Soon, visitors to Viles Arboretum in Augusta will be able to wander a 1.27-mile loop designed for everyone, including wheelchair users, those who are unsteady on their feet, and visitors who are blind or vision impaired. 

“This trail will open Maine’s forests, fields, and wetlands to thousands in a way that is welcoming and safe, while helping to dismantle historic inequities people with disabilities have faced in public spaces,” said Viles Arboretum director David Greenham.

The project, awarded nearly $250,000, is part of the first round of the Maine Trails Program, which awarded $7.5 million to 44 trail projects across 15 counties, including funding for proposals in Rangeley, Waterville and Strong.

The program, approved by voters as Question 4 in 2024, will distribute up to $7.5 million per year through 2034. Grants will support trail construction, rehabilitation, accessibility upgrades and community trail development.

“It’s been inspiring to see such diverse trail groups collaborating to make this program a reality,” Leigh Hallett, director of the Maine Trails Coalition, said in a news release Thursday. “The combined power of this statewide commitment and MTP’s strategic investment will protect and enhance our state’s vital recreational infrastructure, making it more resilient and cost-effective for years to come.”

Some 108 applications rolled in for the first round, totaling around $17 million — over double the available funding, according to news release Thursday from the Bureau of Parks and Lands.

Among the 44 funded projects, 25 involve new trail construction, 14 for improved accessibility, and 13 for primarily motorized trail projects, including eight for snowmobiles and five for ATVs. Other projects include hiking, multi-use trails and land-acquisition initiatives.

High Peaks Alliance received $250,000 for a project along the Sandy River in the Franklin County town of Strong, a 120-acre parcel that has potential for a one-mile stretch of multi-use trail. It would be the town’s only publicly accessible and permanently conserved trail, said Brent West, the group’s director. 

“People are coming here and building second homes, retiring here and/or coming up on the weekends for vacation because it’s such a beautiful place,” West said, adding that archaeological digs support about 8,000 years of human recreation. “That means we need to set aside some of these gems.”

The parcel will cost the Alliance about $350,000, West said, and the group has two years to come up with the difference. “But we’re hoping to do it in under a year, if we can close that fundraising gap,” West said.

The Rangeley Lake Snowmobile Club, also represented by West, was awarded nearly $175,000 to construct a park-and-ride facility designed to ease congestion during snowmobile season. The site, he said, was provided by the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust.

“They’ve graciously offered (the land), which is right on the south side of Rangeley Lake and will give good access to a trail junction there where … you can go across the lake right into town,” West said. “That will allow people, when they’re coming up from the south, to (offload) their sleds before they get into town, kind of alleviate some of that congestion and add to the experience.”

Jeff Tucker, director of Quarry Road Trails for the city of Waterville, said the $249,046 grant they received will go toward the first phase of a project designed to “transform the area into a premier four-season destination for outdoor recreation.” 

The initial work concentrates on improving accessibility to trails, specifically building upon work improving the trailhead and access road. Work thus far has been funded in part by a USDA and Northern Borders Regional Commission grant and private fundraising by Friends of Quarry Road.

The new work, about 15 years in the making, will include four new single-track trails totaling 1.5 miles, one being a beginner-level trail for bikers and hikers. It also includes rehabilitation of 3 miles of Nordic ski trail and construction of a multipurpose trailhead building.

“The trail is particularly exciting because it will help meet the demand of growing mountain bike use,” Tucker said. “We desperately need new entry level trails to introduce riders of all ages to the sport, and this trail will help fill that gap.”

The new building will be used seasonally for maintenance, but will also serve as a public space in the winter for ski waxing and will house a new gear library that will offer skis, snowshoes, mountain bikes, canoes and kayaks and disc golf discs.

“Maine Trails Program funding will be critical to helping us complete the Trails master plan, and it’s amazing to see this project and so many other great projects finally come to life across the state.”

In Augusta, that statewide investment comes into focus at Viles Arboretum, where the work ahead represents not just an upgrade, but a reframing of who benefits from some of Maine’s public landscapes.

The project, scheduled to begin in the spring or early summer, will likely cost around $320,000, so the MTP grant goes a long way to making the project happen, he said. Additional support is coming from individual contributions, other grants and in-kind donations.

“This trail project is rooted in the history of our property … which was the working farm for what was … called The Maine Insane Hospital, and later, the Augusta Mental Health Institute,” Greenham said, adding that patients were the farm’s primary workers. “We determined, therefore, that we should create a trail specifically for people with differing abilities, and associated programs for the kind of individuals and groups of people who would have been targeted for institutionalization in the 19th century.”

For West, projects like Sandy River and Rangeley underscore an important truth about Maine.

“When someone asks, ‘What’s there to do up there,’ there’s really only one answer: it’s ‘go outside and play.’”