By Isla Chadsey
Stewardship Intern
A summer with the Northern Forest Canoe Trail was not a straightforward internship to explain to friends and family. Most have never heard of the canoe trail, let alone the group responsible for caretaking it. So, I would begin my spiel, describing the history of the NFCT organization, the concept of a waterway trail and my role as a waterway steward: to maintain the infrastructure along the trail that makes this journey possible.
And yes, we certainly did this work. We fixed a sagging boardwalk on Browns Tract that’s used by hundreds of paddlers, including competitors in the 90-Miler canoe race. We built a staircase that required us to painstakingly transport each rock up and over a hill to the worksite via a rock net, grip hoist and dolly. We constructed an ADA accessible privy in the Allagash Wilderness.
But what was missing from this picture that I painted of my internship, and what I later came to realize was the key to the NFCT, was the people. My summer was really spent as a steward of the community. And what a community it is, coming from all walks of life but united by a common love of lakes and rivers and forests. My role was to strengthen the bonds between this network of people who care — about the land, about each other. We traveled across four states and interacted with countless characters, and through it all, we facilitated spaces for people to learn together, laugh together and support each other.
I watched as volunteers who are lifetime carpenters taught their peers how to use a circular saw for the first time; how they practiced communication and trust to be able to safely move mammoth rocks; how they gathered around the campfire at night to trade stories and plan adventures with friends who had been strangers mere hours before.
This is the work of the NFCT: stewarding this community that is such a powerful force for good. Thank you to all who were part of my internship experience; I am so very grateful.
