Land Trust to Lead Tree Street Youth on Acadia Expedition

August 9, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information:

Jonathan P. LaBonte

Androscoggin Land Trust

info@androscogginlandtrust.org

(207) 782-2302

Land Trust to Lead Tree Street Youth on Acadia Expedition

A Youth Camping Weekend in Acadia will conclude a summer of outings led by the Androscoggin Land Trust

Lewiston/Auburn, ME - Fifteen “street leaders”, counselors who have been working all summer at the Tree Street Youth Center, along with Julia Sleeper, the executive director, and others, will camp for two nights in Acadia National Park thanks a grant secured by the Androscoggin Land Trust (ALT) to make Lewiston/Auburn, and its local parks, part of a National Park Service video project highlighting three New England Cities.

With leadership from Bates College summer intern Eve Boyce, ALT has worked with Ardrianna McLane and Julie Isbill of the National Park Service to build an Acadia trip that will include hiking, swimming in the ocean, visiting Cadillac Mountain, and learning about Acadia and environmental stewardship on a larger scale, building on their earlier experiences along the Androscoggin River.

The youth and their trip leaders will be loading into vans and plan to depart the Tree Street Center at 3 PM on Friday August 10th.  They expect to arrive at the Seawall Beach Campground in Acadia National Park about 3 hours after they depart.  The trip will conclude Sunday around noon, where they will depart from Cadillac Mountain for the return to Lewiston.  Full itinerary details are available to the media upon request.

In partnership with the Tree Street Youth program based in Lewiston, ALT has organized a series of “Park Expeditions” for young people— visits to local parks like Simard-Payne (Railroad) Park and Little Andy Park, Maine’s newest state park, the Androscoggin Riverlands and now Acadia National Park.

The first outing was a “learn to fish” event held in July at Little Andy Park in Auburn presented in partnership with the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Dept.  The second outing was a visit to explore Maine’s newest state park last week, the Androscoggin Riverlands, which is just 20 minutes north of downtown Lewiston-Auburn.  As part of the program, ALT will also develop a youth-oriented video with videographer, Joel Osgood, featuring the Park Expeditions to further promote the values of parks and recreation through social media outlets.

“The Androscoggin Land Trust is excited to be an active partner with the National Park Service and other New England cities in exploring, celebrating and promoting local, state and national parks.  Through the Park Expeditions and accompanying  video, not only will local youth experience the Androscoggin and Maine’s national treasure at Acadia, but our community’s parks, trails and river will be on display to a national audience ,” said Jonathan LaBonte, the Androscoggin Land Trust's executive director.

"Connecting the Tree Street Youth with the outdoors is so important in this urban environment. The Androscoggin Land Trust has helped us achieve that goal, and our street leaders are so excited about the opportunity to visit Acadia National Park.”  said Julia Sleeper, Executive Director of the Tree Street Youth Center.  

The Androscoggin Land Trust (ALT) was selected by the National Park Service to coordinate this creative summer program designed to connect Lewiston-Auburn’s young people to the region's diverse parks. The program includes two other New England cities, Holyoke, MA and Providence, RI and will result in a video feature that will be promoted nationally showing the connections between parks and communities, with a focus on youth.