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 held along the banks of the Upper Ammonoosuc River in New Hampshire. The water was flowing! Just nights before we thought that our campsite location would have to be relocated due to high waters. Our NH Trail Maintainer and business owner, Gord Roberge, went well out of his way to make sure the group had all the ingredients to make a good time. He allowed us to stay at the camp he rents out right on the Upper Ammonoosuc, made moose burgers for us, and helped coordinate logistics for our meetings. Thanks again, Gord! To top it all off we had the chance to eat with Margaret and Everett Frizzell. The Frizzell’s allow use of their land for an NFCT campsite. A beautiful spot on the Upper Ammo. Without landowner like them the NFCT would not exist!
Like all of our stewardship efforts this event was a combination of training, community, quality work, paddling, and good food. Our training was both via presentations and hands on learning. We met in the West Milan Community Center building to hand out our new Waterway Steward T-shirts and recognize everyone. Then Amy Smagula from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services gave a presentation on aquatic invasives so we could participate in first detection efforts as we are out on the Trail doing maintenance. Then it was off to the Cordwell campsite to construct a floating log ladder, where the new Executive Director of the NFCT, Karrie Thomas joined us to dig in and get her hands dirty:
This was a great way to kick off our field season and we are certainly looking forward to the NY-QC-VT Jamboree in Saranac Lake, NY the weekend of May 17-18. If you are interested in being a part of this program our philosophy is “The more, the merrier!” so don’t hesitate to reach out to NFCT Trail Director Walter Opuszynski ([email protected]). Thanks again to all who attended and made this event such a fun time!
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