A coalition of than 500 outdoor organizations, businesses and municipalities is calling on Maine lawmakers to send a $30 million bond to voters this Fall.
The funds would be managed by the Bureau of Parks and Lands and dispersed over four years to organizations and towns for motorized, non-motorized and multi-use trail projects.
Supporters say the money is urgently needed after recent storms and floods caused severe trail damage around the state. Al Swett of the Maine Snowmobile Association cites a gaping hole in a major snowmobiling thoroughfare between Jay, Wilton and Farmington that was caused by a major washout last Spring.
"And we haven't got to it yet because it's just too expensive to fix. Right now, we don't have the money to fix it and they're estimating like $800-thousand. It's 40-feet deep and 200-feet long."
Swett says there's also a trail Down East that is wiped out from flooding. Other members of the coalition say there are similar issues with hiking, biking and ATV trails around the state. They say the bond money could pay for repairs but also help create new trails and serve as an investment in Manie's rural outdoor recreation economy which supports 31,000 jobs.
Chris Riley, president of the Central Maine chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association, says Maine can no longer afford to sit back.
"I take a couple of weeks every year to travel around the country and experience different trail systems and see what other communities are doing and one of the things I've seen in the last ten or 15 years of doing that is that we are simply outpaced by other states in our trail development."
Riley says states like Michigan, Utah, Vermont and New Hampshire are putting money into trail systems that helps spur economic development in local communities and also provides mental and physical health benefits for trail users.
In a statement to Maine lawmakers, the group writes that "In literally every corner of the state, trails are a valued resource for connecting Maine people and visitors with the natural world and reaching destinations to work and play."
But when asked at a news conference Thursday why a $30-million bond for trails should be a priority over housing, mental health services or food insecurity, George O'Keefe, economic development director for the town of Rumford said outdoor recreation is the key to future growth. He said his town does a pretty good job of ensuring essential services like health care and mental health services are available in his community and that they are well funded.
"Our concern," he says, "is these critical economic diversification efforts are not particularly well funded and do not have a history of being particularly well funded. And whether it's in Rumford or Piscataquis County, outdoor recreation is the way that we're going to be able to help people have employment and help people break the cycles of...substance use, unemployment or deprivation...and the trails bond is critical to that."
Among the supporters are the Maine Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Municipal Association, L.L. Bean, the Maine Snowmobile Association, ATV Maine, land trusts, outdoor recreation companies and dozens of cities and towns.
The trails bond, a bill first introduced in 2023, is expected to be taken up by the Appropriations Committee in the next few weeks. It needs a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and the Governor's approval in order to be placed on the November ballot.
