BANGOR (AP) – A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to invalidate a state law that guarantees motor vehicle access points and makes permanent bridges along the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Charles FitzGerald of Atkinson and Kenneth Cline of Bar Harbor contend a 2006 state law conflicts with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, a federal law under which Allagash was designated a wild river area in 1970.

The law, which was hotly debated in the Legislature, designated six bridges in the waterway as permanent structures. It also guaranteed 11 motor vehicle access points to the river.

The 92-mile waterway was established four decades ago in the heart of Maine’s North Woods.

At the time of the wild river designation, the U.S. Department of the Interior limited motor vehicle access points to just two places, according to the lawsuit by FitzGerald and Cline.

But the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that it’s up to the state to determine how best to manage the river to meet the goals of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

“Maine is obligated to administer the (waterway) in such manner as to protect and enhance the values which caused it to be included in the system of protected rivers. But the statute leaves the determination of how best to administer the (waterway) to meet those objectives to Maine,” wrote Chief Judge Sandra Lynch.

The court also rejected the plaintiffs’ attempts to use federal regulations to block reconstruction of the Henderson Brook Bridge within the Allagash.

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