A Little History

Since 1990, Carleton Project has conducted Summer Camps in Mount Carleton Provincial Park, located in the north-central part of the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. In 1997, activities become more centered around watershed activities to teach science, first aid, mapping and navigation skills. Participants have continued to be a part of a water quality survey in one of the most beautiful and remote areas of New Brunswick, Canada. To date, nearly 1000 Middle and High School students from both United States and Canada have been to the top of Mount Carleton and, since 1997, more than four  hundred students have hiked to remote areas within the park to complete scientific experiments and monitor water quality, using the historic Bathurst Camps as a home base. They analyze and report their findings that will eventually be posted at this site. This is our legacy as well as our namesake.

In 1988, before the Bathurst Camps were habitable, we brought groups of young people to the park for wilderness experiences. They did volunteer work that included clearing trails, stacking wood, cleaning campsites and repairing windows and doors at the Bathurst Camps. Our help was appreciated by the staff who presented our students with certificates of appreciation, often joined our students for meals in the Group Camping Area and shared bear stories. Both sets of camps (Nictau and Bathurst) went out for bid in 1990, first to a couple of great guys from Bathurst for two years and then to Partners for Youth in Fredericton. We began renting the Bathurst Camps from both of these groups and were successful in getting the lease for Bathurst only when Partners for Youth backed out. We've been there ever since. For the first few years, we could always  secure the yearly lease in the fall of the year, allowing us to plan for the following summer as well as make necessary improvements to the site that were necessary for the safety of our students. This also allowed us to approach Canadian Schools each year and the support was very strong. For a few years, we conducted tremendously successful international camps with students from Maine and New Brunswick. That all changed when the Conservatives  came to power and the responsibility for management of the park was "reorganized". For the last few years, our corporation has tried to secure a long-term lease so that we could make capital improvements to the Bathurst Camps and extent our program to schools in New Brunswick once again. We have not been successful and our yearly lease runs out in the Fall of 2006. After nearly twenty years of history, we will take our program elsewhere and leave the camps to developers and private interests.

We are sad to be leaving but have no choice. We are truly thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of the Park's history. It is one of the most beautiful, unspoiled places in the world. We will continue to monitor the water quality there. In fact, we are sure it will be more important now than ever before. It is the hope of Carleton Project students, staff and Board of Directors that all New Brunswickers will get interested, step up to the plate and demand that their leaders ensure that this valuable resource does not disappear in the next few years. This is clearly the direction in which the park is headed.

Thank you to the people of New Brunswick who have been so very supportive!!

How are we feeling about this? Visit Alan's WEB LOG

 

For more information, contact us by e-mail. You can call or write too! The address and phone number are provided below.

Click on any of the links below to see all the cool stuff we used to do in the Park!!

First Aid Training / Overnight Hikes / Canoe Expeditions / Team Building / Orienteering

Carleton Project, P.O. Box 1603
Presque Isle, ME 04769
(207) 768-9998