Ask a Mainer to tell you what a Maine guide does, and you’re likely to get a variety of responses, depending on which outdoor pursuit they prefer.

Hunters may talk about their favorite bear guide and his immense skills as a tracker. Anglers may paint you a vivid verbal picture of a hard-rowing professional muscling a drift boat into the perfect lie.

But there are plenty of other guides out there who focus on other enjoyable pursuits.

And now there’s a coalition that will represent them … along with others who support the group’s mission.

According to David Butler, secretary of the newly formed Maine Wilderness Guides Organization, work began more than a year ago, and has culminated in the formation of the MWGO.

“It was really a result of a bunch of us getting together for some other issues and realizing that we were all guides [who could fill] a void and [provide] a voice for our kind of guiding,” Butler said.

Butler said that while the state licenses a variety of different guides, those who didn’t focus primarily on hunting and fishing weren’t nearly as visible as some others.

“I would say in my experience most people immediately think of hunting and fishing guides,” he said. “We are not excluding hunting and fishing guides in what we are trying to do. Ultimately, [our organization] is about the lands and waters we use to do our guiding, whether that’s fishing or hunting or canoeing or dog-sledding.”

According to an introduction letter sent out by the MWGO, the group is “primarily, but not exclusively, engaged in people-powered trips, fishing for wild populations of native fish and fair-chase hunting.”

The catch, Butler points out, is that to enjoy many of the things Mainers and visitors have come to expect in this state, access to large parcels of land is essential.

“Maine is unique in that the majority of the lands that we recreate on are privately owned,” Butler said. “Our objective is to be able to continue to do that, so we want to build up strong relationships with landowners. That means different things as properties change hands.”

Butler said another reason for the formation of the MWGO was to give interested guides a strong, unified voice on issues it considers important.

“We’d like to have a collective voice rather than a bunch of individual voices when it comes to legislative agendas different groups may have,” he said. “We believe there is power in numbers and we want to provide a voice that we really didn’t think was out there.”

Butler said building up the membership is the MWGO’s first order of business, but the group already boasts a experienced group of outdoors folk as officers, directors and members of the advisory board.

“We want to encourage all kinds of guides, whether they be hunting or fishing guides or recreation and sea-kayaking guides, to look at us and see if our mission is in line with what they do, and get involved,” Butler said.

And Butler said those who do choose to get involved will be helping ensure that those who enjoy traditional Maine wilderness escapes – “multi-day, quiet, human-powered experiences,” he calls them – will have that opportunity for years to come.

“We know there are clients who want to do that, that desire that kind of experience,” Butler said. “There are not that many places in the east where that can experience can happen. Maine is certainly unique in that regard.”

For more information, go to www.mainewildernessguides.org.

Alamoosook access to change

Hancock County ice anglers who typically flock to Alamoosook Lake in Orland may have to find a new way to access the lake this winter.

According to Tom King, the hatchery manager at Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery, a traditional access point at his facility will be closed for the winter.

“We have construction on what we call our Swedish pools, and they’re located down near Alamoosook Lake near our public-use area,” he said. “We’re going to close that area off because of the construction.”

King said he wanted to make sure that ice anglers knew about the situation early so they wouldn’t be inconvenienced during ice-fishing season.

The Craig Brook hatchery plays a key role in Atlantic salmon restoration efforts, and King said the construction, which is part of a $1.6 million project, will continue well into the spring.

The Swedish pools will be relined and receive new covers, new water lines will be laid, and a new building will be built to screen fish for a virus that has caused problems with salmon. In addition, the hatchery will get a new pumping station to move water across a brook into what will become a wastewater treatment building.

King said that closing the Craig Brook access point to anglers doesn’t mean they can’t fish Alamoosook this winter, however.

“[There is another access site] on the other side [of the lake] near the dam,” he said.

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