A variety of viewpoints were represented when the Androscoggin River Trek-a-Thon wrapped up on Saturday. A flotilla comprising 12 solo kayaks and three tandem canoes paddled six miles through the large impoundment in the river that's created by Gulf Island Dam, one of Maine's largest hydro-electric projects.

A number of people representing various interests and causes made presentations to us. The most avid listener was one of Saturday's youngest participants: Mariah Pfeiffer, a Bates College senior who is researching an honors thesis that's centered on the Androscoggin River.

Mariah Pfeiffer, a Bates College senior, is researching an honors thesis that's based on the Androscoggin River.
ALL PHOTOS SCOTT ANDREWS

She's spending a lot of time this summer in three communities -- Berlin, N.H., Rumford and Lewiston -- talking to old-timers who remember the Andro from many decades past, including loggers, river drivers and mill workers.

On Saturday, she was developing a more contemporary, more recreation-oriented perspective.

Recreational canoeing will become one of the primary uses of the Androscoggin River in the future.

Kayakers and canoeists on the Gulf Island Pond section of the Androscoggin River on Saturday.

This canoe represents the Pulp and Paperworkers Resource Council, a national group that seeks to balance environmental and economic issues.

Several people made short presentations. Ed Friedman, representing Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, outlined his group's struggle to protect migrating eels, catadromous creatures that are killed in great numbers in the whirling hydro-electic turbines of the many dams on the Androscoggin and the Kennebec.

The Androscoggin Land Trust was represented by several people, including executive director Jonathan LaBonte and stewardship director Michael Auger. Their most interesting project is currently in progress: acquiring 325 acres that surround an attractive cove in the south Turner section of Gulf Island Pond. Ultimately it would be added to the Turner Riverlands and provide additional public access to that 2,000-acre tract. Another new ALT project aims to create a riverside park in the city of Lewiston just a bit below Deer Rips Dam.

Dave Govatski, representing the Androscoggin River Watershed Council, the Trek-a-Thon's sponsoring organization, spoke of increasing the number of recreational canoeists and kayakers. The ARWC aims to create a 170-mile water trail from Lake Umbagog to Merrymeeting Bay. Part of it, a few dozen miles in the Bethel area, already exists.

Dave also gave a talk on Leave No Trace, plus we picked up trash on a small island. There wasn't much; the island seems to be a picnic stop for thoughtful people.

I was especially intrigued by Mariah's senior thesis, in which she's using oral narratives to define a sense of geographical and socio-economic place around the Androscoggin River. I hope to present some additional details on Mariah's research in the near future and I hope the ARWC will invite her to speak at next year's Trek-a-Thon.

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