CALAIS – The St. Croix International Waterway Commission, which supports cooperation along the St. Croix River system shared by New Brunswick and Maine, is looking for public participation in a revised management plan for the river corridor, waterway officials announced Friday.

A meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at the Downeast Heritage Museum.

It has been nearly 20 years since the commission updated its plan. In 1990, the group released a 140-page report titled “St. Croix International Waterway: A Heritage – A Future.”

“The St. Croix plan is a blueprint for action,” Lee Sochasky, the commission’s executive director, said in a prepared release. “Since 1990, interests on both sides of the river have drawn from it to address a range of issues, with some significant results.”

The St. Croix plan was developed for New Brunswick and Maine with participation from landowners, waterway users, municipalities, business and conservation interests, and all levels of government.

The policy plan addresses cross-border goals for the environment, economy, natural resources, heritage, recreation and international cooperation, and provides a range of recommendations toward its implementation, the release said.

But after 17 years, Sochasky said, it is time for an updated plan.

The St. Croix International Waterway includes the boundary waters and shorelands of Monument Brook, the Chiputneticook Lakes, the St. Croix mainstem and the estuary. It flows through four counties and 26 communities in northeastern Maine and southwestern New Brunswick.

The St. Croix International Waterway Commission was established to coordinate management of the St. Croix’s international resources. It is an independent body, with four directors appointed from Maine and four from New Brunswick.

And the waterway has had its successes.

“In 2005 it was one of five finalists for an international river management award, matched with four multi-million-dollar programs in the United States, France and China. The St. Croix initiative operates on an annual budget of $50,000 and a wide range of partnerships,” Sochasky said in the release.

The executive director said the commission would like to hear from St. Croix landowners, users and supporters in the next few weeks so that their ideas can be included in the revised plan.

He then detailed some of the commission’s most notable achievements.

“Perhaps the most notable are steps by Maine and New Brunswick to equitably protect the shore and water quality that people said is so important, the partnership to commemorate the 400th anniversary of St. Croix Island’s French settlement, collaboration on regional tourism and the collective effort to keep some of our smaller border crossings open,” she said.

Sochasky recommended that everyone read the management plan summary to see what has been done to date and offer their ideas for the future.

The management plan summary is available on line at www.stcroix.org or by calling the commission at (506) 466-7550. Public comment closes May 30.