UNION LEADER • June 28, 2020
Once considered one of the 10 dirtiest rivers in America, the Androscoggin River is on a sustained rebound and conservation groups are working here to preserve a large stretch of it for “quiet recreation.” Calling it “a rare opportunity to forever protect an undeveloped and scenic landscape,” the Mahoosuc Land Trust, which is based in Bethel, Maine, and The Conservation Fund, recently announced the Shelburne Riverlands Project, which seeks to raise $1 million to purchase 853 acres of land from Bayroot LLC. The Riverlands, according to the land trust, includes 22 islands and 12 mainland parcels located along an 8.7-mile stretch of the Androscoggin from just east of Gorham to Gilead, Maine.