BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 5, 2026
Southern Aroostook economic development planners believe Island Falls’ four-season outdoor recreation blueprint will draw overnight visitors to the region. The longterm, multi-phase project includes a grant-funded downtown riverfront park with a pedestrian bridge and amphitheater and nearly 70 miles of an Outdoor Sport Institute-guided trail system. From a canoe and kayak launch, paddlers can travel all the way to Mattawamkeag Lake and historic Bible Point — the same route once traveled by Theodore Roosevelt. The trail funding is part of a multiyear $1.25 million project, funded by federal and state grants, that will deliver more than 18 miles of natural surface trails in Island Falls, Patten and Millinocket. The Outdoor Sport Institute, a nonprofit based in Millinocket, was recently awarded the grants to expand non-motorized trail systems throughout Maine’s Katahdin Region as a way to support the region’s growing outdoor economy.