Can the NFCT Save Northern Forest Economies?
by Ed Winchester In the fall of 1949, Central Maine Power diverted the swift-moving Dead River to satisfy the state’s growing appetite for electrical power. Progress, however, is seldom painless. Rising waters from the Long Falls Dam swallowed the town of Flagstaff, displacing residents and transforming its eponymous pond into the largest man-made lake in the state. Today, paddlers on Flagstaff Lake can still make out the otherworldly sight of chimneys and foundations lurking beneath the surface. It may not be Lake Mead, but for Northern Forest Canoe Trail co-founder Rob Center, this shallow, 30-mile-long body of water in Maine’s rugged western mountains region represents the water trail’s vast potential as both a model for local stewardship and an engine of economic development. The 740-mile trail passes above the submerged frontier town creating a potent confluence of history and recreation that Center hopes will inject much-needed economic activity into the region. “People think of
