Northern Forest Canoe Trail organization has home and staff

Paddlers have a new trail organization in their midst — the Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT), which recently located its office at 925 Route 100 in Warren, Vt. The non-profit NFCT is devoted to creating a historic water trail that begins in New York’s Adirondack Mountains and ends 740 rugged miles later in Fort Kent, Maine, just downstream of the confluence of the Allagash and St. John Rivers. The trail is the longest inland water trail in the Northeast.

The NFCT, which incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2000, recently hired its first full-time staff member, former Mad River management team member, Rob Center. Center had been serving as the organization’s part-time executive director for the past two years, and became the full-time executive director in May. In June, NFCT also hired Sylvia Plumb as the assistant director. With a love of long-distance trails and the outdoors, Plumb spent nearly 10 years working for the Green Mountain Club where she was the director of communications.

It is NFCT’s goal to work with community groups, such as regional planning commissions, community action councils, towns and tourism councils, to coordinate volunteer committees to create, manage and maintain the route. This June, the NFCT awarded $35,000 to communities along the trail to develop access points, portages, signage and campsites for the trail.

“The Northern Forest Canoe Trail celebrates communities and it will be built and maintained by local communities,” notes Center. “There is a piece of the trail for most everyone — beginners, experts, canoeists and kayakers, and even people who never paddle but wish to learn about the region’s history through the trail.”

For more information about the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, click on www.northernforestcanoetrail.org.