Maine trail program flooded with applicants

MAINE PUBLIC • October 13, 2025

Applications have flooded into the inaugural year of a newly established grant program to restore and build new motorized and nonmotorized trails across the state. Doug Beck, outdoor recreation program manager with the Bureau of Parks and Lands said many of Maine's trails have been battered by years of underfunding, crowding during and after the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly severe storms. "The combination of all of that results in just the decimation of the trail infrastructure," Beck said. "Virtually all trails are experiencing increased use, increased damage." Until now, money to address the problem has been scarce. But last year voters overwhelmingly approved borrowing $30 million to fund improvements.