Eric Goodwin says ridding the Nezinscot of trash is also a way to build community.
By Doug Fletcher
Staff Writer

TURNER – When Eric Goodwin looks at the Nezinscot River, he sees opportunity in the debris and old tires fouling its bottom.

He intends to see the river cleaned by those who live near its banks, and to build bonds in the process.

“River cleanups are just one way to bring people in a community together to achieve a common goal that benefits them all,” Goodwin said.

He’s planned a cleanup in Buckfield and Turner on July 20. Now he’s enlisting volunteers to make it happen. Forty people would be ideal, he said. Most would help with getting trash out of the river and onto trucks the two towns have agreed to provide for the program. Some would drive vehicles, shuttling other volunteers to points along the river.

The cleanup also will require about a dozen canoes, three small aluminum fishing boats, paddles, and 30 lifejackets, Goodwin said.

The waterway will be divided into six sections, some as short as a half-mile and others as long as 2.5 miles, he said. The cleanup will start at 9 a.m. and should conclude by 2 p.m..

His interest in the environment stems from growing up in rural areas, spending leisure time in the wilderness and working in the outdoors for a few years, Goodwin said.

“I’ve seen the damage that we do and I see a profound lack of effort to make that damage better,” he said. He also has seen a lack of understanding of why the damage ought to be repaired. “I’m interested in being part of the solution instead of the problem.”

Goodwin, 26, has helped to create Communities Getting Involved, a tax-exempt nonprofit entity, which helps foster ties that bind people in cities and towns. It’s based in Maine, but he has plans for community events in places as far distant as the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

He said the local river cleanup isn’t intended as a fund-raiser. It’s solely a program designed to bring people together to help improve a river said to offer one of the best canoeing day trips in Maine.

The nonprofit status of the organization allows it to accept donations from corporate sponsors, he said, and to encourage philanthropy that will benefit people and community.

“We measure our success not just by the amount of trash picked from rivers, not just by how much money we raise for local charities, but by how many people we can get involved in improving their own communities,” Goodwin said.

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