MAINE, USA — Last Tuesday, more than 50 percent of Mainers voted to approve a $30 million Maine Trails Bond.
The funding will be used to support the development and maintenance of motorized, non-motorized, and multi-use trails across the state.
"Certainly it's a recognition of the investment that folks here in Maine want to make in outdoor recreational amenities," Tracy Willette, the director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Bangor, said.
Willette said the bond will help improve infrastructure needs like bridges, signage, and repairs from severe storms.
"Having another funding source and opportunity to help maintain and grow those trails will be a benefit not only from municipalities here in the state of Maine, but for organizations that do the same kind of Work with trails and open spaces," West said.
Twenty-five percent of the funding will go to supporting motorized trails and 25 percent will go to non-motorized trails and the 50 percent will go to multi-use trails.
"It really works out as a holistic approach to community investment," Brent West, the executive director of the High Peaks Alliance, said.
The mission of the organization is to keep the trails high peaks region of Maine accessible.
West said the upkeep of Maine's trails is important to the economy.
"We believe that taking care of our resources our natural resources and our trails is kind of the foundation to the recreational economy in Maine," West said.
The Maine Snowmobile Association, which supports over 285 snowmobile clubs throughout the state, is another organization that garnered support for the Maine Trails Bond.
"People are really going to come to Maine now because they know that the trails were top notch before and they are going to be even better now because we're going to have the money to maintain those trails year round," Al Swett, the president of the Maine Snowmobile Association, said.
The Maine Trails Bond funds will be distributed to organizations by a grant program run by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.