AUGUSTA (AP) – A Willimantic couple who teach people how to live in the wild have agreed to do volunteer work along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway as amends for damage to trees and branches they cut during a winter trek there.

Alexandra and Garrett Conover were hiking the 200 miles from Allagash to Greenville in January when they came upon rare open water conditions caused by the mild winter and had to cut and trim hundreds of trees to ease their path.

Such cutting in a restricted zone normally is illegal, but the Conovers had a special activities permit from the Maine parks bureau and were not cited by waterway rangers. When word of the cutting spread, however, critics complained that it was out of line.

The Conovers, who are registered Maine guides and authors of a winter skills travel book, had a “frank discussion” this week with Dave Soucy, director of the state Bureau of Public Lands, and Marilyn Tourtellotte, manager of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, Soucy said Thursday.

“They did things that were not acceptable,” he said. “Now they want to make reparations.”

Alexandra Conover on Friday termed the meeting “very positive.” But she balked at the term “reparations,” saying the couple wanted to show their cooperative spirit by volunteering to work on a service project on the waterway.

The specifics of the work have not been determined. Soucy said it may involve tree planting and Conover suggested improving a campsite.

A year earlier, the Conovers celebrated their 25th anniversary with a trek from Greenville to Allagash that they dubbed the Winter Walk for the Wilds. They encouraged school children and teachers to track their journey on the Web, where they posted progress reports.

Conover said she and her husband cut through brush during the reverse trip after finding themselves in an unprecedented life-or-death situation.

She said the controversy over the tree cutting has become politicized and made the couple a target of critics holding different views of how the Allagash should be managed.

Copy the Story Link