FORT KENT – When people launch their boats into the St. John River at Riverside Park, they won’t be just going for a paddle. They’ll be entering the eastern gateway of a 740-mile water trail.

Officials planted a white birch tree at the park and dedicated a kiosk Saturday to leave information for boaters about their point of entry: the terminus of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

The trail runs from Old Forge, N.Y., through Vermont, New Hampshire and Quebec to Fort Kent. The trail creators’ goals are to celebrate the human heritage and diverse natural environment of the northern forest.

They also have an eye on encouraging ecotourism and getting people out on the water.

Dignitaries from the National Park Service and the U.S. Coast Guard joined a small group of residents and people from the organization working to create the route for the ceremonies Saturday.

The idea started years ago with three people interested in premechanized travel routes, according to Julie Isbill of the National Park Service. They enlisted Isbill’s help to organize the project. In 2000, the men turned the project over to Kay Henry and Rob Center, who co-founded Northern Forest Canoe Trail Inc.

In four years, the organization moved from concept to reality, completing four of 13 comprehensive maps – the beginning and end of the trail – which include the trail route and history of the mapped area.

“Our objective has been to spotlight on these communities [in the maps] and to have that effort directed by the people themselves,” Center said Saturday.

About 150 volunteers, including a committee from Fort Kent, have helped work on the international project. Local committee members insisted that the trail kiosk at Riverside Park be bilingual.

“They provided the local knowledge, the connections to this place,” Isbill said. “The whole project helps to draw new attention to the rivers of this area and teach people the history and the heritage here.”

With four maps done and nine to go, the organization plans to release four maps each in the spring and fall of 2005. Center said the Northern Forest Canoe Trail would release its last map in the spring of 2006. “And then we’ll have a really big party,” said Kate Williams, the trail’s executive director.

But Fort Kent already has beaten them to the punch. The day of the dedication was also the first celebration of the St. John Valley River Festival. Local officials hope to spend a fall day every year celebrating the river and the area’s heritage.

As area resident Lisa Ornstein said while describing the area’s connection to the river: “No river, no history.

For information about the trail or to help, contact Northern Forest Canoe Trail at (802) 496-2285 or visit the Web site at www.northernforestcanoetrail.org.