TURNER – A group that promotes community involvement through environmental stewardship will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15, at the Turner Town Office.

The session is intended to be the inaugural meeting of Friends of the Nezinscot. Participants will discuss the initial steps needed to form the group, said organizer Eric Goodwin. He promised the meeting would not run past 8:45 p.m.

To date, Communities Getting Involved, the entity sponsoring the Friends group, has retrieved more than 6 tons of garbage and trash from the Nezinscot River where it flows from Buckfield to Turner.

Communities Getting Involved undertook that effort last year and again this spring as part of its river and lake cleanup program.

“As part of our program we create long-term, localized, conservation efforts,” said Goodwin.”A Friends of the Nezinscot club would be able to make a large impact on the health of the river with minimal funding and minimal time spent.

The Nezinscot is seen as one of region’s top recreational rivers. It is popular with canoe and kayak enthusiasts, as well as anglers.

“We just need people to take part in the club and put a little time into it every year, then I think they will be surprised with the results they will see,” Goodwin said.”It is up to the people around the river and the people that use the river to take care of it. No one else will do it.”

Some subjects to be taken up at the meeting will be governance, funding, possible affiliations, events, landowner education and technical support, recreation, and open forum, Goodwin said.

All are welcome.