LIVERMORE FALLS — A proposed new riverfront trail in Jay and Livermore Falls will be unveiled at a community open house on Sunday, July 25, in Livermore Falls during the annual Androscoggin River Source to the Sea Trek.
Additionally, on Saturday, July 24, trekkers will learn about sustainable forestry and land conservation in Canton.
The multi-week paddle, which started earlier this month at the headwaters of the Androscoggin River and ends at Merrymeeting Bay, will pass through the region this coming weekend.
During Saturday’s event, which starts at 9 a.m. at the Dixfield Boat Access off Canton Point Road, paddlers will embark downstream to Riley Dam in Jay.
About midway through, trekkers will stop for lunch at the Canton Boat Access off Route 140 and a discussion on sustainable forestry and land conservation in the region. It will be led by the Androscoggin Land Trust and Integrated Forest Management of Turner.
As part of the 1998 licensing of hydroelectric dams in the region owned by Verso Paper, ALT conserved nearly 1,200 acres of land and six miles of riverfront in Jay and Canton.
Trust and Chisholm Trails Executive Director Jonathan LaBonte said much of that conservation land protected the landscape that will be observed on this trip.
With long-term sustainability as a primary goal, Integrated Forest Management has partnered with many landowners and organizations throughout the Androscoggin River Watershed, Jeremy Stultz, according to IFM vice president.
“Good forest management is one of the key elements to protecting soil and water quality in this region and also providing for ecological and economic sustainability for the many communities in which we ourselves live and work,” Stultz said.
Sunday’s paddling segment in Jay from Riley Dam to Spruce Mountain includes a short portage at Pine Island. It will transition paddlers from a working forest landscape to the historic industrial villages of Chisholm (Jay) and Livermore Falls.
After the river trip, LaBonte said paddlers are invited to a community reception and open house hosted by Maine’s Paper and Heritage Museum in downtown Livermore Falls.
At the reception, Chisholm Trails, the new trails group in the Jay-Livermore Falls region, will publicly unveil for the first time concepts for a “Riverfront School Trail” to connect the Jay and Livermore Falls middle schools to each other and along the river, via a new trail.
The former Otis Paper Mill, now owned by Otis Ventures LLC, would be a central point for the proposed new trail. It offers a unique approach to reconnecting the communities and that industrial facility on the river, LaBonte said.
“For the last six months, the local community members leading Chisholm Trails have been fortunate to have not only the support of the National Park Service in this effort, but multiple landscape architects that have offered pro bono technical assistance in this trail planning, including Jennifer Claster of Wright-Pierce and independent landscape architects Dan Morabito and Chris Di Matteo,” LaBonte said.
“We are excited to showcase their work and the possibilities for recreation along the river in this community.”
For more information, contact the Androscoggin Land Trust at 782-2302 or the Androscoggin River Watershed Council at 754-8158. Online registrations for the trek are now available at http://androscogginwatershed.org/trekform.html.
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