Voices from the Trail
Category: Stewardship
Preparing Interns for a Stewardship Season
By: Matt Gerjol, NFCT Stewardship Intern The following describes the first three weeks of training typically experienced by Northern Forest Canoe Trail stewardship interns. 6:00 am wake up. June 8, 2015 was a rainy Monday morning. I was sleeping in…
The Saranac River: New Campsite, Safer Portage
By Trail Director, Walter Opuszynski There are 42 dams along the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Treadwell Mills Dam on the Saranac River is owned and operated by Enel Green Power North America (EGP-NA). Thanks to their generosity, the combination of…
This Summer Be a Part of Something BIG! Join a Northern Forest Canoe Trail Waterway Work Trip
It’s the Northern Forest Canoe Trail’s 15th anniversary! Thanks to our maturing trail stewardship program, we have more volunteer service trips to choose from this year than ever before. If you want to get away for a weekend, get your…
Concentrated Effort at the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge
By Walter Opuszynski, NFCT Trail Director This year we had a river-wide focus on Vermont’s Missisquoi River. When I think about this river I picture farm fields, fun and challenging rapids, and the Bird’s Foot Delta. The delta and surrounding…
A Full River Concept of Stewardship
By Walter Opuszynski, NFCT Trail Director This year with support from the Lake Champlain Basin Program, REI, LL Bean, American Canoe Association and New Hampshire Recreation Trails Program, the Northern Forest Canoe Trail was able to change…
ENEL Volunteer Day: Highgate Falls Portage, VT
By Walter Opuszynski, NFCT Trail Director In recent months, the Northern Forest Canoe Trail has been working with landowners associated with the Sheldon Springs Dam portage on the Missisquoi River in Vermont to officially endorse and improve…
Back in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway
By Walter Opuszynski The State of Maine has contracted the Northern Forest Canoe Trail to perform user impact assessments at all the campsites throughout the Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW). NFCT interns will collect some of the data using the same…
NH-ME Trail Maintainer Jamboree-2014
By Walter Opuszynski Talk about community! What an amazing time was had at the 2014 NH-ME Trail Maintainer Jamboree! We had a strong turnout and the on-again off-again weather did not deter spirits at all. This year’s NH-ME Jamboree was…
NFCT Field Crew Halftime Show
By Walter Opuszynski We are halfway through our slated field projects and the NFCT Stewardship Intern Crew has been working at a break neck pace. They have been traveling across the the Trial performing stewardship activities that will make it…
Paddler Trip Safety: 7 Steps to Prepare
By Walter Opuszynski Paddlers know that our corridors of travel are unpredictable environments. The water levels can change rapidly with rainfall making what was a Class 2 rapid into a Class 3. There could be a strainer just around the…