BETHEL – A group that typically helps the state stock the Androscoggin River with fish each year will be floating down the river this month angling for trash not trout.

Members of the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance and students from the Telstar Challenge Course at SAD 44’s Telstar High School in Bethel will scour the river Thursday, May 15, from Gilead to Bethel. Volunteers are welcome.

“There’s been a decadeslong effort to improve the water quality and fishery,” Alliance Director Scott Stone said in a recent report. “Now, we need to improve the shoreland zone and access to this wonderful river.”

According to alliance spokeswoman Wende Gray, 20 teens ages 16 to 18, will float down the river in rafts armed with garbage bags while towing garbage scow rafts on which to collect debris along the riverbanks.

One cleanup flotilla will launch at 9 a.m. from the Gilead bridge and take out at Newt’s Landing in West Bethel. The second will also leave at 9 a.m. from West Bethel and exit the river at Davis Park in Bethel.

“Any volunteer who wants to come with a canoe, not a kayak, should buy a couple of garbage bags and be sure they’ve got some gloves in case we find hazardous wastes,” Gray said by phone on Friday in Bethel.

Rafts and scow rafts are being provided by Professional River Runners and Magic Falls Rafting Co., a pair of whitewater outfitters from West Forks.

The Androscoggin trash sweep is part of the National River Cleanup, which was founded in 1992 by America Outdoors to help local groups keep waterways clean. In 2007, American Rivers, the nation’s leading river advocacy organization, took it over.

Last year across the nation, 600 tons of trash and debris was culled and 7,453 miles of rivers cleaned.

“The Upper Andro is expected to yield a lot of large debris, such as tires, old appliances and car parts.

“With landfill space at a premium, recycling efforts stymied by a lack of plant capacity, and toxic waste expensive to control, a grassroots effort can help maintain a constituency for preserving and protecting waterways,” Gray said.

The town of Bethel will provide trash collection and delivery to the town’s solid waste facility. American Rivers and NRC sponsor Tom’s of Maine will supply trash bags to the teens and alliance members.

For more information or to volunteer, call 877-275-3363. For more information about National River Cleanup, visit www.nationalrivercleanup.org.