PARIS — A conservation organization has filed a lawsuit against a prominent registered Maine guide and fisherman, charging him with setting up a yurt and other structures on its property.

The Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust filed the suit against Andover resident Aldro French in the Oxford County Superior Court. The trust charges French with criminal trespass and a statutory definition of criminal trespass that charges damage to a property. It asks the court for a declaration that French has no title to the property claimed by the trust, an order for French to remove the structures and any associated materials, and damages and attorney’s fees to be determined by the court.

In a complaint filed by attorneys Richard Spencer, Jerrol Crouter and David Kallin, the Oquossoc-based trust says that French put a platform and yurt, a round, semi-permanent structure, on the property owned by the trust sometime in 2008 or 2009. It also says he constructed a shed and outhouse on the property, and that scrap metal, cinder blocks, lumber, human waste and other materials have been deposited on site.

“The RLHT property has been open to the public at all times since at least the 1930s for fishing, hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation,” the complaint says, “but this limited revocable public license granted by the owner has not included the construction of permanent or semi-permanent structures, or the deposit of any litter or debris on said property.”

According to the Oxford County Registry of Deeds, the Union Water Power Co. conveyed a parcel of land including areas of Upton, C Surplus, Township C, and Magalloway Plantation in 2004. The description of the property included exceptions for several existing leased lots, including one owned by French in Upton.

Registry of Deeds records show that French was deeded property along the Rapid River in 1991, 1997 and 2005. He is the owner of Rapid River Fly Fishing Maine, and has over 40 years of experience fly fishing on the river, according to the guiding service’s Web site.

The service’s Web site also lists the trust as one of a number of organizations with which French has developed “professional working relationships.” It says French has been active in educational and conservation programs in the area, and in 2006 began sponsoring Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a program introducing disabled veterans to fly fishing.

According to the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust’s website, the nonprofit organization was founded in 1991 and is dedicated to preserving natural areas for recreation, education, and scientific study. It has since preserved over 12,300 acres of land, including Bald Mountain and the Height of the Land.

The trust’s complaint says French’s attorney, Kirk Siegel, informed the trust in June that French had claimed a portion of the land deeded to the trust in 2004 through adverse possession. This stipulation allows someone to take title to a property by openly using it for a continuous 20-year period.

In a covenant agreement with FPL Energy Maine Hydro LLC that followed the 2004 deed, the trust agreed to several conditions. These included monitoring the use of the land to see that it was used in a manner consistent with conservation purposes, seeing that garbage would not be disposed on the property, and possibly transferring “small portions” of the land to property owners to resolve boundary disputes. The latter condition says such a transfer can only occur if it will not inhibit conservation efforts.

mlangeveld@sunjournal.com