcome people’s thoughts and input.”

Coming up on Thursday, I’ll take you out to Mount Desert Rock for a breezy day of deep sea fishing.

As you may recall, the NEWS gave away two fishing trips in a recent promotion, and the lucky (or not-so-lucky, depending on how your stomach reacts to a day of non-stop roller-coaster waves) anglers and I headed out on Saturday.

Jeff Whitten of Enfield and Rosalie Chase of Clinton were the winners, and we headed out of Southwest Harbor with the amiable captain of the Vagabond, John Dittmar. After that? Well, as it turns out, neither the seas nor the fish were very cooperative … though all of us were still able to laugh after we finally got back to dry land.

I’ll tell you about it on Thursday (though some things, I suppose, will have to be left out to protect the innocent). Either way, I’m sure there’s a tale to be told somewhere. All I’ll share right now is this: Both of our winners were remarkably good-natured about the ride they ended up taking … and our captain did his best to make a rough day on the water as enjoyable as he could.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.