LEWISTON – Gov. John Baldacci has added his voice, or at least his pen, toward an effort to improve Androscoggin River recreational access.

In an Oct. 30 letter, Baldacci urged Florida Power and Light Energy Maine Hydro to resume discussions with a coalition of river advocates regarding a federal license process that requires the power company to provide enhanced recreation access.

“FPL Energy plays an important role in Maine as a partner in recreation and conservation in return for the right to use public waters for hydropower generation,” Baldacci wrote. “I am concerned about the lack of agreement between the Coalition and FPL Energy on FPL Energy’s proposed Recreation and Land and Trails Management Plan …”

The coalition, which doesn’t have a formal name, includes the Androscoggin Land Trust, the Androscoggin River Alliance, the towns of Greene, Leeds and Turner, the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, the state’s Department of Conservation and the National Park Service.

FPL owns and operates the dam at Deer Rips, which creates Gulf Island Pond. Its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license requires a new recreation plan every six years.

E. Allen Wiley, a vice president for FPL in Maine and the person Baldacci wrote to, said Monday that what’s sought by the coalition goes far beyond state and federal requirements. Among other things, the coalition wants FPL to:

• Donate a minimum of $1 million to help the state acquire lands to establish a state park along the river;

• Pay for one full-time park ranger each year at the proposed state park;

• Pay for 50 percent of the state’s costs to acquire a parcel of the land the state initially failed to obtain as part of the proposed state park;

• Donate conservation easements to all of FPL lands in the project area;

• Contribute a $50,000 endowment to the Androscoggin Land Trust to cover the trust’s costs of monitoring the easements;

• Contribute an annual stipend of $150,000 to help fund local law enforcement and safety personnel along the river; and

• A one-time contribution of $25,000 to purchase a new watercraft for law enforcement officials.

FPL will deliver its proposed plan to FERC later this week, Wiley said.

“There are quite a few things they are asking for that are far beyond the requirements,” Wiley said. What the company does plan to do is upgrade several boat landings on the river with hard ramps, add some canoe portage trails in the project area and add several new boat launches, Wiley said.

He said ongoing negotiations with river advocates essentially broke down when FPL said it couldn’t yield on several of the demands.

Jonathan LaBonte, the executive director of the Androscoggin Land Trust, said the list of demands outlined by Wiley was only the starting point of negotiations.

“A lot of that has already been taken off the table or significantly scaled back,” LaBonte said Monday. “We were down to a couple of points of strong disagreement.”

Neil Ward, program director for the Androscoggin River Alliance, said what is being asked for pales in comparison to the profits FPL will make on the term of the license.

“It’s important to note they will be using a public resource to produce $8 million to $10 million of profit for the next 42 years,” Ward said.

“Clearly there’s some leeway there where they could give back to the community by being a good corporate citizen,” he said.

“I think the emphasis needs to be placed on our river,” Ward said. “This is our river. They are making it sound like we’ve asked for the world when in reality we’ve asked for a very small amount of money compared to what they are going to make over 42 years.”